Alex comes off 18 with an 80 and expects to collect. Jamie has shot 90 and is equally certain the five dollars belongs the other way round. Both have added the card correctly. One is looking at gross, the other at net, and neither remembers saying which one would decide the game. A calculator cannot settle a conversation you never had.
Choose the contest before choosing the amount
Gross asks who took the fewest strokes, including penalties. Net asks who had the lowest score after the agreed handicap strokes were applied. Both are legitimate ways to score; the Rules of Golf distinguish gross and net competition. They answer different questions about the same round.
If you and your regular partner want the unadjusted total to decide it, choose gross. If you want handicap strokes to count in a contest between different abilities, choose net. Then agree the amount and the tie rule. Knowing that it is a five-dollar game tells you very little until you know which number wins it.
One hypothetical scorecard, two possible winners
This is an invented 18-hole example, not a real course, an app screenshot or a player's recorded round. Alex has a course handicap of 6 and Jamie has 18 for the same tees. We are using their full course handicaps, with no percentage allowance. Those numbers have already been established; they are not Handicap Indexes typed straight onto the card.
Alex receives one stroke on the six holes with stroke index 1–6. Jamie receives one on every hole. Each net cell below is that hole's gross score minus the stroke received. The stroke-index column tells you where a stroke belongs, not the order in which the holes are played.
| Hole | Stroke index | Alex gross | Alex net | Jamie gross | Jamie net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 2 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 6 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 9 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Front 9 | — | 40 | 37 | 45 | 36 |
| 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 11 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 13 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| 14 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 15 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 16 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 17 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 18 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Back 9 | — | 40 | 37 | 45 | 36 |
| Total | — | 80 | 74 | 90 | 72 |
Gross: Alex wins, 80 to 90. Net: Jamie wins, 72 to 74. Alex's calculation is 80 − 6 = 74; Jamie's is 90 − 18 = 72. The eighteen scores never changed. The handicap adjustment changed which total was lower.
The difference can show up before you add the totals
Look at the 3rd. Both players take four strokes. Alex gets no stroke there, so Alex's net is four. Jamie gets one, so Jamie's net is three. A gross comparison ties that hole; a net comparison gives Jamie the lower score.
That doesn't mean one hole decides a lowest-total game. It shows why you need to know which scores you're comparing as the round unfolds. Best Score adds the chosen scores across the round; a hole-by-hole format asks a different question. Don't settle a total-score contest by counting who won more holes.
“I shot the lower round” and “I won the game” need the same scoring agreement behind them.
Which basis should your group choose?
The mechanics of converting an index for the tees have their own index-versus-course-handicap guide. Here the decision is what to do with the strokes once you know them. Don't reopen that decision because the result looks different from the gross card.
Tell Best Score which number should decide it
In GoLo, one scorer enters the gross scores hole by hole. GoLo applies the handicap strokes and keeps net and gross on the same card. For Best Score, agree net or gross in setup before the round, along with the equal amount per player and how many finishing places share it. You don't enter another card to get the other view.
Use the hypothetical card above with a $5 amount per player and one finishing place. If the agreed basis is gross, Alex finishes $5 up and Jamie $5 down. If it is net, Jamie finishes $5 up and Alex $5 down. Those are alternative agreements for the same example, not two games running together or permission to pick the result afterwards.
GoLo splits Best Score ties evenly. With two players tied for the only finishing place, each gets an equal share and neither finishes up or down on that game. A back-nine countback would be a separate house rule, not a Best Score setting in GoLo.
GoLo uses full course handicaps for individual play and one set of tees for the group. GoLo doesn't support handicap allowances or playing off the low player. Confirm that those settings fit your agreement on the features page. The app keeps the tally; players settle outside it.
Say the basis in the same sentence as the amount
“Five dollars each, Best Score, net, full course handicaps, one finishing place; ties split.” Or the same sentence with gross. Either is clear enough to put in a group text before the tee time. “Same as last week” is less useful when one of you remembers winning last week for an entirely different reason.
Settle that sentence first, then see how one scorecard feeds the round or get GoLo for the next game. You can admire the low gross round and settle on net. You just have to have agreed to it while the card was still blank.
