I think you mean the penalty score beneath the distance score. It is not added to each hole, it is a running total of your penalties,
eg. if you miss the green on the first hole with a penalty of 10 it will read 10 until you incur another penalty.
if you then miss the green on the 8th hole and incur a penalty of 20 it will now read 30.
Hope this clears it up for you.