Brief Introduction to GolfScoreMaster
GolfScoreMaster has been developed by myself, Jon Lees. I am a golfer with a handicap that can be as low as 19 on a very (very!) good day and maybe 32 on a bad day!! I also struggle to use both irons and woods in the same season! I can practice with irons until I can hit a 3 iron 220 yards, but I then have no chance at all with a driver. So I start to practice with my driver and then as I start to improve with it, my longer irons start to go off! How can we win?? Anyway, I also happen to be a software developer and I developed this software as a means to monitor not just my own handicap as it "hopefully" improves, but also to help me out with a regular society day I always ended up scoring!!
So GolfScoreMaster was born and I started recording all my scorecards (which included all my golfing friends' scores as well. If someone tried to claim a suspiciously high handicap, I knew how much they were trying it on!!
In GolfScoreMaster, handicaps are calculated from the total scores for each hole, but capped at 2 over par. That is, any score greater than double bogey will be considered simply as a double bogey. This gives a maximum possible handicap of 36 over 18 holes for any player. Short rounds of just 9 holes are doubled up for handicap calculation purposes and thus only complete "rounds" of 9 or 18 holes are considered for handicap calculation purposes.
The Players Screen
An initial handicap should be entered for each player and the running handicap will then be calculated from this value. When a new scorecard is created and a player is selected, that players running handicap is rounded and entered onto the card automatically. It can then be manually changed if desired! The Average handicap shown in this screen is the average of all the scorecards entered for a particular player in that year.
The Team number is used for tournaments, where players scores can be totalled up to give a total team score in terms of gross, stableford, net and net stableford points.
The Running Handicap
The Running handicap is the handicap that reflects the current ability of a player. Using the Start handicap as a base, it calculates a handicap using scores entered for each scorecard to date.
When a player has a score that is better than the current handicap, then the running handicap falls by 10, 20 or 40% of the difference (as per the EGU System). That means that handicaps fall as shown by the following table;
| Handicaps | Falling | Rising |
| 0-5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 6-12 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 13-20 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 21-28+ | 0.4 | 0.1 |
For example, Andy shoots 96 on a par 72 course (suggesting a handicap of 24). Since Andy has a running handicap of 28, then this falls by 40% of 28-24, which is 1.6 giving a new running handicap of 26.4.
When a handicap should be higher than the running handicap, it increases by only 10% of the difference.
NOTE: 9 hole rounds are doubled up for handicap purposes and incomplete rounds (where the ball was picked up!) are calculated pro-rata, except for the Best 3, where only full 9 or 18 hole rounds are included.
The Best 3 handicap is likely to calculate the lowest handicap for any player. This is because it is based on the average of the best 3 completed 9 or 18 hole scorecards recorded. If less than 3 scorecards are entered for a player, the Best 3 handicap uses just those input so far.
Courses
As there are different tees on most golf courses, facilities have been provided in ScoreMaster to permit data for three different types. Usually, these will be described as 'White' for competition tees, 'Yellow' for men's tees and 'Red' for ladies tees.
At least one course of data needs to be entered, because the par and stroke index vary according to the type of tees and these values are needed for handicap and stableford points calculations. Enter the data for each hole as defined on the course scorecard; Length in metres, PAR and Stroke Index.
Scorecards
This is the section where you will input, amend and review all your scorecards. When inputting a scorecard, the Match name can be left blank and altered later if required, but can be used to group together a number of scorecards for use with the Match option, described later.
The date should be entered in the date field.
When selecting players onto scorecards, the program will select the current running handicap for that player. This, however, can be overwritten by simply typing in the required handicap. The system also works out whether a full 18 or a short 9 hole round has been played and therefore pro-ratas the players' handicaps accordingly for calculations. However, the full handicap that applied on the day of play will be displayed against each player.
The scores for all players on the scorecard should be entered. Once finished, the totals will be displayed, along with appropriate handicaps and net scores.
The Stableford option is used to show the Stableford points awarded for each hole on the scorecard. This obviously depends on both the stroke index (SI) and Par of the hole on the course in question. So make sure that all the course details have been entered before selecting this option.
The Stableford HC option is similar to the Stableford option, but it also takes into consideration the players handicap. It therefore shows the Stableford points for each hole on the scorecard, calculated after deducting the shot allowance for each player on each hole from the gross score.
Competition
The competition facility works by searching for all scorecards with the same key name. The key name is input on the scorecard screen. This means that any number of scorecards can be grouped together and compared.
For example, you might be in charge of a golf society day, where 20 players record scores on 5 different scorecards. A league table of all scores in either gross, net, stableford or handicap stableford order can be displayed and printed.
Graph
The graph function is a simple chart showing the running handicap over the period represented by the scorecards. The graph shows the performance of up to 6 players at once. More than this number causes the graph to become a little confusing.
AccessKey
When you first try to run ScoreMaster on a new PC, the program will calculate and display a unique code for your PC. You should contact us by e-mail (see Contact page) or use the Access Key page on this website and you will then be e-mailed your own personal access key for that code. This code and the associated access key are valid for only that PC. So if you install the software on another PC, a new code will be generated and therefore a new key must be obtained. The key will be issued free of charge and remains valid for one year, after which time you will need to request another. The keys are issued free of charge and enable us to keep records on the number of new and repeat users.
I hope you enjoy using the software. Please let me know if you have any problems using it at all. I have written the program to fit in with my brain patterns, which can be a little strange sometimes, so please feel free to help me to help you!