A score that
holds up.
This is how to keep a golf score that survives the scoring tent. It is for the player handed the pencil on the first tee. Who marks, what goes in the box, and what gets a card thrown out.
Four things happen to every card
Marked, boxed, checked, signed. In that order. Skip one and the number does not count.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 41 |
01The marker
In a competition you do not keep your own card. A fellow player marks yours. You mark theirs.
02The box
One number per hole. Strokes taken plus penalty strokes. Nothing else goes in the box. Not net, not points.
03The check
Walking off eighteen, marker and player go hole by hole. Out loud. Both cards have to say the same thing.
04The signature
Both sign. Hand it in. From that moment the card cannot change. Add it up first.
Penalty strokes go in the box
A penalty is a stroke you did not swing. It counts the same. Three you will meet.
- Penalty area
- Water, marked red or yellow. Add one stroke and drop. Play on.
- Out of bounds or lost
- Add one stroke and play again from where you last hit. The bad swing counts too.
- Unplayable
- Your call, anywhere on the course. Add one stroke and drop.
Gross goes on. Net comes off
Gross is every stroke you took. That is the number in the box, every hole, no exceptions.
Net is gross minus your handicap. The tent works it out. So does the app. You never write net on a hole.
What gets a card thrown out
Three ways to lose a round after you finished it.
- A score too low
- You took six and wrote five. Disqualified, even by accident.
- A score too high
- You took five and wrote six. The six stands. Nobody fixes it for you.
- No signature
- Either one missing. Disqualified. The best round of your life, gone at the desk.
No tent? Same habits
A casual round has no marker and no desk. Keep score like it does anyway.
One card for the group. Filled in on the green, not in the cart three holes later. Penalties counted when they happen.
The number you write is the number you shot. That is the whole rule.
The marker never gets tired
Big Fairways keeps one card for the whole group. Every player can follow it hole by hole, which is the check, happening in real time, on every hole. Fairways hit, greens in regulation and putts go in beside the score. The round joins a lifetime scorecard, every round and every course. When there is a side game, SettleUp shows who owes what and nets it into simple payments between players. Free, and the account takes about twenty seconds. Hand the pencil to Big Fairways.
Send a scorecard story
The card that got thrown out. The marker who could not add. We keep a file.