Some scores are acceptable for posting towards your handicap and some are not.
The following are acceptable scores and must be posted for handicap posting purposes:
• Post scores from home or away golf courses
• Post scores when at least seven holes are played (7-12 holes are posted as a 9-hole score; 13 or more are posted as an 18-hole score)
• Post scores made in an area observing an active season
• Post scores made under “The Rules of Golf”
• Post scores on all courses with a valid USGA Course Rating and Slope Rating
• Post scores when playing two nines, even if it is the same nine, or nines from different days. Simply combine the nines into an 18-hole score. Add each nine-hole USGA Course Rating and average the Slope Rating of the two nines
• Post scores in all forms of competition: match play, stroke play, and team competitions where players play their own ball
• Post scores played under the Local Rule of “preferred lies”
The following are unacceptable scores and cannot be posted for handicap posting purposes:
• Do not post scores where fewer than seven holes are played
• Do not post scores made on a golf course in an area in which an inactive season established by the authorized golf association is in effect
• Do not post scores made when a majority of the holes are not played in accordance with the principles of “The Rules of Golf”
• Do not post scores when the length of the course is less than 3,000 yards for 18 holes (or 1,500 yards for nine holes)
Adjusting Hole Scores
Incomplete Holes or Conceded Strokes
If a player picks up on a hole or is conceded a stroke, record the most likely score that would have been made. This most likely score is the number of strokes (including any penalty strokes) taken thus far played under “The Rules of Golf,” plus the number of strokes needed to complete the hole from that point more than half the time. An “X” should precede the score on the scorecard for this hole score (e.g., X-5)
Holes Not Played
When a hole is not played, or not played under “The Rules of Golf,” the score entered for handicap purposes is par (for the hole) plus any handicap strokes the player is entitled to, based on Course Handicap.
Equitable Stroke Control (ESC)
Equitable Stroke Control, or ESC for short, keeps an exceptionally bad hole from changing a Handicap Index too much and sets a maximum ESC number that a player can post on any hole depending on that player’s Course Handicap.
For handicap purposes, after the round, a player is required to adjust hole scores (actual or most likely) when these hole scores are higher than the maximum ESC number.
All scores, including tournament scores, are adjusted for ESC. A player can adjust for ESC on any number of holes—there is no limit.
Course Handicap Maximum Number on any Hole
Handicap of 9 or less - Double Bogey
10 through 19 - 7
20 through 29 - 8
30 through 39 - 9
40 or more - 10
Bogey Rating, Slope Rating, and USGA Course Rating Defined
Bogey Rating represents the playing difficulty of a golf course for a bogey golfer under normal weather and course conditions.
Slope Rating is computed from the difference between the Bogey Rating and the USGA Course Rating multiplied by a mathematical constant. Therefore, Slope Rating represents the relative difficulty of a course for a non-scratch golfer compared to a scratch golfer. The greater the gap in expected scores between the scratch golfer and the bogey golfer, the higher the Slope Rating will be.
USGA Course Rating represents the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer under normal weather and course conditions.
Any questions? Please feel free to contact our Rochester EWGA Handicap chair, Wendy Bolton.