How does the Callaway System work?

Add up the gross, look it up in the Callaway table, deduct that many of the worst holes and apply the table's adjustment. The result is the handicap for that round.

Can your worst hole always be deducted?

Only up to double its par, and never if it was one of the last two holes. Both rules are part of the system.

Why are the last two holes protected?

So a player who knows their bad holes are already covered has no reason to ease off coming in.

Does Callaway need setting up before the round?

No. It reads the finished card, so Parful computes it on every outing and the organizer decides afterwards whether to use it.

Handicaps and scoring

Parful runs this

Callaway System

Also called Callaway handicap, Callaway scoring.

The Callaway System gives a player a handicap by throwing out their worst holes. How many are deducted depends on their gross score, read off a table, and an adjustment is applied at the end. The last two holes can never be thrown out.

Based on: The gross score, read off a table
Deducts: Between none and six of the worst holes
Hole cap: No hole counts at more than double its par
Protected holes: The last two are never deducted
Adjustment: Between minus 2 and plus 2, from the same table
On Parful: Computed on every outing, offered in Results

How Callaway works

1Add up the gross score for the round.
2Find that score in the table. It gives a number of worst holes to deduct, from none up to six, sometimes with a half.
3Deduct that many of the player's worst holes, taking the highest scores first. A half means half that hole's score.
4Apply the adjustment from the same row, between minus 2 and plus 2.
5The result is the handicap for the day.

The two rules that keep it honest

No hole may be deducted at more than double its par. A twelve on a par 4 is thrown out as an 8, so a single catastrophe cannot buy a huge handicap. Without that rule the system rewards one wild hole more than a steady round.

The last two holes can never be deducted. That stops a player who knows their worst holes are already covered from easing off coming in. Both rules are part of the system rather than optional refinements, and Parful applies both.

How Parful runs it

Parful computes Callaway for every player on every completed outing. It appears only when an organizer opens the guest-day panel in Results, so a club that never runs one never sees it.

Each row shows the gross, which holes were deducted and at what value, the adjustment applied, and the resulting handicap and net. An organizer can therefore explain the number to the player who lost, which is the only test that matters on a charity day. The deduction table is held as data, so a club running a house variant can be given one without changing the system for everybody.

Worked example

A worked example: a 98 on a par 72

A gross of 98 falls in the 96 to 100 band: three worst holes deducted, no adjustment. The player's three worst holes were a 9 on a par 3, an 8 on a par 4 and an 8 on a par 5.

Hole	Par	Gross	Deducted at	Why
3	3	9	6	Capped at double par
8	4	8	8	Under double par, counts in full
11	5	8	8	Under double par, counts in full
Total			22	Plus an adjustment of 0

The handicap is 22, so a gross 98 becomes a net 76.

The nine on the par 3 is the rule doing its job: it counts as a 6, not a 9.
Had one of those holes been the 17th or 18th it would have been skipped, and the next worst hole deducted instead.

Common variants

The 1957 table: Several published Callaway tables exist with slightly different bands and adjustments. Parful ships the widely used standard form and holds it as data so a club variant can be added.
Callaway for nine holes: A nine-hole version halves the bands. Parful scores the eighteen-hole system.