Maximum Score

The competition committee sets the limit. It may be a fixed number, twice the par of the hole, or net double bogey. There is no single limit for every Maximum Score competition.¹

With a limit of eight and no handicap strokes, a player takes 6 on one hole and 10 on the next. Those holes count as 6 and 8, for a total of 14. Penalty strokes count towards the limit.¹

Once the limit is reached, players are encouraged to pick up and move on. A player who leaves a hole unfinished receives the maximum, even if they stop before reaching it.¹

If the committee chooses net double bogey, the limit takes account of handicap strokes on each hole. On a par 4 where a player receives one stroke in the competition, the limit is 7 before that stroke is deducted, or a net 6: two over par.¹²⁶

Net double bogey also appears in handicap posting. That adjustment does not cap a regular stroke-play competition score or remove its requirement to finish each hole.²⁵

The 2019 Rules of Golf formally recognized Maximum Score as an additional form of stroke play. The USGA explained that the change aimed to improve pace and keep a difficult hole from discouraging a player for the rest of the round.³⁴