How the game is played

Most golf courses are designed with a mixture of holes of different lengths. The majority are par 4 (12 holes) The rest are par 5 and par 3 (6 holes).
Par 4 holes are usually between 250 and 380M in length. In any case, the average golfer requires at least two strokes to reach the green. Then he putts the ball twice on the green with his putter and it falls into the hole and he makes par. (4 strokes)

Par 5 holes are usually longer than 400M. The golfer normally requires at least 3 strokes to reach the green. He putts the ball two times and it falls into the hole. In total he hit the ball 5 times to make par.
Par 3 holes are the shortest hole on a golf course. They are usually less than 200M long. Holes can be as short as 100M with a water hazard right in front of the tee to make life a little more exciting for the player.

There is a club in the bag which can hit the ball the exact distance to the green. The golfer putts the ball on the green two times, the ball falls into the hole and he again makes par. That is how the course designer meant the course to be played. Amateur golfers are not able to play to this high standard. It does not matter. Depending on his official handicap he is allowed to use more than the number of strokes stipulated for any hole. If he uses one more stroke than what the course designer intended, he does not make par. His score is called a bogie. We call this result, one-over-par or just simply one-over or bogie. He marks his actual score for each hole on the card. If he requires more strokes than bogie to finish the hole, he simply records the exact number of strokes he has taken to finish that hole.

Then he tees up the ball for the next hole and continues hitting the ball with different clubs until it drops into the hole. Again he records the number of strokes taken each time for each hole. At the end of the game, he sums up his score for all 18 holes. This result is the gross score. To obtain his nett score, he simply subtracts his course handicap from the gross score. The lowest nett score decides the winner in stroke play.

e.g. gross score 98
Handicap 24
nett score 74 (+2)

This is 2 over par (a good result)
A putter is a short club which is specially designed for use on the green. A player is permitted to choose to use any club at other times when he is not hitting the ball on the green. In his bag at any one time, during a round, he is allowed to have a maximum of 14 clubs. He may use less than 14, if he wishes. However if it was discovered that he had more than 14 clubs in his bag, he loses the match.