Where your strokes fall: stroke index and the dots

Short answer. Your Playing Handicap is handed out one stroke per hole, starting at stroke index 1 (the hardest hole) and working up. A Playing Handicap of 15 gives one stroke on stroke indexes 1 through 15. Gold dots next to your name on the scorecard show the strokes you get on the current hole.

How it works

• Stroke index is the course card's ranking of hole difficulty, 1 for the hardest through 18 for the easiest. Ringer uses the card's stroke indexes for every tee.
• Up to 18 strokes. Each stroke goes to the next-lowest stroke index. Playing Handicap 7 strokes on stroke indexes 1 to 7.
• More than 18. Every hole gets one stroke, and the remainder goes around again from stroke index 1. Playing Handicap 23 gives two strokes on stroke indexes 1 to 5 and one stroke everywhere else. A 40 gives three strokes on stroke index 1.
• Scratch. No strokes anywhere.
• Plus handicaps. A plus player gives strokes back, starting with the easiest hole. A +4 gives one stroke back on stroke indexes 18, 17, 16 and 15, so the net score on those holes is one higher than gross.
• Nine holes. When you play nine holes of an 18-hole card, Ringer takes those nine holes and re-ranks their stroke indexes 1 to 9 among themselves, so the hardest of the nine gets index 1. Strokes are then handed out across those nine. A Playing Handicap of 3 on a nine falls on the three hardest of those holes, wherever they sit on the full card.
• Course card with odd stroke indexes. If the card's stroke indexes are not a clean 1 to N, Ringer re-ranks them in the card's own order. A card with no stroke indexes cannot be played net.
• No course mapped. A round with no course plays on a generic par-72 card that has its own valid stroke indexes, so strokes still fall in a fixed pattern.

Reading the scorecard

• Gold dots beside your name show the strokes you receive on the hole. Up to two dots are drawn; the tooltip reads "Gets 2 strokes on this hole" when you get more.
• A hollow red ring means a plus player gives a stroke back on this hole; its tooltip reads "Gives 1 stroke back on this hole".
• The PH 12 chip (or PH scr, PH +2) opens the handicap breakdown. "No PH" means the player has no index. "Game strokes pending" means the game that owns the dots has not finished allocating yet.
• Which allowance the round's dots use: the first team game's allowance on the round; otherwise the smallest allowance among the round's net games; otherwise 100%. A card with a 100% skins game and an 85% team best ball shows 85% dots. The note under the card says which applies: "PH and stroke dots use the primary game handicap settings shown in Game Details" or "…the round handicap allocation".
• The Handicap Analysis page (open the round, then Handicaps) shows a strokes-by-hole grid for every player at full handicap. Hover a cell for the hole, par and stroke index.

Good to know

• Once a round starts, each player's strokes are frozen with their handicap. Changing a course card afterwards does not move dots on a live round.
• Ringer handicaps are not official, and strokes only ever follow the course card as saved in Ringer. If the card looks wrong, see Course not listed or no scorecard.