Handicaps and scoring
Parful runs thisMixed tees and the par adjustment
Also called Playing different tees, Rule 6.2b, Multi-tee competition.
When a field plays from different tees, the Course Handicap™ already accounts for most of the difference because it contains the Course Rating™. What it does not carry is a difference in par between the tees, so an adjustment adds the rounded par difference and nothing else.
- Adjustment
- The rounded difference in par between your tee and the reference tee
- Not adjusted for
- Course Rating™, which the Course Handicap™ already carries
- Reference tee
- The declared one, or the tee most of the field plays
- Default
- On
- Single-tee field
- Always zero
- Events
- Uses the strict form, referenced to the lowest par in the field
The problem with mixed tees
A field spread across three sets of tees is playing three different golf courses. Handicaps have to bridge that gap or the competition is decided by the tee sheet.
Most of the bridge is already built. The Course Handicap™ formula contains the Course Rating™ minus par term, so a player from a harder tee already receives more strokes than the same player would from a shorter one. Adding a further adjustment for the rating difference would count the same fact twice, which is the mistake most homebrew spreadsheets make.
What is left over: par
The one thing the Course Handicap™ does not equalize is a difference in par between the tees. If the forward tee plays a hole as a par 5 that the back tee plays as a par 4, then two players finishing that hole in 5 have produced identical golf but different results against par, and every score reported relative to par diverges from there.
The adjustment is therefore narrow and specific: add the rounded difference in total par between your tee and the reference tee, and nothing else. Parful reports the rating difference alongside it as evidence, but does not apply it.
Choosing the reference tee
The adjustment needs a baseline. Parful uses the tee declared on the outing when there is one, and otherwise the tee that most of the field is playing, which keeps the adjustment at zero for the majority and pushes it onto the minority who moved.
A field on one set of tees always produces an adjustment of zero, so the feature costs nothing when it is not needed. It is on by default.
How Parful applies it
Each player's adjustment is worked out when their tee is set and added to the strokes they receive. It is a single addition applied once, after the allowance, and the scorecard shows the resulting stroke allocation as usual.
Standalone events use the strict published form of the rule instead: the adjustment is the player's tee par minus the lowest par in the competition, and it never goes negative. The two forms agree when the reference tee is the shortest; they can differ by a stroke when it is not.
Worked example
A worked example: a par 72 tee and a par 74 tee
The blue tees play to par 72 with a Course Rating™ of 71.2 and a Slope Rating™ of 128. The red tees play the two long par 4s as par 5s, so par is 74, with a rating of 70.6 and a slope of 119. Blue is the reference tee.
| Player | Index | Tee | Course Handicap™ | Par adjustment | Strokes received |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ana | 14.0 | Blue | 14 × 1.133 − 0.8 = 15 | 0 | 15 |
| Ben | 14.0 | Red | 14 × 1.053 − 3.4 = 11 | +2 | 13 |
| Cal | 22.0 | Red | 22 × 1.053 − 3.4 = 20 | +2 | 22 |
- The rating difference between the tees is 0.6, and it is not added: the Course Handicap™ formula already used each tee's own rating.
- A field entirely on the blue tees would see an adjustment of zero for everyone and identical results.
Common variants
- Rule 6.2b as published
- The World Handicap System™ form adds the player's tee par minus the lowest par in the competition, clamped so it never goes negative. Parful uses this on standalone events; club outings use a reference tee that can produce a negative adjustment where somebody moves to a lower-par tee.
- Turning it off
- A club that prefers to run each tee as its own division rather than adjust can switch the adjustment off and use flights instead.
- Stableford and mixed tees
- Stableford compares each hole against its own tee's par, so most of the problem never arises. The adjustment enters only through the stroke allocation.