Stroke index explained: the numbers that decide your net score
The second set of numbers on the scorecard decides where your handicap strokes fall — and getting them wrong changes results silently. What stroke index means and how it is allocated.
Updated 22 July 2026 · 5 min read · Flagstick team
Every scorecard has two sets of numbers per hole: the par, and a second sequence running 1 to 18 in an apparently random order. That second sequence is the stroke index, and it decides where your handicap strokes fall.
It is also the most commonly mis-entered piece of data in golf competition software, and the errors are silent — the totals look plausible, they are just wrong for anyone who receives a stroke on the affected hole.
How strokes are allocated
Simple rule:
- Playing handicap n → one stroke on every hole with SI ≤ n.
- n > 18 → a second stroke on every hole with SI ≤ (n − 18).
- n = 0 → no strokes; net equals gross.
- Plus handicaps give strokes back, starting at SI 18 and working down.
Examples:
| Playing handicap | Strokes received |
|---|---|
| 4 | One stroke on SI 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| 14 | One stroke on SI 1–14 |
| 18 | One stroke on every hole |
| 22 | One stroke everywhere, two on SI 1–4 |
| 36 | Two strokes on every hole |
| +2 | Gives back a stroke on SI 18 and SI 17 |
Nine-hole rounds
For a nine-hole competition, halve the playing handicap (round half up) and apply it to the stroke indexes present on the nine you are playing.
Note that the front nine usually carries the odd stroke indexes and the back nine the even ones, or vice versa — so a nine-hole loop has stroke indexes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 rather than 1 to 9. Allocate against the numbers actually printed on those holes.
Some clubs publish a separate nine-hole stroke index. If yours does, use it.
How courses decide the stroke index
Not simply by length or by scoring average. The guiding principle is where a stroke is most useful to a higher handicapper, which is a subtler question.
The conventions most clubs follow:
- Spread the strokes. Low stroke indexes are distributed across the round rather than clustered, so a match is not decided in three holes.
- Odd on one nine, even on the other, so a nine-hole round gets a fair allocation.
- Avoid SI 1 or 2 on the first hole. Matchplay reasons: a stroke on the opening hole before anyone has warmed up distorts the match.
- Short par 3s get high stroke indexes. A stroke on a 140-yard par 3 helps the higher handicapper less than a stroke on a long par 4 — they can reach the green either way.
- Long par 4s and 5s get low ones. These are where the extra shot genuinely closes the gap.
This is why the stroke index does not simply track the stroke average, and why “but the 7th is the hardest hole” is not an argument against the card.
Why it matters more than people think
Consider two players, both 14 handicap, on a par 4.
If the hole is SI 14, both receive a stroke. If somebody has entered it as SI 15, neither does. Both players’ scores change on that hole, by one point each in Stableford, and the effect ripples through the leaderboard for everyone with a handicap between the correct and incorrect value.
Nobody notices. The scores look fine. They are just wrong.
It is the same class of silent error as getting the playing handicap wrong: the totals stay plausible, so nobody checks them.
This is why loading course data is the careful part of setting up competition software. Copy the pars and stroke indexes from the physical scorecard for the tees you play, and have a second person check them against a different copy.
Two specific traps:
- Men’s and women’s cards can differ. Some courses publish different stroke indexes for each.
- Different tees can differ, particularly where a hole plays as a different par from the forward tees.
Checking a course is loaded correctly
Three checks that catch nearly everything:
- Do the stroke indexes 1–18 each appear exactly once? A duplicate or a gap is the most common data entry error and it is trivially detectable.
- Do the pars sum to the course par on the card?
- Is the odd/even split across the nines right? If all the low numbers are on the front nine, something has been transcribed from the wrong column.
Any scoring system worth using should run the first two automatically and refuse to save a course that fails them.
Frequently asked questions
- What does stroke index 1 mean in golf?
- Stroke index 1 is the hole where handicap strokes are allocated first — the hole judged to be where an extra shot is most valuable to a higher handicapper. Every player with a playing handicap of 1 or more receives a stroke there. It is not necessarily the longest or statistically hardest hole.
- How many strokes do I get with an 18 handicap?
- One stroke on every hole, because every hole has a stroke index of 18 or lower. A handicap of 22 receives one stroke everywhere plus a second stroke on the holes with stroke index 1 through 4. A handicap of 36 receives two strokes on every hole.
- How does stroke index work over nine holes?
- Halve your playing handicap, rounding half up, and apply it to the stroke indexes actually printed on the nine holes you are playing. Since one nine usually carries the odd numbers and the other the even ones, a nine-hole loop typically has stroke indexes like 1, 3, 5 and so on rather than 1 through 9. Some clubs publish a separate nine-hole index — use it if they do.
- Why isn't stroke index 1 the hardest hole?
- Because the allocation is about where an extra shot most helps a higher handicapper, not about raw difficulty. A short par 3 is hard for everyone but a stroke there helps a 20-handicapper relatively little; a long par 4 is where the extra shot genuinely closes the gap. Clubs also spread low stroke indexes across the round and avoid putting them on the first hole for matchplay reasons.