Is there a maximum score that golfers should take for any given hole during a round of golf? Yes—if the golfer has a USGA handicap index, and if the golfer is playing a round that he or she will turn in for handicap purposes.

The system and those maximum scores are called “Equitable Stroke Control,” often abbreviated to ESC.

ESC Score Limits: The Equitable Stroke Control Chart

Here is the chart that shows Equitable Stroke Control scoring limits, which are based on one’s course handicap:

Course Handicap Maximum Score

0-9 Double Bogey

10-19 7

20-29 8

30-39 9

40 or more 10

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you’ve determined your course handicap, you can check this chart to determine the ESC per-hole maximums.

Reading the chart is simple: If your course handicap is, for example, 23, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is eight. If your course handicap is five, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is a double bogey.

(This chart should also be posted or otherwise made available at golf courses that use the USGA Handicap System.)

What if you don’t yet have a handicap index, which means that you can’t figure a course handicap? In that case, use the USGA maximum handicaps—36.4 for men, 40.4 for women—to determine course handicap. Once you’ve established your own index, switch to using that to determine course handicap.

The Purpose of Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is a feature of the USGA Handicap System designed to minimize the effects of “disaster holes” on a golfer’s handicap index. You know: That one hole per round where you knock three balls in the water and then five-putt. The ESC score limits smooth out the potential effects of such a disaster hole on one’s handicap index.

For example, on that one disaster hole, you might have used 14 strokes to get the ball in the hole. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a “7” on the scorecard you submit to the handicap committee.

Including that 14 on your handicap score might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it’s meant to reflect your best potential.

You Still Have to Count All Your Strokes

Keep in mind that Equitable Stroke Control is a function of the USGA Handicap System; it is used by golfers who carry USGA handicaps who are playing rounds that will be turned in to a handicap committee. If you do not carry a USGA handicap or are playing a round that you won’t turn in for handicap purposes, ESC scoring limits don’t apply.

Also note that even when ESC limits are in use, golfers must still count all their strokes. If you score 89, you don’t get to claim to your buddies that you shot 79 because of ESC limits. Your score is the number of strokes you used. But the score you submit to a handicap committee is the total that results after you apply Equitable Stroke Control. (Within in the USGA Handicap System, the golfer’s score that results after applying Equtable Stroke Control limits is known as the adjusted gross score).

Featured Video

What Is the Highest Handicap a Golfer Can Have?

‘Adjusted Gross Score’ (and Who Needs to Care About It)

If You Want a Golf Handicap, You Need a Certain Number of Scores

Course Handicap: What Is It and How Is It Used?

How Golf Handicaps Work: Overview of Their Role and Function

What You Need to Know About Golf’s World Handicap System

Are 9-Hole Golf Scores or Incomplete Rounds OK for Handicap Scores?

How Is Golf Handicap Index Calculated? Here’s the Formula

A Net Score in Golf and How to Calculate It

What Do the Numbers on the ‘Handicap’ Row of the Scorecard Represent?

Golf Calculators to Estimate Your Handicap

Using the Callaway System Method for a 1-Day Golf Handicap

How the System 36 Handicap Formula Works in Golf

What Is a Scratch Golfer?

Handicap Differential in Golf

Explaining ‘Gross Score’ In Golf

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When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies

Is there a maximum score that golfers should take for any given hole during a round of golf? Yes—if the golfer has a USGA handicap index, and if the golfer is playing a round that he or she will turn in for handicap purposes.

The system and those maximum scores are called “Equitable Stroke Control,” often abbreviated to ESC.

ESC Score Limits: The Equitable Stroke Control Chart

Here is the chart that shows Equitable Stroke Control scoring limits, which are based on one’s course handicap:

Course Handicap Maximum Score

0-9 Double Bogey

10-19 7

20-29 8

30-39 9

40 or more 10

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you’ve determined your course handicap, you can check this chart to determine the ESC per-hole maximums.

Reading the chart is simple: If your course handicap is, for example, 23, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is eight. If your course handicap is five, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is a double bogey.

(This chart should also be posted or otherwise made available at golf courses that use the USGA Handicap System.)

What if you don’t yet have a handicap index, which means that you can’t figure a course handicap? In that case, use the USGA maximum handicaps—36.4 for men, 40.4 for women—to determine course handicap. Once you’ve established your own index, switch to using that to determine course handicap.

The Purpose of Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is a feature of the USGA Handicap System designed to minimize the effects of “disaster holes” on a golfer’s handicap index. You know: That one hole per round where you knock three balls in the water and then five-putt. The ESC score limits smooth out the potential effects of such a disaster hole on one’s handicap index.

For example, on that one disaster hole, you might have used 14 strokes to get the ball in the hole. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a “7” on the scorecard you submit to the handicap committee.

Including that 14 on your handicap score might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it’s meant to reflect your best potential.

You Still Have to Count All Your Strokes

Keep in mind that Equitable Stroke Control is a function of the USGA Handicap System; it is used by golfers who carry USGA handicaps who are playing rounds that will be turned in to a handicap committee. If you do not carry a USGA handicap or are playing a round that you won’t turn in for handicap purposes, ESC scoring limits don’t apply.

Also note that even when ESC limits are in use, golfers must still count all their strokes. If you score 89, you don’t get to claim to your buddies that you shot 79 because of ESC limits. Your score is the number of strokes you used. But the score you submit to a handicap committee is the total that results after you apply Equitable Stroke Control. (Within in the USGA Handicap System, the golfer’s score that results after applying Equtable Stroke Control limits is known as the adjusted gross score).

Featured Video

What Is the Highest Handicap a Golfer Can Have?

‘Adjusted Gross Score’ (and Who Needs to Care About It)

If You Want a Golf Handicap, You Need a Certain Number of Scores

Course Handicap: What Is It and How Is It Used?

How Golf Handicaps Work: Overview of Their Role and Function

What You Need to Know About Golf’s World Handicap System

Are 9-Hole Golf Scores or Incomplete Rounds OK for Handicap Scores?

How Is Golf Handicap Index Calculated? Here’s the Formula

A Net Score in Golf and How to Calculate It

What Do the Numbers on the ‘Handicap’ Row of the Scorecard Represent?

Golf Calculators to Estimate Your Handicap

Using the Callaway System Method for a 1-Day Golf Handicap

How the System 36 Handicap Formula Works in Golf

What Is a Scratch Golfer?

Handicap Differential in Golf

Explaining ‘Gross Score’ In Golf

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies

Is there a maximum score that golfers should take for any given hole during a round of golf? Yes—if the golfer has a USGA handicap index, and if the golfer is playing a round that he or she will turn in for handicap purposes.

The system and those maximum scores are called “Equitable Stroke Control,” often abbreviated to ESC.

ESC Score Limits: The Equitable Stroke Control Chart

Here is the chart that shows Equitable Stroke Control scoring limits, which are based on one’s course handicap:

Course Handicap Maximum Score

0-9 Double Bogey

10-19 7

20-29 8

30-39 9

40 or more 10

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you’ve determined your course handicap, you can check this chart to determine the ESC per-hole maximums.

Reading the chart is simple: If your course handicap is, for example, 23, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is eight. If your course handicap is five, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is a double bogey.

(This chart should also be posted or otherwise made available at golf courses that use the USGA Handicap System.)

What if you don’t yet have a handicap index, which means that you can’t figure a course handicap? In that case, use the USGA maximum handicaps—36.4 for men, 40.4 for women—to determine course handicap. Once you’ve established your own index, switch to using that to determine course handicap.

The Purpose of Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is a feature of the USGA Handicap System designed to minimize the effects of “disaster holes” on a golfer’s handicap index. You know: That one hole per round where you knock three balls in the water and then five-putt. The ESC score limits smooth out the potential effects of such a disaster hole on one’s handicap index.

For example, on that one disaster hole, you might have used 14 strokes to get the ball in the hole. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a “7” on the scorecard you submit to the handicap committee.

Including that 14 on your handicap score might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it’s meant to reflect your best potential.

You Still Have to Count All Your Strokes

Keep in mind that Equitable Stroke Control is a function of the USGA Handicap System; it is used by golfers who carry USGA handicaps who are playing rounds that will be turned in to a handicap committee. If you do not carry a USGA handicap or are playing a round that you won’t turn in for handicap purposes, ESC scoring limits don’t apply.

Also note that even when ESC limits are in use, golfers must still count all their strokes. If you score 89, you don’t get to claim to your buddies that you shot 79 because of ESC limits. Your score is the number of strokes you used. But the score you submit to a handicap committee is the total that results after you apply Equitable Stroke Control. (Within in the USGA Handicap System, the golfer’s score that results after applying Equtable Stroke Control limits is known as the adjusted gross score).

Is there a maximum score that golfers should take for any given hole during a round of golf? Yes—if the golfer has a USGA handicap index, and if the golfer is playing a round that he or she will turn in for handicap purposes.

The system and those maximum scores are called “Equitable Stroke Control,” often abbreviated to ESC.

ESC Score Limits: The Equitable Stroke Control Chart

Here is the chart that shows Equitable Stroke Control scoring limits, which are based on one’s course handicap:

Course Handicap Maximum Score

0-9 Double Bogey

10-19 7

20-29 8

30-39 9

40 or more 10

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you’ve determined your course handicap, you can check this chart to determine the ESC per-hole maximums.

Reading the chart is simple: If your course handicap is, for example, 23, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is eight. If your course handicap is five, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is a double bogey.

(This chart should also be posted or otherwise made available at golf courses that use the USGA Handicap System.)

What if you don’t yet have a handicap index, which means that you can’t figure a course handicap? In that case, use the USGA maximum handicaps—36.4 for men, 40.4 for women—to determine course handicap. Once you’ve established your own index, switch to using that to determine course handicap.

The Purpose of Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is a feature of the USGA Handicap System designed to minimize the effects of “disaster holes” on a golfer’s handicap index. You know: That one hole per round where you knock three balls in the water and then five-putt. The ESC score limits smooth out the potential effects of such a disaster hole on one’s handicap index.

For example, on that one disaster hole, you might have used 14 strokes to get the ball in the hole. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a “7” on the scorecard you submit to the handicap committee.

Including that 14 on your handicap score might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it’s meant to reflect your best potential.

You Still Have to Count All Your Strokes

Keep in mind that Equitable Stroke Control is a function of the USGA Handicap System; it is used by golfers who carry USGA handicaps who are playing rounds that will be turned in to a handicap committee. If you do not carry a USGA handicap or are playing a round that you won’t turn in for handicap purposes, ESC scoring limits don’t apply.

Also note that even when ESC limits are in use, golfers must still count all their strokes. If you score 89, you don’t get to claim to your buddies that you shot 79 because of ESC limits. Your score is the number of strokes you used. But the score you submit to a handicap committee is the total that results after you apply Equitable Stroke Control. (Within in the USGA Handicap System, the golfer’s score that results after applying Equtable Stroke Control limits is known as the adjusted gross score).

To determine the Equitable Stroke Control limits for your round, you must first know your course handicap. Once you’ve determined your course handicap, you can check this chart to determine the ESC per-hole maximums.

Reading the chart is simple: If your course handicap is, for example, 23, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is eight. If your course handicap is five, then the highest hole score you can turn in for handicap purposes is a double bogey.

(This chart should also be posted or otherwise made available at golf courses that use the USGA Handicap System.)

What if you don’t yet have a handicap index, which means that you can’t figure a course handicap? In that case, use the USGA maximum handicaps—36.4 for men, 40.4 for women—to determine course handicap. Once you’ve established your own index, switch to using that to determine course handicap.

The Purpose of Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is a feature of the USGA Handicap System designed to minimize the effects of “disaster holes” on a golfer’s handicap index. You know: That one hole per round where you knock three balls in the water and then five-putt. The ESC score limits smooth out the potential effects of such a disaster hole on one’s handicap index.

For example, on that one disaster hole, you might have used 14 strokes to get the ball in the hole. But based on your course handicap, ESC might require you to post only a “7” on the scorecard you submit to the handicap committee.

Including that 14 on your handicap score might throw your handicap index out of whack. And remember, the handicap index is not meant to reflect your average score, it’s meant to reflect your best potential.

You Still Have to Count All Your Strokes

Keep in mind that Equitable Stroke Control is a function of the USGA Handicap System; it is used by golfers who carry USGA handicaps who are playing rounds that will be turned in to a handicap committee. If you do not carry a USGA handicap or are playing a round that you won’t turn in for handicap purposes, ESC scoring limits don’t apply.

Also note that even when ESC limits are in use, golfers must still count all their strokes. If you score 89, you don’t get to claim to your buddies that you shot 79 because of ESC limits. Your score is the number of strokes you used. But the score you submit to a handicap committee is the total that results after you apply Equitable Stroke Control. (Within in the USGA Handicap System, the golfer’s score that results after applying Equtable Stroke Control limits is known as the adjusted gross score).

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  • What Is the Highest Handicap a Golfer Can Have?

  • ‘Adjusted Gross Score’ (and Who Needs to Care About It)

  • If You Want a Golf Handicap, You Need a Certain Number of Scores

  • Course Handicap: What Is It and How Is It Used?

  • How Golf Handicaps Work: Overview of Their Role and Function

  • What You Need to Know About Golf’s World Handicap System

  • Are 9-Hole Golf Scores or Incomplete Rounds OK for Handicap Scores?

  • How Is Golf Handicap Index Calculated? Here’s the Formula

  • A Net Score in Golf and How to Calculate It

  • What Do the Numbers on the ‘Handicap’ Row of the Scorecard Represent?

  • Golf Calculators to Estimate Your Handicap

  • Using the Callaway System Method for a 1-Day Golf Handicap

  • How the System 36 Handicap Formula Works in Golf

  • What Is a Scratch Golfer?

  • Handicap Differential in Golf

  • Explaining ‘Gross Score’ In Golf

What Is the Highest Handicap a Golfer Can Have?

What Is the Highest Handicap a Golfer Can Have?

‘Adjusted Gross Score’ (and Who Needs to Care About It)

‘Adjusted Gross Score’ (and Who Needs to Care About It)

If You Want a Golf Handicap, You Need a Certain Number of Scores

If You Want a Golf Handicap, You Need a Certain Number of Scores

Course Handicap: What Is It and How Is It Used?

Course Handicap: What Is It and How Is It Used?

How Golf Handicaps Work: Overview of Their Role and Function

How Golf Handicaps Work: Overview of Their Role and Function

What You Need to Know About Golf’s World Handicap System

What You Need to Know About Golf’s World Handicap System

Are 9-Hole Golf Scores or Incomplete Rounds OK for Handicap Scores?

Are 9-Hole Golf Scores or Incomplete Rounds OK for Handicap Scores?

How Is Golf Handicap Index Calculated? Here’s the Formula

How Is Golf Handicap Index Calculated? Here’s the Formula

A Net Score in Golf and How to Calculate It

A Net Score in Golf and How to Calculate It

What Do the Numbers on the ‘Handicap’ Row of the Scorecard Represent?

What Do the Numbers on the ‘Handicap’ Row of the Scorecard Represent?

Golf Calculators to Estimate Your Handicap

Golf Calculators to Estimate Your Handicap

Using the Callaway System Method for a 1-Day Golf Handicap

Using the Callaway System Method for a 1-Day Golf Handicap

How the System 36 Handicap Formula Works in Golf

How the System 36 Handicap Formula Works in Golf

What Is a Scratch Golfer?

What Is a Scratch Golfer?

Handicap Differential in Golf

Handicap Differential in Golf

Explaining ‘Gross Score’ In Golf

Explaining ‘Gross Score’ In Golf

Home

Entertainment

Careers

Activities

Humor

About Us Advertise Careers Privacy Policy Editorial Guidelines Contact Terms of Use EU Privacy

LiveAbout is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

Home

Home

Entertainment

Careers

Activities

Humor

About Us Advertise Careers Privacy Policy Editorial Guidelines Contact Terms of Use EU Privacy

  • About Us

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  • Careers

  • Privacy Policy

  • Editorial Guidelines

  • Contact

  • Terms of Use

  • EU Privacy

  • Entertainment

  • Careers

  • Activities

  • Humor

LiveAbout is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept Cookies