The Blog

You add up off the tee, approach, around the green, and putting — and the number does not quite match the total. It is not a bug. Here is what is really going on under the hood.

Two numbers on the scorecard quietly govern every handicap, every net score, and every course handicap chart in the pro shop. Here is what they mean, where they come from, and how to read them.

Three handicap numbers. Three jobs. Most golfers can name them but cannot tell you which one to subtract from a gross score on tournament day. Here is the simple version, with examples.

Gross score is the raw number on your card. Net score is that number minus your handicap. The difference is small in math and huge in how golf gets scored at every club in the world.

Scrambling tells you how often you save par after missing the green. It is one of the oldest short-game stats in golf, and it hides more than it shows.

Most strokes gained tools only compare you to the PGA Tour. That number is honest but rarely useful. Here is when to use it, when to use an amateur baseline, and why a single app should give you both.