Scoring formats · 1 to 4 players
Stroke Play: how to play
Also known as Medal play
Count every shot. Lowest total wins.
Stroke play is the purest form of golf and the format every professional tournament uses. You count every stroke on every hole, add them up, and the lowest total over the round wins. There is no safety net: a 10 on the third counts just as much as a birdie on the eighteenth.
In club golf it is usually called a medal, and it is where your handicap earns its keep. Subtract your course handicap from your gross score and you get a net score that lets a 24-handicapper compete with a 6 on level terms.
Score Stroke Play in Golf Daddy
Pick Stroke Play on the first tee and the app applies the strokes, keeps the live leaderboard and settles the points for the whole group. Free on iPhone and Android.
Stroke Play rules
- 1.Count every stroke you take on each hole, including penalty strokes.
- 2.Hole out on every hole: there are no gimmes or pick-ups in true stroke play.
- 3.Add up all 18 holes for your gross score.
- 4.With handicaps, subtract your course handicap for your net score.
- 5.Lowest total score wins; ties are usually decided on the back nine, then the last six, three and one holes.
How handicaps work
Your net score is your gross score minus your course handicap. In World Handicap System competitions the allowance is 95% of course handicap for individual stroke play; in social golf most groups use the full course handicap. Golf Daddy applies your strokes hole by hole, so the leaderboard shows gross and net side by side.
Worked example
You shoot 92 off a course handicap of 18, and your mate shoots 81 off 6. Gross, they win by 11. Net, you have 74 and they have 75: you win by a shot.
Tips and variations
- Play the percentages: one double bogey undoes two birdies' worth of good work, so take your medicine from trouble.
- Know your net double bogey limit for handicap purposes, but remember the real score still counts in the competition.
- Nine-hole stroke play is a fast weeknight format; Golf Daddy scores front or back nine on their own.
Stroke Play FAQs
What is the difference between stroke play and match play?
Stroke play totals your strokes over the whole round against the field. Match play is decided hole by hole against one opponent, so a disaster hole only costs you that hole.
Does stroke play count towards my handicap?
Yes. Individual stroke play (and Stableford) rounds are the ones that feed your handicap index. Golf Daddy updates your index automatically from the rounds you score.
Can we play stroke play with four players?
Yes. Everyone plays their own ball and the app ranks the four gross and net scores on the live leaderboard.
Related formats
Stableford
1 to 4 players
Match Play
2 (singles) or 4 (pairs) players
Four Ball (Better Ball)
4 (two pairs) players
Play Stroke Play this weekend
Download Golf Daddy and let the app do the maths while you do the talking. Guests who haven't got the app can play too.