The rules
- Count every stroke on every hole, penalty strokes included, and hole out each time.
- Add up the holes. The lowest total wins.
- Gross is the score you actually made. Net is your gross minus your handicap strokes, which lets golfers of different abilities compete.
A worked example
Ann shoots 84 and Ben shoots 95. Ann wins on gross. But if Ann's course handicap is 10 and Ben's is 22, their net scores are 74 and 73, and Ben wins on net.
Stroke play vs match play
In stroke play every shot counts, so one disaster hole can sink your round. In match play a disaster costs one hole. Stroke play is what tournaments use and what your handicap is built from, so it's the honest test of your game; match play is often more fun to play head to head.
Keep the pace up
For casual stroke play, many groups pick up once they reach a cap such as double par. For handicap rounds, the most a hole can count is net double bogey (par + 2 + any handicap strokes on that hole). See net double bogey.
Free Stroke 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.
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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.