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Golf strokes received per hole calculator by stroke index

A course handicap of 20 over eighteen holes means one stroke on every hole and a second on stroke indexes 1 and 2. Enter your handicap and the card's index order to see each hole's allowance. Free in your browser.

Free
Runs in your browser
No sign-up
Your data stays on your device

Run — free How it works & API

Use it from WebAPIEmailTelegramApp soon

Worked example

If you enter

Course handicap: 20

You get

Hole count: 18
Full strokes per hole: 1
Extra strokes: 2
Total strokes received: 20

This golf strokes received per hole calculator turns a signed course handicap and a course stroke-index sequence into a clear hole-by-hole allowance. It handles nine-hole and eighteen-hole rounds, handicaps larger than the hole count, scratch players, and plus handicaps that give strokes back. The result shows every hole number, its stroke index, and its signed stroke allowance, along with useful round totals. The calculation is deterministic and runs without course lookups, so you can use the printed index order from any scorecard.

Enter the course handicap and scorecard indexes

Start with the signed course handicap that applies to the round or match. Use a positive number when the player receives strokes, zero for a scratch allowance, and a negative number for a plus player who gives strokes. Then enter the stroke indexes in scorecard hole order.

An eighteen-hole card must contain every integer from 1 through 18 exactly once; a nine-hole card must contain every integer from 1 through 9 exactly once. The first array value belongs to hole 1, the second to hole 2, and so on. Stroke index 1 identifies the hole ranked first for allocating a received stroke, not necessarily the hardest hole in a general statistical sense.

This distinction matters because committees assign stroke indexes to support equitable match play across the round. The calculator deliberately does not guess indexes from par, yardage, or hole difficulty. Copy the official sequence from the card so the allocation matches the course setup and the tees or competition being played.

If an index is missing, repeated, outside the valid range, or the list is not exactly nine or eighteen holes long, the input is rejected rather than silently repaired.

Understand how strokes are distributed

For a positive course handicap, every complete multiple of the hole count gives one stroke on every hole. Any remainder is then assigned beginning with stroke index 1. For example, a course handicap of 20 over eighteen holes gives one stroke everywhere and a second stroke on the holes indexed 1 and 2.

A handicap of 7 gives one stroke only on indexes 1 through 7. This quotient-and-remainder method also makes larger allowances unambiguous: 38 means two strokes everywhere, with a third on indexes 1 and 2. A negative course handicap is represented with negative per-hole values because those strokes are given rather than received.

In that case, remainder strokes begin at the highest stroke indexes: a course handicap of -2 gives one stroke on indexes 17 and 18 in an eighteen-hole round. That convention keeps the sign and allocation visible in automated results. A zero handicap produces zero for every hole.

The returned full-strokes value describes the common allowance across all holes, while the signed remainder shows how many additional allocations appear in the detailed list. The hole values always sum exactly to the supplied course handicap.

Use the result on a card or in a match workflow

A value of 0 means no handicap adjustment on that hole, 1 means one stroke is received, 2 means two are received, and -1 means one stroke is given. The output distributes the supplied course handicap; it does not calculate a Handicap Index, apply a Slope Rating, choose a handicap allowance percentage, or determine the difference between two players. Perform those competition-specific steps first and pass the resulting signed course handicap or stroke difference here.

In individual match play, a common workflow is to determine the playing-handicap difference and allocate that number from the relevant stroke indexes. Formats, committees, and governing-body procedures may require a different preliminary calculation, especially for teams, mixed tees, or nine-hole adjustments, so the official competition terms remain authoritative.

What you can do with it

Mark a match-play scorecard

Turn the agreed playing-handicap difference into an allowance beside each hole before the match begins.

Build a golf scoring screen

Generate deterministic per-hole handicap values for a scorecard interface from the course's official stroke-index order.

Check multi-stroke allocations

Confirm where second or third strokes fall when a course handicap exceeds the number of holes.

FAQ

What input handicap should I use?

Use the signed course handicap, playing-handicap difference, or other final allowance required by your format. This calculator distributes that number; it does not derive it from a Handicap Index.

How are handicaps above 18 handled?

Each full block of eighteen gives one stroke on every hole, and the remainder starts again at stroke index 1. The same rule uses blocks of nine for a nine-hole round.

How are plus handicaps handled?

Enter them as negative numbers. Whole blocks produce a negative stroke on every hole, and remainder strokes are given on the highest stroke indexes first.

Must the stroke indexes be in numerical order?

No. Enter them in hole order exactly as printed on the scorecard. The values themselves must form a complete, non-repeating set from 1 through 9 or 1 through 18.

Does stroke index always mean the hardest hole?

Not necessarily. Stroke indexes are an allocation order established for handicap play and may reflect factors beyond a simple ranking of average hole difficulty.

Related tools

For developers — API access

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

API endpoint

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.

Call it from your stack

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"course_handicap":20,"stroke_indexes":[10,2,14,6,18,8,4,12,16,9,1,13,5,17,7,3,11,15]}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "course_handicap": 20,
    "stroke_indexes": [
      10,
      2,
      14,
      6,
      18,
      8,
      4,
      12,
      16,
      9,
      1,
      13,
      5,
      17,
      7,
      3,
      11,
      15
    ]
  })
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
    json={
    "course_handicap": 20,
    "stroke_indexes": [
        10,
        2,
        14,
        6,
        18,
        8,
        4,
        12,
        16,
        9,
        1,
        13,
        5,
        17,
        7,
        3,
        11,
        15
    ]
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]

<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received", false, stream_context_create([
  "http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
    "content" => '{"course_handicap":20,"stroke_indexes":[10,2,14,6,18,8,4,12,16,9,1,13,5,17,7,3,11,15]}',
  ],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);

body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"course_handicap":20,"stroke_indexes":[10,2,14,6,18,8,4,12,16,9,1,13,5,17,7,3,11,15]}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/hobby/sport-golf-strokes-received", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

Example request

{
  "course_handicap": 20,
  "stroke_indexes": [
    10,
    2,
    14,
    6,
    18,
    8,
    4,
    12,
    16,
    9,
    1,
    13,
    5,
    17,
    7,
    3,
    11,
    15
  ]
}

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "hobby.sport_golf_strokes_received",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Pricing

Per request$0.002

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

Limits

`max_holes`	18
`max_absolute_handicap`	54

Errors

HTTP	Code	Meaning
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing or invalid API key.
`402`	`insufficient_balance`	Your balance doesn't cover the task price.
`404`	`unknown_type`	That task type doesn't exist.
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.

Technical notes

Use the result on a card or in a match workflow

Read the holes array in playing order and place the strokes_received value beside the appropriate hole on a scorecard, match sheet, or scoring screen. Browser use is free, while an API request uses the published base price of $0.002.

Technical questions

What does an API calculation cost?

Each API request costs $0.002. The browser calculator is free to run.

Read the full KIT documentation →

Run — free

Worked example

Enter the course handicap and scorecard indexes

Understand how strokes are distributed

Use the result on a card or in a match workflow

What you can do with it

Mark a match-play scorecard

Build a golf scoring screen

Check multi-stroke allocations

FAQ

Related tools

For developers — API access

API endpoint

Call it from your stack

Example request

Example response

Pricing

Limits

Errors

Technical notes

Use the result on a card or in a match workflow

Technical questions

thank you