Blog · Rules

How to Keep Score in Golf

3 October 2026 · 5 min read

To keep score in golf, you count every stroke you take on each hole, add any penalty strokes, and write that number on the scorecard. At the end, you add the holes together. The lowest total wins in normal stroke play.

The only tricky parts are knowing what counts as a stroke and reading the card. Other formats, like Stableford scoring, still start from the strokes on your card.

What counts as a stroke

• Every swing at the ball counts, including the ones that go nowhere.
• A complete miss counts if you were trying to hit the ball.
• Every putt counts, however short, unless your opponent concedes it in match play.
• Penalty strokes count, such as one stroke for a ball in a penalty area or out of bounds. See golf penalty strokes explained.
• Practice swings don't count, as long as you weren't trying to hit the ball.

A useful habit is to count as you walk to your ball: "that's three, so this is my fourth".

Reading a scorecard

A typical scorecard has a column for each hole and rows for:

"Out" is the front nine and "In" is the back nine, from the days when courses went out from the clubhouse and came back in. If par is new to you, start with golf scoring explained: birdie, par, bogey.

Step by step

1. Write everyone's names on the card before you tee off.
2. Finish the hole, then walk off the green.
3. On the next tee, write down each player's score for the hole you just played. Doing it by the green holds up the group behind.
4. Check each other's numbers if anyone is unsure. Recounting shot by shot usually clears it up.
5. Add up the totals at the end.

A worked example

Here's a 9-hole card for one player on a par-32 course:

The player shot 36, which is 4 over par. The plus-or-minus row is optional, but shows at a glance how the round is going.

Scorecard symbols

Many golfers mark scores with shapes, and TV graphics use the same idea:

• Circle: birdie (one under par).
• Double circle: eagle or better.
• Square: bogey (one over par).
• Double square: double bogey or worse.

Signing the card in a competition

In a stroke play competition, someone else keeps your official score. This is your marker, often a playing partner, and you keep theirs.

• Your marker writes your score on each hole.
• At the end, you check every hole, then both of you sign the card.
• If you sign for a score lower than you took on any hole, you're disqualified.
• If you sign for a score higher than you took, the higher score stands.

You only need to get the hole scores right. The committee is responsible for adding them up and applying handicaps.

Try it in Mashy

Mashy keeps the card for you. The scorecard colours each hole by your score against par, and at the end of the round you can share it as a line of emoji, one per hole, coloured like the scorecard. Mashy courses are 9 holes of par 3s and par 4s, with course pars from 27 to 32, so a round is a quick way to get used to reading a card and thinking in "over" and "under".