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Help and Frequently Asked Questions
Click on a topic below to be taken to the relevant questions. Click on a question to expand out the answer.Help Topics
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Entering a Score
MyScorecard is designed to make entering a score as easy as possible. Simply fill in the form and press the Add Score Button.When should I enter?
| Yes, you can import previous scores into your Scorecard. Simply enter them with the correct date. Your handicap becomes more accurate after 20 scores, so the more you can enter at the beginning, the more accurate your handicap will be. |
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If you keep an 18-hole handicap, you can still enter a 9-hole score. Just check the "9-hole score" checkbox, and make sure that you enter either the 9-hole rating of the side you played, or half the 18-hole rating (The slope remains the same). MyScorecard will keep your 9-hole score in a "holding pen" at the bottom of your Scorecard (in grey). As long as your 9-hole score is newer than your 20th 18-hole score, it will be kept in the holding pen (older 9-hole scores will drop out of your holding pen, but be kept in your Score History). The next time you enter a 9-hole score, MyScorecard will automatically combine the two together. Your 9-hole score will disappear from the holding pen and be replaced with a combined Score that will be marked with a "C" (for Combined Nine Hole Score). Note that if you play an 18 hole round on a 9-hole course (played the course twice), you should enter the score as an 18 hole round (double the rating but leave the slope the same). |
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The par of the course is not used directly in the handicap calculation. It is the rating and the slope that are used to calculate a handicap. These numbers taken into account the difficulty of the course - so a course with lower par, will have its shorter distance and difficulty reflected in the rating and slope. So, if the course you play (which may have a par of 66) has a slope and a rating (the rating is usually between 60 and 75, while the slope is usually between 100 and 130), you can enter those numbers and MyScorecard will successfully calculate your handicap. |
| Yes, the USGA has very specific rules for posting incomplete rounds. You should post a score when you play at least 13 holes. On the holes you didn't play, record a par plus any handicap strokes you would have received. For example, let's say you did not finish the 18th hole, a par 4, because of darkness.If that hole was the 11th handicap hole and your course handicap is a 7, you would post a 4 (because you would post a par plus 1 stroke on the 7 hardest holes). If your course handicap was 14 (or a 28), you would post a 5 (because you would post par + 1 stroke on the 14 hardest holes). If your course handicap was 30, you would post a 6 (because you would post par plus 2 strokes on the 12 hardest holes and 1 stroke on the other 6, for a total of 30). |
| Unfortunately there are no exceptions. You should enter the scores from every round you play. You could imagine that everyone has off days, whether it is with clients or the weather, or they have something on their mind. But this is why the handicap takes into account your best ten scores rather than all your scores. So you should enter in every score - and rest assured that everyone else is too. |
| If you are located in a northern region, most likely your state will have an active and inactive season. It is important that you do not post scores during the inactive season . (If you belong to an Official Club, you can view the start and end dates of your season on the club profile page by going to your clubhouse page selecting "View Club Profile" from the Club Actions menu). During the winter months, you will see an "inactive" checkbox appear on your Scorecard. The checkbox will allow you to post an inactive score - those scores will be posted directly to your Score History, and not show up on your main Scorecard, and they will not be included in the calculation of your handicap. Note, however, that this only applies to scores played in an inactive region. If you live in Boston but played a round in Florida (which has a year-round season), then you would not check the box but instead enter the scores as usual. If you have any other questions about active and inactive seasons, please do not hesitate to contact us. |
| Out of Season scores appear on your Score History Only. If you have entered an Out of Season score, at the bottom of your Score History page you will see a dropdown that lists your all of Out of Season scores. You can select the score you wish to delete and press the delete button (to the right of the dropdown) to remove it. |
| Because you do not play your own ball in a scramble (some shots may be hit by other players of different skill), you cannot record your score for handicap purposes. Unfortunately there is no better answer to this question. |
What should I enter?
| Only three pieces of information are truly needed to calculate a handicap: The score, the slope, and the rating. The rest are optional, although we would recommend that you do enter the date, course name, and tee color. |
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This question leads into an important concept in calculating your handicap, called Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) . Sometimes you may have a bad hole-a really bad hole. You end up shooting a 100 because of a 13 on a par 3. Your handicap may actually rise, but your potential shouldn't change because of one bad hole. So when entering your score, we adjust it for this bad hole. Please note that this is not the same as saying you shot anything other than 100. That's what you shot. But when entering your score into MyScorecard, you adjust the score you enter downward according to the following table: To make things easier, your Course Handicap page will calculate your ESC, along with your course handicap, for each course your have played. | ||||||||||||
| Your ESC should be based off of your course handicap. So, if you are an 18 handicap (ESC max of 7) but play on a course with a slope of 130, your course handicap will be 20, and thus you should employ an ESC max of 8. To make things easier, your Course Handicap page will calculate your ESC, along with your course handicap, for each course your have played. |
| There is no difference in the calculation of Canadian and U.S. handicaps. There used to be a difference in the maximum scores used in equitable stroke control, but as of March 2012, that is no longer the case. Canadians should adjust their scores when entering them into MyScorecard in the same manner as our American members. |
| The easiest place to find the slope and rating numbers are on the scorecard itself. They should be listed next to the tee colors or the back of the card. Most ratings lie between 65 and 75, and slopes fall between 110 and 130; You can check with the pro shop when you sign in or after your round; Another option is to use the MyScorecard Course Database, by clicking the 'Lookup Course' link next to the text box where you enter the course name. |
| While almost all U.S. courses have listed slope numbers, many international courses (and even some American courses) do not. If this is the case, enter 113 for the slope. Why? The handicap calculation includes the formula (113/slope). Entering 113 turns this ratio to 1 and removes the slope from figuring in the calculation. |
| Unfortunately, you need at least a course rating to enter a score for your handicap. Some executive courses, par 3s, and new courses do not have ratings. If a course is unrated, you cannot enter it into your Scorecard. We are sorry there is not a better answer. |
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While we are continually working to update and information from all possible golf courses, with 16,000 courses in the United States, 4,000+ in Canada, and many more around the world, there will be times where our information is out of date or not there. In that case, we rely on members of the MyScorecard community, like you, to help us ensure our information is accurate. You are welcome to enter or update information in the database - just look up the course, click on the link to view the full course profile, and then click on the edit tab. You will then have a chance to update the information on a given tee, or if it is not listed you are welcome to add in a new one. |
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Tournament scores are one of the checks and balances that are built into your handicap. A "tournament score" is made in a formal competition, which is organized by a committee and identifies a winner based on one or more specific rounds. Regular plays (like your Sunday match-up) do not count as tournament scores. Organized events by or between clubs or association, such as best ball, club championships, or association tournaments count as formal tournaments. Usually the organizing committee will announce up-front that the round will count as a tournament or "T" score. It is important to properly record tournament scores, as they will have an additional impact on the handicap calculation if you perform particularly well. To enter a tournament score, simply click on the checkbox labeled "tournament." Your score will appear with a "T" next to it, and your Scorecard will take care of the calculation. |
| Tee colors are not used in the handicap calculation. If you choose a tee from a course in our course database, most tees should be listed. You are welcome to email us and we will add the missing tee - or you can click to see the course profile, then click the edit course tab and add in the tee yourself. If you are entering the tee directly, our dropdown lists the tee colors most used by golf courses. If you have a rose or pink tee, you can always use the red tee as an approximation. |
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Note that if you play from tees of the opposite gender, you cannot use their slope and rating information. A woman may play the red tees and have a slope and rating of 70.1/129 where as a man playing from the same tees might have a slope and rating of 67.3/118. In some cases, the course may have an appropriate slope and rating from the opposite gender tees (e.g. a slope and rating for ladies playing from the mens white tees). If the information is not listed in our course database, you are welcome to add it by going to the course profile page and clicking on the update/confirm button. If the course does not have that information, you can still enter that information by taking the slope and rating from the nearest set of tees for your gender and calculating and adjustment factor. Please see our Playing from Unrated Tees article for more information. |
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If you play in a different region where you are within season, then you should post that score. For example, say you belong to a club in New York, but play in Florida during the winter. Because Florida has a year-round season, you should post your score even though the New York season is over. In contrast, if you played in New York after the season is over, you have two options: 1) Do not post the score. 2) If you wish to track the score you can check the out of season checkbox - your Score will be transferred to your Score History (so you have a record), but will not appear in on your Main Scorecard, your Handicap Card or be used to calculate your handicap. |
Statistics
| The link for the full list of definitions for each statistic is located on the Preferences page just below where you choose the different statistics. |
| You can track up to 10 different statistics by visiting your Preferences page, including putts, fairways hit on the drive, greens in regulation, and many more. |
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Certain statistics have two fields (X/Y) - Fairways, for example, has one input for the number of fairways you hit for the round, and one for the number of attempted fairways (usually all the par 4 and par 5 holes on the golf course). The reason we allow you to enter the number of attempted fairways is that some golf courses have more than four par 3s, which decreases the number of fairways attempted. Lets say you play a golf course that has exactly four par 3s, and let us imagine that you hit the fairway 10 times. In the first box, you would enter 10. In the second box, after the "/", you would enter 14, the total number of fairways attempted. Your average number of fairways per round will be calculated at the bottom of the column, so it is crucial that you enter in the number of attempts for each round. |
| The statistics you track can be updated by going to the Preferences page. Note that if you replace a statistic you are currently tracking, the information associated with the old statistic will be deleted. You can track up to 10 statistics in total, but we will be enabling more detailed tracking through hole by hole scoring, which is coming soon. |
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Definitions of fairways in regulation, greens in regulation, and where putts count for statistical purposes can be found in the Handicap Decoded section |
| MyScorecard calculates your average putts on a PER HOLE basis. For most golfers the number should hover around 2. To calculate your putts per round, multiply the average by 18. |
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Most likely you have not entered in all the required information for the fairways statistic. When you enter your fairways hit, you will notice that there are two boxes to be filled, separated by a "/" symbol. In the box to the left of the "/", enter in the number of fairways you hit. In the box to the right of the "/", enter the number attempted (the total number of par 4s and 5s). It used to be that we only had room for "number hit" and the system just assumed that the number attempted was 14, but this gave a slightly inaccurate statistic since some courses have fewer than 14, or more than 14, par 4s and 5s. Now you can account for that by entering in the number attempted. If you would like to update your statistics, you can do so by clicking on the edit scores link just below your scorecard. Once you make the update so that there is a denominator for all of your fairways, the overall percentage hit will appear at the bottom of your Scorecard. |
Additional Information - What else can I enter? How do I edit? How do I delete?
| Yes. You can choose to enter scores either at the total score level or on a hole by hole basis. If you would like to enter hole by hole scores, then you should choose the course from our course database (so we can pull up the scorecard for you to fill out) and then click on the Enter Hole by Hole score link in the add score section of your Scorecard page. |
| If you have an 18-hole Scorecard, 9-hole scores must be combined. This is not only a requirement of the USGA calculation, it is essential because of how the handicap formula works. In a simplified sense, your handicap is based off your score minus the course rating (for an article explaining the full handicap formula, please see the Handicap Decoded section of the Knowledge Center) which means that a score of 80 minus a rating of 70 equals a handicap of 10, while a 40 minus a rating of 35 equals a handicap of 5. Therefore, an 18-hole handicap card must have all scores kept as 18-hole scores. MyScorecard will automatically combine all 9-hole scores within your last 20 scores based on the USGA handicap guidelines. If you wish to keep track of front and back 9 scores, you can use the notes section or track the front 9 and back 9 as separate statistics. |
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Yes. You can choose to track back 9 and front 9 scores as statistics by going to the Preferences page. More on statistics can be found under the Statistics Help/Faq topic. |
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You can edit your tees, statistics and notes by clicking on the edit scores link underneath your scorecard. To edit your score, rating or slope, or date (anything that will impact the handicap calculation) you need to delete and re-enter the score. Why? The explanation lies in the old golf saying: "There is a reason why golf pencils have no erasers." While creating the site, our members told us that it should not be "too" easy to modify scores, because people might tweak their handicaps before a game to gain a stroke or two. As a result, to make one change is easy (just delete and add the score back in) but to make major changes is difficult. We understand how certain changes can become tedious if you need to readjust all of your scores. If you need to make many changes (e.g., you made a mistake entering the slope of a course), please let us know and we can help you make them. |
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If you scroll down below the add a score section of your Scorecard, you will a dropdown that will allow you to delete a score. Scores are ordered by date in the same manner as your scorecard, with the most recent entry at the top. Only your last 50 scores are entered - you will need to contact us if you wish to delete an older score. Note that Out of Season scores are not listed - these can be deleted on the Score History page. Just scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see a similar dropdown that lists your out of season scores. |
| Deleting a 9-hole score is performed in the same manner as deleting a regular score. Just scroll below the add score section of your Scorecard to the Delete Score dropdown and select your 9-hole score. Because the scores in the dropdown are ordered by date, your score may not be at the bottom of the list, but instead will be in the proper spot according to the date of the round. |
| The delete dropdown will display your last 50 scores. To delete older scores, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you. |
Technical Problems
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If you are trying to enter a score but instead are taken back to the login page, then most likely your browser currently does not accept 'cookies.' This can often happen if you are running a firewall or have chosen higher security/privacy settings on your browser. Cookies are small bits of information that a server providers to the browser in order to maintain the 'session' or connection. Most browsers give you the ability to accept cookies in the Preferences menu (either overall, or for specific sites). Try enabling your browser to accept cookies. For internet explorer (IE), the cookies preferences can be found by choosing Internet Options from the Tools menu. When the Internet Options dialog box comes up, choose the Privacy Tab. Now you have a choice of enabling cookies for just the MyScorecard site or for all sites. To enable cookies for MyScorecard: Press the Edit button on the lower right hand part of the box, enter www.MyScorecard.com in the address box that appears, and press the Allow button. You should see 'Myscorecard.com' appear on the left. Then press the OK button until you have closed the open dialog boxes. To enable cookies for All sites: For the newer versions of IE, you should see a vertical slide bar. You can now lower your privacy setting to Medium, which will ask you to allow cookies next time MyScorecard loads (as well as for many other sites). Otherwise, you can press the Edit button on the lower right hand part of the box, enter www.MyScorecard.com in the address box that appears, and press the Allow button. If you allow cookies for MyScorecard.com, and does not fix the problem, please contact us for further assistance. |
| Scores will post immediately to your Scorecard. Scores will post to your handicap card only on revision dates. These are dates that are set by your Regional Association. You can view your revision dates by going to your Clubhouse and selecting "View Club Profile" from your "Club Actions" menu. |