ESC as defined by United States Golf Association

USGA Handicap Manual
Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is the downward adjustment of individual hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make handicaps more representative of a player's potential ability. ESC sets a maximum number that a player can post on any hole depending on the player's Course Handicap. ESC is used only when a player's actual or most likely score exceeds the player's maximum number based on the table below.

Course Handicap	Maximum per Hole Score
9 or less	Double Bogey
10 to 19	7
20 to 29	8
30 to 39	9
40 or more	10

ESC as defined by Royal Canadian Golf Association

RCGA Handicap Manual

Within the RCGA

Royal Canadian Golf Association

Golf Canada, formerly known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association is the governing body of golf in Canada.-Beginnings:The RCGA was founded on June 6, 1895 as the Canadian Golf Association at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The Royal prefix was granted to the CGA in June 1896 by Queen Victoria through...

 Handicap calculation process, the ESC is implemented as a limit to the number of strokes "above par" for determining a players handicap. This limit will define the maximum per-hole, based on the par score

Par (score)

The word "par" is a term in the game of golf used to denote the pre-determined number of strokes that a scratch golfer should require to complete a hole, a round , or a tournament...

for the hole, rather than providing the same maximum score for all holes on a course.

The ESC for a player is determined on per "course handicap" basis as calculated for each player, and results in the following ESC values:

Course Handicap	Maximum Number on any Hole
0 or +	1 over par
1 through 18	2 over par
19 through 32	3 over par
33 and over	4 over par