Figuring out handicaps on a golf scorecard???

Question

I recently started playing golf. I understand what my personal handicap is, but I do not understand what the handicap listed under each hole on a scorecard is. How can it range from a 2 to a 14 in one hole?

Answer 1

Lets say you are a 12 and your opponent is a 16.  You would give him 4 strokes.  He would get one stroke on the holes with handicaps 1,2,3, and 4.  The holes are ranked by how likely a low handicap player will defeat a  high handicap player.  Usually a long par 5 will be ranked number 1.  A bad player will have a harder time competing with a good player a long hole than a short hole, in theory.  Anyway, It is slightly more involved than that, but hopefully  you get the basic idea. The other answers are slightly wrong.  It is not based on difficulty. But that is a common misconception.

Answer 2

The handicaps on scorecard rate the difficulty of the hole. The hole can range from 2 to 14 for example because there are different places to tee off from. The red/gold tees might have a higher number meaning it is easier because the tee box is in a shorter better spot then the white/blues. It is confusing, I tend to ignore it and just focus on the distance of each hole and my score.

Answer 3

Most golf courses rate the holes  both on length and difficulty and assign handicap designations from 1 to 18. The odd numbers are assigned to one nine and the even numbers to the other even though some holes with the lower numbers may be easier than those with the higher numbers. The purpose of handicaps is to equalize players abilities through  assigning strokes. These are used in match play competition or in " Net score" tournaments where a person's total score is reduced by his handicap index to arrive at the winner. The purpose for assigning odd and even numbers to particular nines rather than hole difficulty alone is to prevent bunching an uneven number of strokes to any one side of the course.

Answer 4

The numbers of the golf handicap do NOT, as erroneously stated by other answerers, reflect on the difficulty of a hole.

The handicap system was set up to 'balance' the playing field between golfers of different abilities.  In this way, a golfer who averages 90 could play a competitive match against someone who averages 80.  The difference in this case is ten strokes for the eighteen holes.

The player averaging 90 would get one stroke on each of the hole marked one through ten on the scorecard for handicap.  This was to try to even out the hole, so that the competition would be better.  This is not a direct reflection on the difficulty of a hole, as there are many variances in this.

I will say, however, that soem courses are sloppy and tend to make the 'hardest' holes the lowest handicap numbers, but if a hole is hard for everyone the handicap number may be a bit skewed in favor of, believe it or not, the better player...per reasons above.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

The handicap that shows on scorecards, hole by hole, rate the holes in difficulty.  The hole with the #1 handicap rating is the hardest hole on the course, and consequently the hole with the #18 handicap rating is the easiest hole on the course.  These ratings are generally established by an independent agency, most likely the State Golf Association.

The reason these are on the scorecard, is for individual matches.  For instance, if you are an 18 handicap golfer and are playing a 10 handicap golfer, you will receive one stroke on each of the #1 through # 8 handicap holes.

You can most likely find more handicapping information on the United States Golf Association website below.  They are governing body for golf in the United States.

Scott W states a correct answer below, IF your question was only regarding handicaps, and NOT the handicap listed under each hole on the scorecard as you asked!  The handicaps listed on the scorecard DO IN FACT represent the order of difficulty of the holes, established by whoever conducted the most recent golf course rating.