Golf Handicap Tutorial: Using Golf Handicaps
Lesson 4: How to Use Golf Handicaps
OK. You and your playing partners know your
course handicaps,
and you've played a hole or you've played a full round of golf.
How do you use your handicaps to figure out who won?
Who Won the Round?
To figure out who won the round, each player calculates his/her
net score
over 18 holes.
The net score calculation is straightforward.
Recall that a "net score" is the score you earn after you
deduct your course handicap from your "gross score".
For example,
if your course handicap is 15 and you record a gross score of 85,
your net score is 85 minus 15 or 70.
The player with the lowest net score wins the round.
Who Won the Hole?
When you are calculating your net score for individual holes,
the picture is less clear.
The number of strokes that you can take may differ from
hole to hole.
Here's how to figure out how many strokes you
can take on each hole.
- Read the "Handicap" line on the scorecard.
Numbers on that line determine how many strokes you can
take on each hole.
- If your course handicap is between 1 and 18, follow these
rules: If your course handicap is 1, you can take a stroke
only on handicap hole 1; if your course handicap is 2,
you can take a stroke only on handicap holes 1 and 2;
etc.
- If your course handicap is between 19 and 36, follow
these rules: If your course handicap is 19,
you can take two strokes
on handicap hole 1 and one stroke on every other hole;
if your course handicap is 20, you can take two strokes
on handicap holes 1 and 2 and one stroke on every other hole;
etc.
- If your course handicap is between 37 and 54, follow these
rules: If your course handicap is 37, you can take three strokes
on handicap hole 1 and two strokes on every other hole;
if your course handicap is 38, you can take three strokes
on handicap holes 1 and 2 and two strokes on every other hole;
etc.
- And so on ...
The player with the lowest net score on the hole wins
the hole.