Golf scoring systems

How Handicaps Affect Net Scoring

Where scoring systems shows up in misses, decisions, and the numbers on your card.

How Handicaps Affect Net Scoring illustration

Gross score meets fair competition

Net scoring uses handicaps to compare golfers of different abilities. If you receive a stroke on a hole, your gross 5 may become a net 4 for the match or event. The scorecard’s stroke-index holes usually show where those strokes apply.

Use the dots

Before teeing off, mark your dots clearly. It prevents the awkward 17th-green argument about whether a putt is for net par or net bogey.