Q.  When using my handicap does it matter on which holes I take the strokes?

A.  There is a sequence to which holes you use to take your handicap strokes.  Figure your course handicap then compare your course handicap to the "handicap" line on the scorecard.

On every scorecard there are two Handicap rows, one for men, and the other for women.  The numbers on that row represent the ranking of the holes for handicap purposes.

If your course handicap is "1," then you get a stroke only on the No. 1 handicap hole. If your course handicap is "2," then you get strokes on handicap holes Nos. 1 and 2, and so on.

So if your course handicap is 18, you get a stroke on every hole. If it's 9, you get a stroke on the top 9 handicap holes, but not on the bottom nine. If it's 27, you get one stroke on every hole, plus another stroke on the top nine handicap holes.

Certain handicap committee’s do their own rankings of holes based on a comparison of the scores of scratch golfers and bogey golfers over a set period of time.

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