Journal

Essays on quiet golf, minimalist apps, and what we think the scorecard should be.

Wolf golf game rules
The four-ball betting game with a Lone Wolf decision on every tee. Rotation, scoring, and the variants worth knowing.
Nassau golf bet rules
Three matches in one round — front 9, back 9, overall. How presses work, and the 1900 Long Island origin story.
Skins game rules
Each hole's a skin. Lowest score wins, ties carry over. The classic, plus the net and validation variants.
Scramble golf format rules
Best ball, team picks. Where the strict rules live, where casual play diverges, and the WHS allowances for 2, 3, and 4 players.
Stableford scoring, explained
How the R&A/USGA Stableford points table works, where the WHS handicap allowance fits in, and why a pick-up costs you nothing past zero.
Course Rating vs Slope Rating, plainly
Two numbers on every scorecard, often confused. Course Rating is the scratch player's expected score. Slope Rating is how much harder the course gets for everyone else.
What is net double bogey, and why does it exist?
The WHS maximum hole score replaced Equitable Stroke Control in 2020. Par + 2 + strokes received. What it caps, what it doesn't, and why it makes handicaps more honest.
The WHS handicap allowance table, with examples
Singles 95%, four-ball 85%, foursomes 50%, scrambles 25-35%. The complete WHS allowance table, with worked examples for the formats club golfers actually play.
How a Handicap Index is calculated under WHS
Best 8 of your last 20 score differentials, with caveats for newer players. The actual maths, with the formulas the USGA and R&A use.
Modified Stableford rules — what makes Barracuda different
Bogeys hurt, eagles count for five. The PGA Tour's only points event explained, including the full scoring table and how it changes course management.
Own your golf data
Your rounds, your voice notes, your scorecards. Chalk lets you export everything, whenever you want.
Walking golf, voice golf
Walking is the version of golf that gets all the variables right. A voice scorecard is the only kind that doesn't fight against it.
Single-digit handicap, no shot tracker
Most single-digit players don't use shot trackers. The reasons are practical, not Luddite.
A scorecard with no ads, no public feed, no nag
Three design decisions that define what a golf app should be. The reasons, in order.
Why 18Birdies feels like a casino now
An honest take on what changed in 18Birdies, why it grates on long-time golfers, and what to do about it.
Caddies, voice notes, and what we lost when GPS came
A caddie does six things a yardage app cannot. Voice notes get one of them back.
The pace-of-play case for voice scoring
Tap-to-score apps add five minutes a round. The math on a four-hour round that should be three-and-a-half.
Why I talk through my rounds (and don't track them)
A voice scorecard captures the thing that actually changes your game: what you were thinking. Stats can't hold that.
The minimalist golf bag and the minimalist golf app
A nine-club Sunday bag and a minimalist golf app are the same idea. Less surface, more attention.
Links golf needs a different scorecard
Links golf rewards judgement, not yardages. Why a GPS scorecard is the wrong tool for Bandon, Lahinch, or North Berwick.
Golf for traditionalists in a five-app world
Five apps before you touch a club. What the traditionalist player actually wants from a golf app.
The case against the opens-based streak counter
Most streak counters in golf apps reward the cheapest version of the behaviour they claim to track. The case for the version that doesn't.
The case for a quiet golf app
Why we built a scorebook with no public feed, no nag notifications, and no ads.