The Best Paper for Golf Scorecards Is the One That Gets Through the Round

The first tee: the face you write on

The first thing a scorecard does is take a pencil. Before the artwork has been looked at twice, somebody is writing a name in the top row with a stubby pencil from the cart, and the paper either takes the mark cleanly or it does not.

What takes it cleanly is tooth. An uncoated surface has it: the fibers are bare, so graphite bites and ballpoint dries on contact, and neither smears when a thumb drags across the grid at the turn. Standard (80lb Cover) is uncoated on both faces, and so is Premium (Linen). Either side of either sheet writes.

The coated stocks are a different build. Premium (100lb Cover) and Premium (12pt C1S) are coated one side, gloss on one face and bare on the other, and the gloss face is for artwork, not writing. A pencil skates on it and ballpoint takes a moment to dry. So we lay the scoring grid on the uncoated face, which is the whole reason a coated-one-side sheet exists: color and crest on the outside, pencil on the inside.

The one thing to settle before press is where every writable line sits. A signature box, an attest line or a notes panel that lands on the artwork side of a coated card is the conversation we have at proof stage. The coated-one-side section of the paper guide has the build of each sheet, face by face.

The fourth green: dew, a wet seat, and the coating

By the fourth green the card has met water. Dew off the fringe on a morning round, the cart seat after a passing shower, a damp glove laid on top of it. Paper absorbs what lands on it, and a card that has been wet comes back soft, with the pencil marks feathering into the fibers.

No paper stock is waterproof. What stands between the card and the water is a coating: a finishing pass over the printed sheet, on the artwork face only, that seals the surface so water beads and runs instead of soaking in. One coating pass per card, never two. The calculator offers these:

• Aqueous Coating: Protective aqueous coating for added durability.
• UV Coating (1-Side): Gloss or matte UV coating on one side for a premium finish.
• Lamination (1-Side): Film laminate on one side for maximum durability.

The coating goes on the artwork face and leaves the scoring face alone, because a coated grid is a grid nobody can write on. That is the trade a wet course makes: the face that sheds water is the outside, and the fold is what keeps the writing face dry. On a bi-fold the whole round sits inside, and the cover closes over it in the clip. Pair a coated stock with a coating pass and the outside of the card is sealed twice over, while the inside still takes a pencil.

What each pass does to gloss, scuff resistance and stiffness, and what it adds per card, is in the coatings section of the paper guide.

The cart clip and the back pocket: body

A cart clip grips the top edge of the card and asks it to hold flat for four hours. A back pocket asks the opposite: fold once, sit on it, and come out at the 18th still legible. Both are questions about body, and body is the one thing on the spec sheet that the hand reads instantly and the price list describes in three different units.

Pounds are a ream weight, points are a caliper, and the caliper is the number to trust for stiffness. Ten point is ten thousandths of an inch; twelve point is twelve, and the difference is plain in the hand. Standard (80lb Cover) has enough body to hold a clip through a daily round and to fold once down the middle without cracking at the crease. Premium (12pt C1S) is noticeably stiffer, which is why it is the sheet for a card that goes home in a pocket and comes out again at the kitchen table.

What none of them is: text weight. Anything lighter than cover stock folds soft and tears at the crease by the back nine, and we do not quote scorecards on it. The lb, pt and gsm figures for every sheet are side by side in the reading-the-numbers section of the paper guide.

The 19th hole: the card a member keeps

Most cards are used once and binned, and Standard (80lb Cover) is the value answer at every quantity for exactly that card. Some cards are not. The member-guest, the club championship, the first round under 80: those cards go in a bag, then a drawer, sometimes a frame, and the paper is part of what gets kept.

Premium (Linen) is the sheet for that card. It is uncoated on both faces with an embossed linen crosshatch, so it takes a pencil the way the standard sheet does and feels like good stationery in the hand. Texture softens fine print, which is why we set the grid type a little larger on linen. It is sourced per order rather than run every week, and we confirm the sheet and its weight at proof, before anything goes to press.

The other keeper is Premium (12pt C1S) with a coating pass: the deepest color on the cover, the stiffest card in the frame, and a scoring face that still took the pencil on the day. The linen section of the paper guide has the setup line and what sourcing per order changes.

Which paper is best for your golf scorecards

Put the four tests against your own round and the stock names itself. The sheets below are the calculator's list, each beside the moment it is the answer to.

Two stocks on one artwork is a normal order. The layout does not change between sheets, so the everyday card runs on the standard sheet and the tournament card moves onto a coated stock, or onto linen, with only the stock line on the quote changing. If you would rather decide with the sheets in your hand, samples are available on request through our contact page. Samples are billed before they ship, and we confirm the charge first.

Questions about choosing scorecard paper