Equitable Stroke Control, or "ESC" is the practice of limiting how many strokes a player can take on a hole for handicapping purposes only. Golf League Tracker supports entering limits for players so that an unusually high score doesn't skew a player's handicap. The term for this, coined by the USGA, is Equitable Stroke Control.
With the new 2020 World Handicap System coming into effect, the USGA is simplifying their Equitable Stroke Control Settings to be the same for all handicap ranges. The new maximum is:
Net Double-Bogey
Golf League Tracker handles the new system automatically by choosing the Net Double Bogey option for the entire handicap range.
The USGA ESC system prior to the World Handicap System has range of maximum values which they've defined that are based on a player's current handicap. In generally, the lower the handicap for a player, the fewer strokes they can take on a hole. The logic for this is that for a lower handicapped player, it's more unusual to make a high score on a hole vs. a higher handicapped player.
The following is the USGA maximum stroke count for an 18-hole handicap:
| Handicap | Maximum Number |
|---|---|
| Up to 10 | double bogey |
| 10 up to 20 | 7 |
| 20 up to 30 | 8 |
| 30 up to 40 | 9 |
| 40 and above | 10 |
| 9 Hole Handicap | Maximum Number |
|---|---|
| Less than 5 | double bogey |
| 5 up to 10 | 7 |
| 10 up to 15 | 8 |
| 15 up to 20 | 9 |
| 20 and above | 10 |
To set ESC in Golf League Tracker, you will go into the League Settings in the League Setup tab, choose Equitable Stroke Control from the settings category list, and alter the values. There are 6 different handicap ranges which you can set. For each range, there are 3 different settings: