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There is something called the "active" season. Rounds played outside of the active season do not count in the handicap calculation. If you play a course in an area where the season is still active (Florida, S. Carolina..) that score will count.

That makes zero sense.

Why? What doesn't seem right?

Rounds outside of the active season don’t count? That is absurd. There is no such thing as the “inactive” golf season.

Remember, your handicap is based off of your ten best scores of your last 20 rounds. If you don’t have 20 or more, it will be based of your best 5. So, possibly, adding in scores that don’t knock out your best 5 may not matter. I only say that because I am seeing the same thing as you.

OK, You're in New York somewhere right? I'm just south of there in NJ. All of the courses I play shut down the tee boxes in November and in some cases use temporary greens. Does that happen in your area also? If so, it kind of screws up the slope/rating for the layout. There is really no way to rate the temporary tee boxes so the score we shoot are not really valid as related to a normal round played from the Blue or White tees.

That’s a great point. I’m in Virginia. Temporary tees and greens are rare. Agreed, that can’t be included in a handicap.

Virginia has no inactive season, but if you cross the border to play in Maryland in the winter that score won't count towards your handicap.
As discussed, it's mostly due to course conditions in the winter.
Jim

I stand corrected. USHandicap.org has “active season” on page one.

I have the same problem, I put in my scores, but the index remains unchanged. And the handicap on the website is 3 strokes lower when compared to the pro shop using the same index.