There are so many golf formats and scoring systems it can be tough to keep up. That’s why we’ve created this guide to the Peoria System in golf. Let’s get started.
What is the Peoria System?
The Peoria system is a scoring system tournament organizers can use to create a golfers handicap in a single day.
The system works by collecting scores on six holes throughout the day. The golfers will not know which six holes of the eighteen are being used for their handicap.
These holes are typically one par three, one par four, and one par five from each nine. The total strokes taken on these holes are added up. The total is then multiplied by three. Multiplying this number by three increases it from a 6 hole total to a 18 hole total.
This number is then subtracted by par. This gives you a rough expectation of what your score will be over or under par. You then multiple this total by 80 percent(0.8).
This will give you your total stroke allowance. This stroke allowance is what you are able to subtract from your score at the end of the tournament.
Peoria Scoring Example
John shot a 97 during the tournament, on the six Peoria holes his strokes added up to 33.
33 (6 Peoria Holes Strokes) x 3 = 99 (Gross Peoria Score)
99 (Gross Peoria Score) – 72 ( Course Par) = 17 (Peoria System Handicap)
97 (Tournament Score) – 17 (Peoria System Handicap) = 82 (Final Tournament Score)
Why Do Tournaments Use Peoria System Scoring?
The main reason the golf tournaments utilize the purest scoring system is because many golfers don’t have handicaps. This is especially true for company or family golf tournaments. The majority of golfers do not carry a handicap. Because this amateur style tournaments like this have to make up for the discrepancies in skill.
To do this they are forced to come up with a handicap from a very small sample size. This is why tournaments will use this Peoria system to get their best guess of what the golfers handicap would be if they were to have one.
Is The Peoria Scoring System Accurate
No, unfortunately the Peoria scoring system is much less accurate than a standard handicap. Though you will not find a better system to create a handicap from a single day of golfing you must know that this handicapping system as a whole is not very accurate.
The reason this is not a very accurate scoring system is due to the sample size. When traditionally calculating handicap you’re into taking over 1000 swings of the golf club.
When using the Peoria system you’re only monitoring six holes meaning a couple bad drives or miss parts could be seriously swaying your average score.
Concluding Thoughts
We hope this article offered you everything you need to know about this scoring system. If you found this article interesting please check out some of our others such as our article on golf shamble format or the 666 golf format.
