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A vs B			All Scores			Combined

Hole	Rank	Diff	Hole	Rank	Diff from Par	Hole	Combined	Rank	Current Hcp	Option 1	Option 2	Combined-Current	Combined - Option 1	Combined- Option 2	A vs B - Option 2	All Scores - Option 2	All scores - Option 1
1	14	0.4	1	15	0.9	1	14.5	16	10	13	16	6	3	0	-2	-1	2
2	5	0.8	2	16	0.8	2	10.5	11	14	17	12	-3	-6	-1	-7	4	-1
3	12	0.5	3	11	1.0	3	11.5	13	6	7	10	7	6	3	2	1	4
4	8	0.7	4	5	1.4	4	6.5	6	16	3	4	-10	3	2	4	1	2
5	18	0.3	5	12	1.0	5	15	17	18	11	18	-1	6	-1	0	-6	1
6	13	0.5	6	14	0.9	6	13.5	14	12	15	14	2	-1	0	-1	0	-1
7	7	0.8	7	9	1.1	7	8	7	2	9	8	5	-2	-1	-1	1	0
8	9	0.6	8	2	1.6	8	5.5	4	8	1	2	-4	3	2	7	0	1
9	11	0.5	9	8	1.1	9	9.5	9	4	5	6	5	4	3	5	2	3
10	15	0.4	10	13	1.0	10	14	15	11	12	15	4	3	0	0	-2	1
11	10	0.5	11	7	1.1	11	8.5	8	5	10	11	3	-2	-3	-1	-4	-3
12	17	0.3	12	3	1.6	12	10	10	1	2	3	9	8	7	14	0	1
13	2	1.1	13	4	1.4	13	3	1	9	4	1	-8	-3	0	1	3	0
14	4	1.0	14	17	0.8	14	10.5	12	3	14	13	9	-2	-1	-9	4	3
15	1	1.4	15	10	1.1	15	5.5	5	15	16	9	-10	-11	-4	-8	1	-6
16	3	1.0	16	6	1.3	16	4.5	3	13	8	7	-10	-5	-4	-4	-1	-2
17	16	0.4	17	18	0.6	17	17	18	17	18	17	1	0	1	-1	1	0
18	6	0.8	18	1	1.7	18	3.5	2	7	6	5	-5	-4	-3	1	-4	-5

									std dev			6.6	4.9	2.8	5.5	2.7	2.7

Section 17 ALLOCATION OF HANDICAP STROKES

17-1. Discretion of Committee

The following procedure is recommended for allocating handicap strokes. The procedure is not mandatory because it has minimal effect on handicaps. Good judgment is of prime importance because no formula can cover conditions on every golf course. The Handicap Committee should review the course hole by hole, bearing in mind that the basic principle is to equalize the abilities of golfers at different handicap levels. Men’s and women’s stroke allocations will usually be different because their needs to equalize holes will come on different holes. Common sense will dictate how closely the recommendations should be followed. A handicap stroke should be an equalizer and should be available on a hole where it most likely will be needed by the higher-handicapped player to obtain a half in singles or four-ball match play. Difficulty in making par on a hole is not an effective indicator of the need for a stroke.

In allocating the order of handicap strokes to the 18 holes of a golf course, consideration should be given to the likelihood of the strokes being equalizers rather than winning strokes. To accomplish this objective, the following guidelines are recommended:

a. Basis of Allocation

Allocate strokes based on play of the course from the tee-markers used most often by the majority of club members.

Allocate the first stroke to the hole on the first nine on which the higher-handicapped player most needs a stroke as an equalizer and the second stroke to the hole on the second nine on which the higher-handicapped player most needs a stroke as an equalizer. Alternate in this manner for the full 18 holes.

Generally the longer the hole, the greater the need for the higher-handicapped player to receive a stroke.

b. Distribution of Strokes

Odd Strokes/Even Strokes
The USGA recommends that the odd-numbered strokes be assigned to the holes on the first nine, and the even-numbered strokes to the holes on the second nine.
This format equalizes, as nearly as possible, the distribution of handicap strokes over the entire 18 holes, and makes matches more equitable. In a case where the second nine is decidedly more difficult than the first nine, consideration should be given to allocating odd-numbered strokes to the second nine.

Importance of Low Strokes
The first handicap stroke should be allocated so that this stroke is most useful in matches between players of almost equal ability, such as matches involving players with Course Handicaps of 0 and 1, 10 and 11, or 29 and 30. In such matches, the first handicap stroke will be of the greatest importance as an equalizer to the player receiving it.
In allocating the second handicap stroke, matches between players having a slightly greater difference in Course Handicaps should be given the most consideration, such as matches involving players with Course Handicaps of 0 and 2, 10 and 12, or 29 and 31. This process should be continued until the first six strokes have been assigned.

Without substantially deviating from the above principles, allocating low-numbered strokes to holes near the end of each nine should be avoided, so that players receiving strokes will have the opportunity to use these strokes before either nine or 18-hole matches are decided. Lower-numbered strokes should not be allocated to the first and second holes of a course in the event that a hole-by-hole play-off is necessary.

17-2. Allocation Based on Scores

A mathematical method for allocating strokes, based on the principle that a handicap stroke should be an equalizer when an average or high-handicapped player plays a low-handicapped player, follows. This procedure should be applied separately with men’s scores and women’s scores.

Collect about 200 hole-by-hole scores of a group of players (Group A) with Course Handicaps not exceeding 8 strokes for men and 14 strokes for women. A club having a limited number of low-handicapped players should use 200 scores from 25 percent of its players with the lowest Course Handicaps. These scores should not be adjusted by Equitable Stroke Control.
Average the score for each hole for Group A, and average the Course Handicaps of the players in Group A.
Collect about 200 hole-by-hole scores of a middle- to high-handicapped group of players (Group B). The average of the Course Handicaps of the players in Group B should be 15 to 20 strokes higher than the average for the players in Group A. It is preferable for the Course Handicaps of players in Group B to range from 20 to 28 strokes for men and from 26 to 40 strokes for women. These scores should not be adjusted by Equitable Stroke Control.
Average the score for each hole for Group B and average the Course Handicaps of the players in Group B.
Determine the difference in the average scores for each group on each hole by subtracting the average score of Group A from the average score of Group B.
List the holes in order from 1 through 18 with corresponding Group A average scores, Group B average scores and average score difference. Rank the holes with the hole having the highest average score difference first, and so on. The hole ranked number one is the hole on which the higher-handicapped player most needs a stroke. Continue the rankings through 18.
Modify the rankings of the holes, as based on average-score differences in accordance with Section 17-1b on distribution of strokes, and in accordance with Notes 1 and 2 below.
Note 1: Occasionally, this method will result in one hole (Hole A) ranked ahead of another hole (Hole B). The Committee believes that Hole B should be ranked ahead of Hole A. The Committee should first determine the average range by subtracting the average-score difference of the 18th ranked hole from the average-score difference of the 1st ranked hole and divide the result by 18. If the difference between the average-score differences of Holes A and B is no greater than the average range, it would be appropriate for the Committee to rank Hole B ahead of Hole A.

Note 2: A hole with a water hazard that presents a significant problem for high-handicapped players may be ranked as the first or second handicap-stroke hole based on its average-score difference. The Committee believes that this ranking is not justified when players of comparable ability are competing. In this instance, the Committee should downgrade the ranking of the hole. The Committee should always use good judgment in deciding what will give fair results.

17-3. Nine-Hole Courses

These principles also apply to a nine-hole course played twice for a stipulated 18-hole round.

17-4. 27-Hole Courses

On a 27-hole course, strokes should be allocated to each nine holes separately -- 1 through 9. When two nines are combined for a handicap competition, the odd stroke-hole allocations should fall on the nine holes considered the first nine, and the even stroke-hole allocations should fall on the second nine. The example below shows the stroke-hole allocation for two nines combined for a competition.

Sample Stroke Allocation

In mixed competition, the separate 9-hole stroke allocations for men and women should be converted to separate 18-hole stroke allocations.

	First Nine										Second Nine
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
9-Hole Allocation	5	4	9	2	8	1	3	7	6	4	9	2	1	3	5	6	8	7
18-Hole Allocation	9	7	17	3	15	1	5	13	11	8	18	4	2	6	10	12	16	14

17-5. Four-Ball and Best-Ball Stroke Play; Stableford

It may be appropriate to develop a separate allocation table based on difficulty relative to par for four-ball stroke play, best-ball-of-four stroke play, and Stableford competitions.

In such forms of play, golf clubs often have found that comparing hole difficulty in relationship to par provides an effective basis for stroke allocation. If the golf club has used the method based on scores as described in Section 17-2, the following method can be used for stroke play to determine the relative difficulty in relation to par for the holes on a golf course. It averages the difficulty of holes of group A and B players to produce a representative difficulty in relation to par of the holes:

Total the group A and B average score for each hole;

Subtract from this sum two times the par of each hole;

Rank each hole result from largest to smallest;

Do not modify the rankings of the holes.

Example of Allocation Method Based on Scores:

EXAMPLE FOR MEN Average Course Handicap of Group A: 6 Average Course Handicap of Group B: 22 Average Range = (2.38-.73)/18 = .09
Hole	Group A Average Score	Group B Average Score	Average Score Difference	Rank	* Modification Under Section 17-1b(i)	** Modification Under Section 17-1b(ii)
1	4.12	5.25	1.13	10	8	8
2	4.31	5.72	1.41	6	4	4
3	3.35	4.10	0.75	15	14	14
4	5.35	7.45	2.10	2	2	2
5	4.16	4.90	0.74	17	16	16
6	3.90	4.63	0.73	18	18	18
7	3.12	4.05	0.93	12	10	10
8	5.10	6.32	1.22	8	6	6
9	3.95	4.83	0.88	13	12	12
10	4.25	6.29	2.04	3	3	1
11	4.30	5.75	1.45	5	7	7
12	4.10	5.15	1.05	11	13	13
13	3.41	4.80	1.39	7	9	9
14	4.95	5.75	0.80	14	15	15
15	4.28	5.50	1.22	9	11	11
16	3.25	4.00	0.75	16	17	17
17	5.21	7.05	1.84	4	5	3
18	4.45	6.83	2.38	1	1	5
* Odd-numbered strokes allocated to the second nine because it is decidely more difficult than the first nine.
** Hole 18 allocated fifth handicap stroke instead of first, as recommended in Section 17-1b(ii)

Example of Allocation Method
Based on Difficulty Relative to Par

EXAMPLE FOR MEN
Hole	Par	Group A Average Score	Group B Average Score	Group A + B Score	Group A + B Score Minus 2 Par	Rank
1	5	5.25	6.52	11.77	1.77	10
2	3	3.46	3.96	7.42	1.42	14/15
3	4	4.76	5.57	10.33	2.33	4
4	4	4.69	5.89	10.58	2.58	2
5	4	4.50	5.56	10.06	2.06	6
6	5	5.28	6.61	11.89	1.89	7
7	4	3.96	4.74	8.70	0.70	18
8	3	3.38	4.04	7.42	1.42	14/15
9	4	4.22	5.06	9.28	1.28	16
10	5	5.21	6.53	11.74	1.74	11
11	3	3.50	4.13	7.63	1.63	12
12	4	4.70	5.84	10.54	2.54	3
13	4	4.77	6.24	11.01	3.01	1
14	4	4.62	5.51	10.13	2.13	5
15	5	5.34	6.46	11.80	1.80	9
16	4	4.33	4.93	9.26	1.26	17
17	3	3.54	4.30	7.84	1.84	8
18	4	4.37	5.11	9.48	1.48	13