Equitable Stroke Control (ESC)

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is the downward adjustment of individual hole scores for handicap purposes, in order to make Handicap Factor/Index more representative of a player's potential scoring ability. ESC sets a maximum number of strokes that a player can post on any hole depending on the player's Course Handicap.

Although the concept of ESC is quite simple, there is a minor complication thrown into the mix. All countries do not agree on how ESC should be applied. In fact there are quite different views. In North America, there are at least two major approaches to ESC calculations - USGA (United States), and CPGA (Canada).

The USGA and CPGA applications of ESC are as follows: