Anyone else self reduced hcap

[Tashyboy]

A guy who plays in our fuddle. His official handicap is 21. Last week he got 45 points, again. One of the lads collared him and said we have had a natter and want to reduce your hcap. He said “ I wanted to have a word before we tee of coz I think I should” bottom line they both said play off 14. Everyone is happy. He is chuffed to bits as his lessons and hard work are paying off. He has been playing less than a year, has lessons, goes to the course and practises and is a really nice guy. The fact he is happy to drop to 14 for our fuddle has really gone down well with everyone.
But does anyone know of anyone who was happy to drop there hcap. We always hear of bandits but not this way Re hcap.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Why doesn’t he just put his cards in then his HC will drop to give a better reflection

Dropping a HC with a swindle is only relevant for that swindle

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The aim of all of the people I play with each week is to get cut. Any increase is treated like salt on a cut. The ones who want an increase are, thankfully, people I don't come across.

I'm not being puritanical on this, I mainly play with handicappers 16 and above and we strive for respectability. Winning doesn't come into it.

I should add, we first of all play for fun. That is aim number 1 every week. Aim 2 is a cut ?

 

[Billysboots]

We used to maintain a handicap book for our swindle but, thankfully, as we all play regular comps anyway we have no reason to continue with it as the WHS seems to be ensuring handicaps within the group are fair. Back in the day our group were happy to be cut if their handicap wasn’t a fair reflection.

I’m pleased to say most of my partners are handicap reduction driven, rather than trophy chasers.

 

[phillarrow]

I didn't exactly volunteer for my handicap to go down when I first started...but I was properly made up when it did!

I played one game with a society at the end of their season many years ago and was utter rubbish. I went away and practised loads that winter and was regularly scoring 40-45 points when playing on my own and off 28. I did tell the lads from the society about my scoring over the winter and, when I turned up for my first comp as a member, I found that I was playing off 22. I was kind of gutted because I wanted to win a comp before it was cut, but also kind of happy to see it coming down. I won anyway! By the end of that year I was playing off 14 and was happy as Larry.

After a very lengthy break, I am just getting back into golf again and was given a handicap of 20 for a trip away last summer. I told them it was too high and am now starting next season off 16. Again, I'm really happy to see it coming down once more.

As others have said, I would rather have a low handicap than a falsely high one and loads of wins that I can't really feel proud about.

 

[Deleted member 23270]

There is a guy at my club that joined recently, his handicap is all wrong. He's been cleaning up in the rollups. Due to winter works we have been down to 16/17 holes for weeks so he can't put any cards in (as far as I'm aware). It is what it is, his handicap will tumble once competitions start in the spring.

 

[patricks148]

A 21 and 22 handicaps in our roll ups have cut themselves to 18 as thy didn't think it was fair to get 2 shots on a couple of the easiest holes on the course on the winter layout.

 

[jim8flog]

Pre WHS 3 of my downs part of getting me from 16 to 8 were as a result of 3 requested drops to the club secretary. I won 3 comps in a row and each time requested a drop but he would only drop me an extra 1 at a time.

 

[G1z1]

My away course I play regularly now because it’s links. Guys I play with are +2 hc 9hc 12hc after I first played with them and my official handicap being 24 I won and they were all calling me a bandit lol but I Only know two people at my home course and struggle to get cards marked. We have now agreed i play off 12 and I usually beat the 9hc and 12hc the +2 i struggle to beat lol he just doesn’t hit a bad shot like ever

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I play in a Saturday roll up and the winner gets cut 2 shots for their next three Saturday games and the runner up gets cut 1 shot for the same period. If either then wins or comes second again they get the cut to run concurrently with the first so a double winner plays off 4 less than playing handicap. It helps spread the money around. The important thing though is every one the roll up play in as many club competitions as they can so there playing handicap is a true reflection of where their game is. We had a guy off 23, who won a few weeks ago and so got cut two and then went out and had a career day out and got 46 points. Thins is he played in the next comp and got 25.

 

[timd77]

My first official hcp 30, I was disappointed as I’d been maintaining it on Golfshake for a couple of years prior and that was around 23. Anyway, it gradually started to come down but this was in the pre-whs days and so it was slow. I’d joined a new club and was playing a round for a couple of quid against some other members, played well and won the money. They were fine about it, but I went straight home and emailed the club to see if there was any way of having a review as I felt my handicap was too high, I’d played 1 round on my own at 12 over (think hcp was down to 28 by then), didn’t want to annoy other players etc, and they cut me to 20 overnight! Struggled to play to it for a while, but found that it helped me focus on scoring well rather than just hitting the ball around aimlessly.

 

[Foxholer]

The swindle I played mostly in (many years ago) had its own 'automatic' handicap adjustment method - so swindle handicap actually bore no resemblance to the official one and target score was unlikely to be 36 points. I was one of those (few) generally improving, so playing off 'cap significantly below my official one felt (and was) quite challenging. The entire purpose of the method was to share the (meagre) winnings around. I only ventured into the 'big money' swindle a couple of times and only at 'wimps' level! Far too stressful for a recreation for me, though I had an assumed tenner with the 'worst' of them in every comp we played in!

 

[rosecott]

My away course I play regularly now because it’s links. Guys I play with are +2 hc 9hc 12hc after I first played with them and my official handicap being 24 I won and they were all calling me a bandit lol but I Only know two people at my home course and struggle to get cards marked. We have now agreed i play off 12 and I usually beat the 9hc and 12hc the +2 i struggle to beat lol he just doesn’t hit a bad shot like ever

Any reason why you don't submit cards at the away course?

 

[Doh]

Not a self imposed cut I was cut three shots after doing well in a weds section winter comp all agreed at our AGM.

 

[G1z1]

Any reason why you don't submit cards at the away course?

I was planning too and the other golfer said wait till summer when the course is in better condition. I actually have a bet with the 9hc I said I’ll be single figures by end of the summmer and if I win he has to pay me on any course of my choosing and if I loose I pay him on any course, so I want to start getting it down but waiting till summer. Shot 9 over today on my home course and I didn’t actually play that great so I fancy my chances lol

 

[rulefan]

I was planning too and the other golfer said wait till summer when the course is in better condition.

Protecting your handicap then

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

There is a guy at my club that joined recently, his handicap is all wrong. He's been cleaning up in the rollups. Due to winter works we have been down to 16/17 holes for weeks so he can't put any cards in (as far as I'm aware). It is what it is, his handicap will tumble once competitions start in the spring.

Snap. My place has been non-qualifying for maybe 4 or 5 months due to significant work being done on 3 holes. Some members have improved markedly over the period but still have their pre-improvement HI and so are making great strides in the Winter KOs as well as rollups that don't apply their own HI reductions. We are nearing the course being returned to qualifying status so it will be interesting to see what happens to some HIs.

 

[Swango1980]

Fair play if he wants to cut his roll up handicap, and if that makes him feel good, great. However, I'd always take roll up handicaps with a pinch of salt. Their rules of adjusting these handicaps make them completely incomparable with official handicaps. The amount of times I've heard, say a 20 handicapper, boasting "I play off 9 in my society". I think to myself, "that is great, but you are nowhere near a 9 handicapper, at a push maybe you could sneak down to 18/19 if you had a purple patch".

In terms of official handicaps, I never recommended a player requests a lower handicap (which should often be declined due to the unintended consequences this could have on them and the field). If they think they are better, go out and submit scores officially to prove it. Earn it. And, so long as your course is set up to allow acceptable scores, it is now very easy to do.

 

[Biggleswade Blue]

I have been improving, and am putting cards any chance I get to try and get cuts before the summer comps start. If it doesn't come down, at least I can show that I have been trying if my matchplay oponent complains anbout giving me shots, or if I happen to win something with a silly score.

 

[sweaty sock]

Snap. My place has been non-qualifying for maybe 4 or 5 months due to significant work being done on 3 holes. Some members have improved markedly over the period but still have their pre-improvement HI and so are making great strides in the Winter KOs as well as rollups that don't apply their own HI reductions. We are nearing the course being returned to qualifying status so it will be interesting to see what happens to some HIs.

We've got players who do this every year, destroy the winter course, coin in a healthy second income of their friends money and then fail to trouble buffer zone all season....

Same people, every year....