| Type | Stroke |
| Alias | Peoria Scoring System, Peoria Scoring, Peoria Handicap, Peoria Handicap System, Bankers System |
| Format | Tournament |
| Number of players | 2, 3, 4+ |
| Team or Individual play | Individual |
- Many golf tournaments have players who do not have established handicaps, and the Peoria System is yet another one-day handicapping system for tournaments in which the golfers do not have real handicap indexes.
- The Peoria System uses a player’s scores from that day’s round to gauge their potential and calculate their handicap.
- This is how the Peoria System works. Before the tournament starts, the tournament organizers secretly select six holes, one par 3, one par 4, and one par 5 from each nine, which the players are unaware of.
- All players tee off and play stroke play as usual with one exception; double par is the maximum score on each hole i.e., 6 on par-3, 8 on par-4s, and 10 on par-5s.
- After the completion of the round, the tournament organizers reveal the six secret holes.
- Each player checks their scores on these six holes and adds them together. The total is then multiplied by 3, the golf course’s par is subtracted from that, and then the resulting number is multiplied by 80% to determine the player’s handicap allowance. This handicap allowance is then deducted from the player’s gross score to determine the net score.
Example:
- Suppose that Player A completes a Peoria System tournament, and once the six secret holes are announced after completion, they calculate that they have used a total of 30 strokes.
Step 1: Calculating Gross Score
30 (Secret hole strokes) x 3 = 90
Player A’s gross score is 90.
90 (Gross Score) – 72 (Par for course) = 18
Step 2: Calculating Handicap Allowance
18 x 80% = 14 (after rounding off)
So, Player A’s handicap allowance is 14.
Step 3: Calculating Net Score
Suppose Player A’s gross score was 90, then
90 (Gross Score) – 14 (Handicap Allowance) = 76
So, Player A’s net score according to the Peoria System is 76.
Variations:
- While the six secret holes are usually two par-3s, two par-4s, and two par-5s, one on the front and one on the back, any of the holes can be chosen at random, depending on the tournament organizers.
- Double Peoria System:
Some tournaments use the Double Peoria System instead of the Standard Peoria System as described above. In Double Peoria, instead of six secret holes, 12 holes are chosen. Also, instead of multiplying the derived amount by 80%, as mentioned above, it is multiplied by 100%.
- Modified Peoria System:
The handicap in the Modified Peoria System is calculated by adding the number of strokes over par on the six selected holes and then multiplying the result by 2.8. This is the player’s handicap allowance.
Example:
Suppose player A finished the round at 90 and is 11 over par on the six holes. Player A’s handicap allowance will be calculated as follows:
11 x 2.8 = 31
So, Player A’s handicap allowance is 31. The rest of the steps are the same as in the standard Peoria System.
90 (Gross score) – 31 (Handicap allowance) = 59 (Net score)
Player A’s net score is 59.