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Playing Off the Low Man
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In a “Play off low man” Nassau, the lowest-handicap player plays to zero (scratch) and everyone else receives the difference in Playing Handicaps between themselves and the low man. We use an 85% allowance.

The key rule: figure out each player's Playing Handicap first (a whole number), then take the difference. Two players with the same Playing Handicap play even — exactly like the Rules of Handicapping match-play rule (the higher player gets the difference between the players' handicaps).

Step by step
  1. Course Handicap (unrounded). HI × (Slope ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − Par). Keep the decimals for now.
  2. Apply the 85% allowance, then round once. Multiply the unrounded Course Handicap by 0.85 and round to a whole number (.5 rounds up). That's each player's Playing Handicap — the same single-rounding the USGA/GHIN use.
  3. Find the low man. The player with the lowest Playing Handicap plays off scratch (0).
  4. Subtract the Playing Handicaps. Each other player's strokes = their PH − low man's PH. Strokes are then placed on the hardest holes first (stroke index 1, 2, 3 …).
Worked example

Two players, both at a 141/72.3 course (par 72):

PlayerIndexCH (unrounded) ×85%Playing HandicapOff-low
Pete (low)3.44.542 3.86140
Scott4.05.291 4.4974 4 − 4 = 0

Both round to a Playing Handicap of 4, so they play even — Scott gets 0 strokes.

Why not round the difference instead?

You might be tempted to subtract the unrounded handicaps first (4.497 − 3.861 = 0.636) and round that to 1. But that hands Scott a stroke even though he and Pete have the same Playing Handicap.

Playing off the low is just a re-baseline — it shouldn't change who gives whom strokes versus a normal handicap game. If both players are a 4, they're even whether or not they play off the low. So we compare the whole-number Playing Handicaps, which is also how the Rules of Handicapping allocate strokes in a match (difference between the players' handicaps).

Note: 85% is our house allowance (it's the four-ball stroke-play figure). “Full 85%” mode uses the same allowance but each player keeps their own Playing Handicap instead of playing off the low man.

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