The Letters on TheGrint’s Scorecard List

H, A, C, O, T, P, E, X. What do they mean?

Hello Grinters! How have you been? Have you noticed the letters on TheGrint’s Scorecard List? Or are you just using the best Golf App out there to keep track of your Scores and Stats, and enjoying our GPS Flyover tool?

I am sure most of you are constantly using the App and posting scores to your accounts. But how many of you noticed that sometimes we add letters next to your scores? 

Sometimes you see an A or an H, a P or an O, maybe an E or an X, and, of course, our well-known C. Not really sure if they are well known, but they are certainly very common. All of them are under your Scorecards list on the App and website.

They are there to identify some essential characteristics of each score. So, here is my question: do you know what they mean?

These are all the letters that we have and what they indicate:

• H – Round played at your Home Course
• A – Round played at a course away from your Home Course
• P – Practice Round
• O – Off-Season Round
• T – Tournament Score
• C – Combined Scores
• E – Exceptional Score Reduction Applied
• X – PCC Applied (Playing Conditions Calculation is applied in the calculation of a score differential if the course or weather conditions on a day of play significantly impacted a player’s performance)

NOTE: The O, E, and X are automatically done by the USGA and you will only see those acronyms if you have an active WHS Handicap ID (e.g. GHIN#) that is linked to your TheGrint Account. 

You might be wondering how to set your Home Course, so here are the instructions to choose your Home Course within TheGrint App:

1. Login to the App
2. Go to the Menu (nine dots in the top right corner)
3. Tap on My Profile
4. Select Account on the bottom right
5. Go to Personal Info 
6. Under Preferences, search for your Home Course and tap on it
7. Go back, and you are ready to start adding scores that will show as H or A

As for the Practice Rounds (P), that will be selected by you when setting up the Round. You should identify as Practice every round that you play by yourself, or if you are taking mulligans and playing two different balls for practice purposes. Also, all rounds played on an executive or Par-3 courses should be marked as Practice.

Please note that the only occasion that the App will automatically set a Round as Practice is when you play on a Course that a) is not rated yet by the USGA or b) has less de 3,000 yards for 18 holes (1,500 for 9).

Tournament (T) scores will be indicated every time that you select that option. You can turn that ON when setting up the round before you start playing or anytime after that. All you have to do is go to the Round Settings, open the tracking options drop down menu, and turn on the Tournament Score toggle.

The (O) Off-Season will be automatically set and that is based on the USGA Off-Season dates. This varies according to the Association that the Golf Course that you are playing at belongs to. You can check out those periods directly from their website: https://www.usga.org/handicapping-articles/handicap-active-and-inactive-season-schedule-25489.html 

Same happens with (X) and (E).

For the Exceptional Score, here is what the USGA Rules of Handicapping state: 

“Any score that produces a Score Differential™ that is at least 7.0 strokes better than your Handicap Index® at the time the round was played is considered exceptional and is subject to the exceptional score reduction.

• If the Score Differential is between 7.0 and 9.9 strokes better, a -1 adjustment is applied to each of the most recent 20 Score Differentials in your scoring record. This has a net impact of reducing the Handicap Index by 1 stroke.
• If the Score Differential is 10.0 strokes or better, a -2 adjustment is applied to each of the most recent 20 Score Differentials. This has a net impact of reducing the Handicap Index by 2 strokes.

Scores made following the exceptional score will not contain the -1 or -2 adjustment (unless they are also exceptional) which will slowly diminish the impact of the reduction as you continue to post scores. Also, reductions for multiple exceptional scores are applied cumulatively. (Rule 5.9, Rules of Handicapping)” 

And for the (X), also known as PCC, the USGA states the following: 

“At the end of each day, the playing conditions calculation takes place automatically to determine if scores made at the course were significantly higher or lower than the expected scores of the players who made them, primarily due to weather and/or course set up.

If scores were abnormally low or high, a PCC adjustment between -1 and +3 will be applied in the calculation of Score Differentials™ of everyone who played that day. A negative (-) adjustment means the course played easier than expected and a positive (+) adjustment means the course played more difficult than expected. A PCC of 0 means the course played as expected, which will be the case on most days.

The PCC:

• Uses scoring data so no action is required by the club/course staff or golfer (except for posting scores),
• Includes only scores made by players with a Handicap Index® of 36.0 or below,
• Considers both 9-hole and 18-hole scores in the calculation, and
• Only takes place if at least 8 scores were posted on a given day.(Rule 5.6, Rules of Handicapping)”

That is all for today grinters! Hopefully, this article will help you understand better our Golf App and all that we offer. 

Happy Grinting and Hit’em Straight!