Many golfers in South Africa are under the impression that the hardest hole on the first nine should be stroke one, and the hardest hole on the second nine should be stroke two – here’s the real purpose of handicap strokes.
Handicap strokes are allocated to holes to assist the higher-handicapped player to compete in match play (singles or better ball). So the strokes should be evenly spread across all 18 holes, and the low strokes should not come right at the end of the nine or at the beginning, and should generally be given on the longer holes where the higher-handicapped player most needs them. Please see the guidelines below from the international manuals.
Individual Stableford scores are not affected whereby the strokes are allocated, and they have a very marginal effect on better ball Stableford scores.
For more info: handicaps.co.za
