About This Tool
Keeping score in golf is simple once you know the parts of a scorecard: on every hole you write down how many strokes you took, add them up over nine or eighteen holes, and compare the total to par. This free scorekeeper does the adding for you — enter each player's strokes hole by hole and it tracks the running total, the score to par, and the front, back and full-round numbers automatically, so nobody does mental math on the tee.
A standard card has a row for each player and a column for each hole, plus totals for the front nine ("OUT"), back nine ("IN") and the full round. You record your gross strokes on each hole, total the front nine at the turn, then total everything after 18. Your score is measured against par — the strokes an expert is expected to need — so a 90 on a par-72 course is "18 over."
Your gross score is the raw number of strokes you took. Your net score subtracts your handicap strokes, which is how players of different abilities compete fairly. This tool shows gross and to-par live; when the round is done you can send it straight to the handicap calculator.
Golfers mark holes with shapes: a circle around the number is a birdie (one under par) or better, and a square is a bogey (one over) or worse. A plain number is a par. It's a quick visual language that makes a finished card easy to read at a glance.
Everything saves on your own phone, works with no signal on the course, and needs no sign-up. Prefer paper? Grab a printable scorecard in the free downloads.
Yes — completely free, with no account and no sign-up. Your scores are saved locally on your device.
Yes. Load the page before you tee off and it runs fully offline from the first hole to the last — no signal needed.
Yes, up to four players at once, each with their own running gross and to-par totals.
Yes. When you finish, send the round to the free Handicap Index calculator to update your number.
On this device only, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, so your round stays private and is waiting when you reopen the page.
Most casual and competitive golf is stroke play, and that is what this scorekeeper is built for. In stroke play you count every stroke you take over the full round, add them up, and the lowest total wins. Every shot matters right to the last putt, so you record a real number on every hole and you never simply stop and pick your ball up — if you are having a nightmare, you keep going and write down the honest total, however ugly it looks.
Match play is a different animal. Instead of one big total, you play each hole as its own contest against your opponent. Win the hole and you go one up; lose it and you go one down; tie it and the hole is halved and the match stays where it was. The score is written as holes up or down rather than strokes, so you will hear a result like "3 and 2" — three holes ahead with only two left, so the match is over. Because only the hole matters, once your opponent has clearly won it you can pick up and concede. That is the one place picking up is normal; in stroke play it would leave you with no score and, in a competition, no card. Keeping a match is really just tracking who is up and by how many.
Penalty strokes are part of your score, not a separate column, so the trick is simply to add them into the number you write for that hole. The common ones are worth knowing:
The counting is the same every time: count the shot you played, add the penalty, then count the next shot as normal. Thin one into the pond off the tee and that is your stroke, plus one for the penalty, so your next shot is your third. Keep it honest and write the true figure — a card that quietly loses a penalty here and there is not really your score.
The mistakes that cost golfers are rarely dramatic — they are small slips on a busy hole. The one that bites hardest in a competition is signing for the wrong number. In stroke play, if you sign for a score lower than you actually took you can be disqualified; if you sign for a higher one, the higher number stands and you are stuck with it. Neither is what you want, so the fix is to get the figure right before it is written and signed.
The habit that prevents nearly all of it is simple: agree the number out loud with your marker before anyone writes it down. A quick "that's a six, yes?" on the next tee settles it while the hole is fresh, and it saves an awkward conversation at the scorer's table later.
In many competitive formats you do not keep your own card at all — you keep a playing partner's, and they keep yours. That partner is your marker, and it is a real job. Your task is to record their gross score on each hole accurately, confirm the number with them as you go, and stay out of the way of their game. You are not adding up their handicap or working out the winner; you are simply the honest witness to how many strokes they took.
At the end of the round you hand the card back so they can check every hole and sign it, and you sign as the marker to say you watched it happen. Do all of this while keeping pace — jotting a number on the next tee, not standing over the hole holding up the group behind. A good marker is quick, quiet and reliable, and it is a courtesy every golfer should be able to return.
Accurate scorekeeping is not just good manners — it is the foundation of a genuine handicap. Under the World Handicap System your index is built from your recent rounds, so most rounds you play on a rated course, whether in a competition or a casual game, are meant to be posted. The system takes your better rounds and works out a number that reflects your real scoring ability, which only holds up if the scores going in are true. A card padded down flatters nobody once you tee it up against players whose numbers are honest.
This is exactly why a tidy, correct card matters. When your round is finished you can send it straight to the handicap calculator to update your figure, and if you want to understand what that number represents before you start posting, read our plain guide to what a golf handicap is. Keep score honestly, round after round, and your index will be one you can trust to give you a fair game against anyone.