In some goups I play with, everyone gets their full number of course handicap strokes, ie, if your course handicap is 12, you get 12 strokes where they fall on the card.
Other groups I play with determine which player has the fewest handicap strokes and then subtract his strokes from each of the other players handicap strokes, awarding the resulting net number of strokes to the player. In other words, let's say 2 guys are playing and "Joe" has a course handicap of 10 and "Bill" has a course handicap of 4. Bill's 4 strokes would be subtracted from Joe's 10 resulting in Joe receiving a stroke on the 6 lowest handicap holes, while Bill would not get any strokes.
My question is: Is one of these methods more acceptable than the other? Is there any credible source document that states one way to be used vs. the other?
Thanks for your help.