Short answer. An allowance is the percentage of a player's Course Handicap that a game actually uses. Every game carries its own default, and you can pick a preset (100, 95, 90, 85, 80 or 75) or type a "Custom handicap allowance" anywhere from 1% to 200%.
How it works
Defaults when you add a game
| Game | Default mode | Default allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Pot (Stroke) | Net, course strokes | 95% |
| Stableford | Net, course strokes | 95% |
| Match Play | Net, off low | 100% |
| Nassau | Net, off low | 100% |
| Skins | Gross (100% if you switch to Net) | 100% |
| 9-Point | Net, course strokes | 100% |
| Sixes (6-6-6) | Net, course strokes | 90% |
| Team Best-Ball | Net, course strokes | 85% |
These are the figures Ringer fills in when you create a round. A game added or edited from Manage may start at 100% instead, so glance at the allowance before you save. A Gross game has no allowance at all.
How it's calculated
The chain is always Index → Course Handicap → allowance → Playing Handicap → (off low) → hole strokes.
- Ringer works out the unrounded Course Handicap from the tee the player is actually playing.
- It multiplies by the allowance, still unrounded.
- It rounds once, with .5 going up. That is the Playing Handicap for this game.
- If the game is Off low, it subtracts the lowest player's unrounded figure first and then rounds. See Gross, Net, and Off low.
- Strokes are placed on the card by stroke index.
Worked example, a Course Handicap of 14:
| Allowance | Calculation | Playing Handicap |
|---|---|---|
| 100% (Match Play, Nassau, 9-Point) | 14.0 | 14 |
| 95% (Pot (Stroke), Stableford) | 13.3 | 13 |
| 90% (Sixes) | 12.6 | 13 |
| 85% (Team Best-Ball) | 11.9 | 12 |
The same player receives a different number of strokes in each game on the same round. That is by design: the round freezes one Course Handicap per player at the start, and each game derives its own Playing Handicap from it.
Steps
- When adding a game, choose Net under "How should we score?".
- Pick an allowance preset, or choose "Custom handicap allowance" and type a whole number from 1 to 200.
- In a live round, open Round Hub → Manage → Money games → "Configure ›" on the game to change it. Every score is re-computed from the stored strokes, so the board updates at once.
Who can do this
The Commissioner sets and changes allowances. Players can see the figure in use on the game panel and on the Handicap Analysis page.
If it doesn't work
- "Handicap allowance must be a valid percentage." The field contains something other than a number. Type a whole number.
- "Handicap allowance must be between 1% and 200%." Zero and anything above 200 are refused. To give nobody any strokes, choose Gross instead of 0%.