Equitable Stroke Control


Equitable Stroke Control was a component of some golf handicapping systems that were in use prior to the implementation of the World Handicap System in 2020. It was used to adjust recorded scores in order to more accurately calculate a player's handicap. Its purpose was to avoid one or more very high scores on individual holes inflating the handicap calculation.
Equitable stroke control was a sliding scale system, based on the course handicap of the golfer.

Equitable Stroke Control table

Under the USGA Handicap System, the maximum score per hole for handicapping purposes was as follows:
Course HandicapMaximum Score per Hole
up to 92 over par
10 through 197
20 through 298
30 through 399
40 or higher10

For example, if a golfer with a course handicap of 8, shot a score of 83, but that score includes a six on a par 3 then the posted score should be only 82. However, if a golfer with a course handicap of 11 had the same score, the proper score to post would be 83.

Golf Canada

In April 2012, Golf Canada adopted the same ESC table as the USGA. Before then, the following table was used:
Course HandicapMaximum Score per Hole
up to 01 over par
1 through 182 over par
19 through 323 over par
33 or higher4 over par

Other methods

South Africa

Before October 2019, the GolfRSA Handicap System used a similar method for eliminating the impact on high hole scores on handicap calculations. Called Adjusted Gross, it used the following maximum scores per hole:
Course HandicapMaximum Score per Hole
18 or less2 over par
19 or higher3 over par

In October 2019, net double bogey was adopted as the maximum score per hole.

Net double bogey

Most other handicap systems that incorporate mitigation for high hole scores, do so by means of net double bogey as the maximum score per hole. This method is also known as Stableford Points Adjustment as it is the lowest number of strokes that would award zero points under the Stableford scoring system.