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Handicap strokes: where your shots fall and why

Your handicap tells you how many strokes you get. The stroke index column on the scorecard tells you which holes you get them on. A 12 handicap receives a stroke on the twelve holes marked 1 through 12 in that column, and plays the other six straight up. Subtract the stroke where it falls and you have your net score for the hole.

Almost every argument about a side game comes back to this, and most of them come from one of two mistakes: using the wrong number of strokes, or putting them on the wrong holes.

The stroke index column

Every scorecard has a column, usually headed stroke index, index, SI or handicap, with the numbers 1 to 18 in it, one per hole. It has nothing to do with the hole numbers and nothing to do with par.

Stroke index 1 is the hole the club has decided is hardest for a higher handicapper relative to a better player. Index 18 is the easiest. The ordering is also spread deliberately across the card, odd indexes on one nine and even on the other, so that a player receiving nine strokes does not get all of them before the turn.

This is why the hardest hole on the course is not always stroke index 1. The index reflects where a stroke makes the most difference, not where the scores are highest. A brutal par three often has a high index, because a weak player and a strong player both struggle on it, and a long par five often has a low one, because the extra shot is worth more there.

Which holes you get

Count down from index 1 for as many strokes as you have.

Above 18 you simply go round again. A 24 handicap gets one shot on all eighteen holes and a second shot on the six hardest, which means a net birdie is on the table on index 1 with a bogey.

Net scoring

Take the gross score, subtract the strokes you receive on that hole, and the result is your net score. A 16 handicap making six on a hole with index 4 has a net five. If that hole is a par five, it is a net par.

Every game that uses net scores uses that number and nothing else. In skins the net score decides who wins the hole. In Stableford the points come off the net score against par. In nines the positions are worked out on net.

Full handicap or low man scratch

Two conventions, and they produce different games. Agree which before you tee off.

Match play traditionally uses the difference between the two players, which is the same idea applied to a twosome. A 14 against an 8 gives six strokes on index 1 through 6, and the 8 gets none.

Index, course handicap and playing handicap

Three terms that get used as if they were one thing.

• Handicap index is your portable number, calculated from your recent scores. It is not tied to any course.
• Course handicap is that index converted for the specific set of tees you are playing, using the course's slope rating. Harder tees give you more strokes.
• Playing handicap is the course handicap after any allowance the format applies, such as a percentage used in a team event.

For an ordinary game among friends, the course handicap is the number you want, and moving up or back a set of tees genuinely changes it. Playing a longer course from the back tees can be worth several extra strokes.

Questions that come up

What does stroke index 1 mean?

It is the hole where a stroke is judged to make the most difference to a higher handicapper, not necessarily the hardest hole on the course.

How many strokes do I get with a handicap of 12?

Twelve, falling on the holes marked stroke index 1 through 12. The remaining six holes are played without a stroke.

What happens if my handicap is over 18?

You receive a stroke on every hole, then a second stroke starting again from stroke index 1. A 24 handicap gets two strokes on index 1 through 6 and one on the rest.

Should the low handicapper play off scratch?

It is a common convention in casual side games and keeps the number of strokes in play down without changing the gaps between players. Full handicap is the norm in formal competition.

Does the stroke index change between tees?

The index column usually stays the same, but your course handicap does not. Moving back a set of tees typically earns you additional strokes.

Enter an index once and the shots land on the right holes from the course's own card, in every game you are running.