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Golf Maths

Golf personal bests maths challenge

A child-friendly sports challenge using personal bests to practise subtraction with real examples.

Quick answer

You can use subtraction to find out how many shots you need to improve your golf score to beat your personal best.

Learning outcome

By the end of this page, you will be able to use subtraction to find the difference between your golf score and your personal best score. Success signs:
  • You can write down your golf score and your personal best score
  • You can subtract your personal best from your golf score
  • You can explain how many more shots you need to improve
  • You can use subtraction to compare two golf scores

Why this matters

Golf is a game where you try to hit a ball into a hole in as few shots as possible. When you play golf, you keep track of how many shots you take for each hole. If you beat your personal best score, you feel proud! To know how much better you did, you need to subtract your old score from your new score. This helps you see how much you've improved. Learning subtraction with golf helps you understand how good you are getting at a game you might enjoy.

How it works

Let’s imagine you are playing golf and you want to beat your personal best.
  1. First, write down your personal best score for a hole.
  2. Then, write down your current score for that hole.
  3. Subtract your personal best from your current score.
  4. If the answer is positive, you did worse than before. If it’s negative, you did better than before.

Examples you can see

Let’s look at a real golf example.
  • Your personal best for Hole 1 is 4 shots.
  • Your score for Hole 1 today is 6 shots.
To find how many more shots you took:
  • 6 - 4 = 2
You took 2 more shots than your personal best. Another example:
  • Your personal best for Hole 5 is 5 shots.
  • Your score for Hole 5 today is 3 shots.
To find how many fewer shots you took:
  • 5 - 3 = 2
You took 2 fewer shots than your personal best. That’s great!

Try it as a mini adventure

Imagine you are on a golf course with your family. You are playing 9 holes and want to beat your personal bests. Adventure: Beat your personal bests
  1. First, write down your personal best scores for each hole.
  2. Then, play the game and write down your scores.
  3. Now, subtract your personal best from your score for each hole.
  4. If the answer is positive, you did worse than before. If it’s negative, you did better.
  5. At the end, add up all the differences to see how much better you did overall.
For example:
  • Hole 1: Personal best = 3, Score = 4. Difference = 4 - 3 = 1
  • Hole 2: Personal best = 5, Score = 3. Difference = 5 - 3 = 2
  • Hole 3: Personal best = 4, Score = 5. Difference = 5 - 4 = 1
You did 1 better on Hole 2, and 1 worse on Hole 1 and 3. Overall, you did 2 shots better than your personal best.

Common mistakes

  • Mistake: Subtracting the wrong way around.
    Why it happens: You might subtract your score from your personal best instead of the other way around.
    Fix: Always subtract the personal best from the current score. If the answer is positive, you took more shots. If it’s negative, you took fewer shots.
  • Mistake: Forgetting to write down your scores.
    Why it happens: It’s easy to forget to write numbers down when you’re playing.
    Fix: Use a piece of paper or a golf scorecard to write down both scores.
  • Mistake: Thinking that a positive difference means you did better.
    Why it happens: Some children think the bigger number means better.
    Fix: Remember, in golf, fewer shots are better. So a negative answer means you did better.

Parent and carer guide

If you're helping your child with this golf maths challenge:
  • Ask your child to explain how they subtracted their scores.
  • Encourage them to write down both scores clearly.
  • Ask them to explain what the answer means in terms of golf.
  • Make it fun by pretending you're playing a real game together.
  • If they make a mistake, help them understand why it's wrong and how to fix it.
This is a great way to show your child how maths is used in real life, and it makes learning subtraction more exciting.

Practice questions

  1. Personal best: 5 shots. Current score: 7 shots. What is the difference?
  2. Personal best: 3 shots. Current score: 2 shots. What is the difference?
  3. Personal best: 6 shots. Current score: 9 shots. What is the difference?
  4. Personal best: 4 shots. Current score: 4 shots. What is the difference?
  5. Personal best: 7 shots. Current score: 5 shots. What is the difference?
Answers:
  1. 7 - 5 = 2
  2. 3 - 2 = 1
  3. 9 - 6 = 3
  4. 4 - 4 = 0
  5. 7 - 5 = 2

FAQ

What is a personal best in golf?

A personal best is the lowest number of shots you’ve ever taken to complete a hole or a round of golf.

Why do I need to subtract to find the difference?

Subtraction helps us find how much better or worse you did compared to your personal best. It shows the change in your score.

Can I use this for other sports?

Yes! You can use subtraction to compare scores in football, tennis, swimming, or any sport where you keep track of points or time.

How do I keep track of my scores?

You can use a scorecard, a notebook, or even a phone app to write down your scores and personal bests.

What if I don’t beat my personal best?

That’s okay! It means you’re still learning and improving. You can always try again next time to beat your score.