Deciding how to level the playing field for a friendly golf match can feel like a negotiation an hour before the first tee time. You’re playing a friend who you know shoots a bit higher than you, and you both want a competitive, enjoyable game. So, how many strokes should you give? This article will walk you through exactly how to determine a fair number of strokes, from the official, by-the-book method to a few simple ways to figure it out on the fly.
At its heart, giving strokes is about one thing: leveling the playing field so that players of different abilities can have a genuinely competitive match. It transforms a predictable outcome into an exciting contest that could go either way. Think about a scratch golfer playing a 15-handicap straight up - it's hardly a competition. But give the 15-handicap their strokes, and suddenly every hole matters.
The system isn’t about charity or giving someone an unfair advantage. It's a way to measure a player's potential, allowing them to compete against the course and other players on an equal footing. When the pressure is on and every shot counts, the game becomes infinitely more engaging for everyone involved, regardless of who shoots the lower gross score.
If you and your playing partners maintain an official Handicap Index® (like one through the USGA's GHIN system), this is the most accurate and fairest way to calculate strokes. It’s a standardized system used worldwide for this exact purpose. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how it works.
First, everyone in your group needs to know their current Handicap Index. This isn’t your average score, it's a number that represents your potential playing ability. It’s calculated based on the best 8 of your last 20 rounds, which gives a better indication of how you *can* play on a good day. You can find this number in your golf association's app (like the GHIN app).
Your Handicap Index is a portable number, but your Course Handicap changes based on the difficulty of the specific course and tees you play that day. A more difficult course will give you more strokes, while an easier one will give you fewer.
Every set of tees on a rated course has two numbers:
The good news is you don’t need to do the math yourself. You can find your Course Handicap in a few places:
For our example, let's say after looking it up for the blue tees:
Now for the easy part. To find out how many strokes the higher handicap player receives, you simply subtract the lower Course Handicap from the higher one.
Calculation: 22 (Player B) - 12 (Player A) = 10 Strokes
In this match, Player B will get 10 strokes from Player A. It’s a good idea to consider what percentage of the handicap difference you'll use. For a casual match, 100% is fine. In more formal competitions, it might be 80% or 90% depending on the format.
Now that you know Player B gets 10 strokes, how do you apply them? This is where the "Handicap" row on the scorecard comes in. Each hole is ranked from 1 to 18 in difficulty (1 is the hardest, 18 is the easiest).
Player B gets one stroke on each of the 10 most difficult handicap-rated holes. You mark this by putting a small dot in their score box for those holes.
How strokes work in a match: If you are playing match play and Player B makes a 5 on the #1 handicap hole, it becomes a net 4. If Player A also makes a 4, the hole is tied (a "push"). If Player A makes a 5, Player B wins the hole with their net 4.
What if you or your friends don't have official handicaps? No problem. The goal is still the same - to get to a Bumber that feels fair. Here are a couple of popular, informal methods.
This is the most common and straightforward way to set a bet without official handicaps. It relies on a little bit of honesty and knowledge of your own games.
The trick here is to be realistic. If someone’s “average” is the best score they’ve ever shot, this system falls apart. It’s based on a friendly and honest assessment of everyone's ability.
Sometimes you just want to keep it simple. If there's a clear skill gap but you don't want to get into precise calculations, you can use these common, easy-to-track agreements:
These methods aren't nearly as accurate as using a proper handicap, but for a casual game among friends, they do the job just fine. They inject enough fairness to make the match interesting without requiring any math.
Regardless of the method you choose, a couple of final points of etiquette will ensure the game runs smoothly and everyone stays friends.
If you're playing from different sets of tees (e.g., one person from the a more forward tee and one from a farther back tee), this changes the course difficulty. The official Course Handicap calculation automatically accounts for this difference. If you’re using an informal method, you should manually adjust for it. A common rule of thumb is to give the player on the harder set of tees an extra stroke for every two-or-three-stroke difference in the Course Ratings between the two sets of tees.
This is the golden rule. All negotiations, decisions, and terms must be finalized and agreed upon before the first ball is in the air. There’s nothing that sours a fun match faster than trying to haggle strokes on the 4th green or trying to renegotiate on the back nine. Lock it in, shake on it, and then go play golf.
Figuring out how many strokes to give in golf doesn't have to be complicated. Whether you use the precise, by-the-book Handicap Index® system or just hash out a quick and simple agreement on the first tee, the purpose is to make the game more competitive and enjoyable for everyone in your group. Settle on a number beforehand and focus on hitting great shots.
Beyond settling the score, playing a confident round comes from making good decisions out on the course. We designed Caddie AI to act as your personal course strategist, giving you expert advice on anything from club selection to navigating tricky lies, helping you play smarter and get the most out of every stroke.
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