The rules
- Two players (or two teams) play each hole. The lower score wins the hole; a tie halves it.
- The match is scored in holes, not strokes. If you've won one more hole than your opponent, you're 1 up; level is all square.
- The match ends when one side is more holes up than there are holes left. Winning 3 up with 2 to play is written 3 & 2.
- Dormie means you're as many holes up as there are holes left: your opponent must win every remaining hole just to tie.
A worked example
Ann and Ben play 18. Ann wins holes 2, 5 and 9; Ben wins hole 7; the rest are halved. After nine Ann is 2 up. Ann wins 12 and 14, Ben wins 13, and after 16 holes Ann is 3 up with 2 to play. She has won the match 3 & 2, and the last two holes aren't played.
Notice that Ann's total score never mattered. A triple bogey costs one hole, exactly like a bogey would. That frees you to take on risky shots.
How handicap strokes work
In a net match, the higher handicapper gets strokes on the hardest holes. Every hole has a stroke index from 1 (hardest) to 18 (easiest) on the scorecard. If Ben's handicap is 14 and Ann's is 9, Ben gets 5 strokes: one on each hole with stroke index 1 to 5. On those holes his score counts as one less.
Under the official rules each player's handicap is first turned into a course handicap for the tees being played, and match play uses 100% of the difference. Casual games often just use the difference between the two handicaps. Greens does the same: strokes are the difference between handicaps, rounded down, given on the hardest holes, and halved for nine holes.
Free Match Play scorekeeper
Type each player's score as you go. The card works out every hole and the standing, and it stays in this browser if you lose signal or close the tab.
No holes played yet.
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| Holes won | 0 | 0 |
Scores stay in this browser only. Gross scores, one player per side: for teams, handicap strokes and live scores on everyone's phone, play the game in Greens.
Updated November 12, 2026 by the Greens team.