Work out your strokes
Search 13,000+ courses and pick your tees, or switch to Enter rating and slope and type the two numbers from the scorecard. Add up to three friends to see the strokes in your match.
Type a plus handicap with a +, like +1.5.
Pick a course and enter your handicap.
An estimate for casual and friendly golf. Your club or event committee has the final word on strokes. When you pick a course, the handicaps go to greensgolf.app only to work out the strokes, and aren't kept.
How the calculator works it out
Your handicap is measured against a course of average difficulty. The strokes you get today scale it to the tees you're playing. Officially that number is your course handicap, and the World Handicap System works it out like this:
Strokes = handicap × slope ÷ 113 + (course rating − par)
With a 14.2 handicap on tees rated 71.5 with a slope of 128, par 72: 14.2 × 128 ÷ 113 = 16.09, plus (71.5 − 72) = 15.59, which rounds to 16 strokes. On easier tees with a slope of 113 and a rating of 70.0, the same golfer gets 14.2 + (70.0 − 72) = 12.2, so 12.
The result rounds to the nearest whole stroke, with .5 rounding up. Slope runs from 55 to 155, and 113 is standard, so on harder tees you get more strokes than your handicap and on easier ones fewer. What slope and course rating mean.
Which holes you get strokes on
Every hole has a stroke index on the scorecard (often the row called Handicap), from 1 for the hardest hole to 18 for the easiest. With 16 strokes you get one on each hole from index 1 to 16 and none on the two easiest. With 20 you get one on every hole and a second on index 1 and 2.
A plus handicap works the other way: a +2 gives two strokes back, on the two easiest holes. The calculator shows those as +1.
When you pick a course, the calculator also shows the most each hole can count for your handicap: par + 2 + your strokes on that hole. That's net double bogey.
Allowances for events
For a casual round or a singles match you play off all your strokes. Competitions often use a share of them, called a playing handicap, so the field stays fair:
| Format | Allowance | 16 strokes becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Singles match play, casual rounds | 100% | 16 |
| Individual stroke play | 95% | 15 |
| Four-ball (best ball) match play | 90% | 14 |
| Four-ball (best ball) stroke play | 85% | 14 |
Playing nine holes
For nine holes, use half your handicap, the nine's rating and slope, and the nine's par. If the card only has 18-hole numbers, half the 18-hole rating with the 18-hole slope is a fair stand-in. Pick Front 9 or Back 9 for a course, or 9 holes when you type the numbers, and the calculator halves your handicap and the 18-hole rating and uses that nine's par. How nine-hole rounds count.
Strokes in a match
In a match, everyone plays off the lowest handicap in the group. The official way takes each player's strokes for the tees and gives the others the difference. If you get 16 and your friend gets 9, you get 7 strokes, on the holes with stroke index 1 to 7, and your friend plays off zero.
Many casual groups skip the course step and just use the difference between handicaps. The Greens app does that in its matches: the difference rounded down, then halved and rounded down again for nine holes. Switch the calculator to Like the Greens app to see those strokes. More on handicap strokes in match play.
Updated November 13, 2026 by the Greens team.