6. The Scorecard

Par, Yardages and the Stroke Index

Marking the golf scorecard correctly is a very important element of the game.  There have been a few incidences in Professional golf that a player has marked their card incorrectly - check out the story of Jackie Pung, in the 1957 US Women’s Open at Winged Foot, where her mistake cost her the tournament! You will see something like, Hole 1, Par 4, 352 yards, Stroke Index 8, but what does it all mean?

The card format varies from club to club, but essential information is common to all cards.  This will include: hole numbers, their distance, the par, the stroke index and a place for you and the marker to sign after the scorecard is completed.  There will also be a space to put your name & handicap, the date and what competition you are playing.  Women will generally play off the red tees, which will correspond with the colour on the scorecard.  

 On the reverse of a card you will find local rules, which you should familiarise yourself with and sometimes you will also see a map of the course layout, which can be very handy, particularly if you are visiting a course for the first time.

The Par
The Par of a hole indicates the score a scratch golfer or Professional should complete the hole.  These are typically, Par 3, Par 4, or Par 5.  Generally, a course will have 4 x 3’s 4 x 5’s and 10 x 4’s although courses do differ and some newer courses may have Par 6’s and even Par 7’s!

The Distance
This will be written either as meters or yards – depending on where you are playing in the world.

The Stroke Index
Each hole will have a number next to it which rates holes in ranking order against the degree of difficulty for eg – Stroke index 1 is the most difficult, whilst stroke index 18 is the easiest.  Most courses will also be evenly ranked over both halves of the card, so allocation of shots is evenly spread.  Once you have a handicap, the stroke index is used to identify on which holes you receive extra shots.  

Marking your scorecard
Under normal circumstances, you would swap cards with your playing partner on the 1st tee, so they mark your card and you mark theirs.  You would put your scores in the Marker’s area on the scorecard and write their score down in the first column and vice-versa.  After your round, you would then then cross-check your scores, sign the card in the Marker’s signature area and return to your playing partner.  They will do likewise, you would then sign your own card and hand over to the competition scorer.  

Remember – you are responsible for your own scores, so always double check your card has been recorded correctly before you sign it.

PLEASE NOTE: During Covid-19 we are all being asked to mark our own scorecards, but you should still double-check scores with your playing partner.

 As a beginner, the most important thing you can do, is mark down your gross score on the card after each hole.  Playing with GIGS, we will mostly use the Stableford Scoring system, which awards you points depending on how you score on each hole.  We’ll cover this next week. 

Bitesize Basics Returns in December 2020 when we (hopefully) return to our Golf:

NEXT UP: The Stableford Scoring System