Count every shot — but settle on net
Stroke play is the format everything else is measured against: you count every stroke on every hole — including penalties — and the lowest total wins. That total is your gross score.
On a trip, gross alone is unfair: the scratch player wins every time and the rest of the group is just paying for the privilege. So you settle on net— your gross minus the handicap strokes you receive. Net is what makes stroke play a real game across mixed abilities, and it's the number GolfTrip puts on the leaderboard.
Gross vs. net, on one hole
Say two players reach a tough par-4 — the hardest hole on the card, so it's the No. 1 stroke-index hole:
| Player | Gross | Strokes received | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scratch (0 handicap) | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 14-handicap | 5 | 1 | 4 |
The scratch player makes a clean par; the 14-handicap makes a bogey 5 but receives a stroke on this hole, so their net is a 4 as well. The hole is halved on net even though the gross scores differ — that's the whole point. Do that across 18 holes and the lowest net total wins.
How the strokes get allocated
Your course handicapis how many strokes you get for the round. Those strokes are doled out one hole at a time by the scorecard's stroke-index column — hardest hole gets the first stroke, second-hardest the next, and so on. A 14-handicap gets a stroke on the 14 hardest holes; a 24-handicap gets one on every hole plus a second on the six hardest.
GolfTrip handles all of this from the course's stroke index automatically — you enter your gross score and the app computes net hole-by-hole, so nobody's doing subtraction in the cart.
Stroke play vs. the other formats
- vs. Stableford— Stableford converts each hole to points with a floor, so one blow-up hole can't wreck your card. Stroke play has no floor: every shot counts, and a snowman on a par-4 is eight strokes whether you like it or not.
- vs. Match play — Match play is hole-by-hole, so the most you can lose on any single hole is that hole. Stroke play is cumulative, so a big number anywhere hurts the whole round.
- vs. Best ball & Scramble — those are team formats built on the same counting; stroke play is the individual baseline they sit on top of.
Common questions
What's the difference between gross and net in stroke play?
Gross is every stroke you actually took. Net subtracts the handicap strokes you receive, so players of different abilities compete fairly. A 12-handicap who shoots 84 gross posts a 72 net — the same as a scratch player who shoots 72 gross. On a trip, net is what you settle on.
How do handicaps work in stroke play?
Your course handicap is the number of strokes you get for the round, allocated to specific holes by the scorecard's stroke-index column (hardest hole first). On a hole where you get a stroke, your net score is one less than your gross. Lowest net total over 18 wins.
Is stroke play the same as medal play?
Yes — "medal play" is just the traditional name for stroke play: you count every shot and the lowest total wins. It is the format used for almost every professional tournament and the one nearly every other golf game is built on top of.
When to pick stroke play for your trip
Pick stroke play when you want the purest, most familiar game — everyone plays their own ball, counts honestly, and the lowest net wins. It's the right default for a group that just wants to play golf and keep a clean leaderboard, and it's the foundation almost every side game (Skins, Nassau, Wolf) rides on top of. The only caution: with no scoring floor, a rough day shows up in full on the card — which is exactly why some groups reach for Stableford on the back half of a trip.