Idiots guide to stroke index

[Mr Soane]

Speaking to my pro the other day during a lesson about an upcoming comp when he explained that I should play the game using my handicap and stroke index of the holes. At the moment I play off 19 so I've a shot on every hole, but take into account the stroke index of every hole, I should have an extra shot again on every hole -there is one SI 1 so do I get 2 shots on this? So do I have 37 exta shots before I even start?

[microcrayfish]

I don't think that's what he meant. You still only get 19 shots, you don't use your course handicap AND the stroke rating on top of each other, they're just related when allocating handicap strokes. Bearing in mind that there's different systems for different parts of the world and I'm not sure how it works where you are but our system works like this:

Your course handicap is spread out in relation to the stroke index of each hole. So if your course handicap is 18 then you get one extra shot on each hole, if you are scratch you don't get any extra shots, if it was was 36 you would get 2 extra shots on each hole. The holes with the higher stroke index get shots allocated to them first.

To take your example. If your course handicap is 19 then you get one shot on the holes ranked 2-18 based on the stroke index and 2 shots on the stroke 1 hole as it is supposed to be the hardest. If your handicap is 20 then you get 2 shots on the stroke 1 and 2 holes and 1 shot on holes 3-18 and so fourth for whatever your handicap is.

For my course handicap of 25 on my home course it works like this (the site won't let me spread the numbers out so it looks a bit messy):

Hole Number, Stroke, Shots I get,

1, 15, 1
2, 9, 1
3, 1, 2
4, 7, 2
5, 17, 1
6 3 2
7, 11, 1
8, 13, 1
9, 5, 2
10, 2, 2
11, 16, 1
12, 18, 1
13, 4, 2
14, 6, 2
15, 14, 1
16, 12, 1
17, 8, 1
18, 10, 1

Because my course handicap is 7 shots over 18 on the 7 hardest holes ranked by their stroke index I get 2 shots instead of 1. Hopefully I made that all clear enough to understand .

[clearwaterms]

I don't think that's what he meant. You still only get 19 shots, you don't use your course handicap AND the stroke rating on top of each other, they're just related when allocating handicap strokes. Bearing in mind that there's different systems for different parts of the world and I'm not sure how it works where you are but our system works like this:

It makes sense to me the way you laid it out.

I think the pro was talking about course management, play to your index. In otherwords, play the hardest hole on the course to get a double, and play the rest of the holes to get a bogey. If you do that, you should shoot 19 over for a 91. In other words, don't take chances and go for greens with carries / sucker pins, etc. If you do this, and you putter is working, then you will not make costly mistakes, and leave yourself in a good position, and a positive mental attitude. I play to an unofficial 18 handicap. My theory is that shooting 9 over perside is the goal. So on my home course this is what i try to do First hole, 415 yard par 4, pretty open. Hit the driver, hope to put it in play and have a shot of reaching in two, if not, play to lay up and put myself in position to get home in 3. I am playing for bogey Second hole, 400 yard par 4, tight dog leg right, water through the fairway, huge tree making it difficult to cut across (possible for bigger hitters with a FW) I have tried everything to get over the tree, 4 iron, 7 wood, etc. Nothing works. At this point, the best shot my best option is to take a hybrid and leave it at the middle of the dog leg about 210 into the green, and then lay up (water along the left hand side, alogn with dense trees means trouble on a sliced long club. Again, I am playng for bogey. I usually realize that if I can score an 11 on the first two holes, I have set myself up for shooting 45 on that course. The reason being for me, those are the two most difficult holes on the course, and I can usually make 3 pars on the remaining 7 holes. I have shot a best of 43 at that course, and my goal is to repeat it this year.