Anyone else self reduced hcap

[jim8flog]

Many years ago virtually all of the downwards movement of my handicap came in winter because generally courses are easier to play, softer greens and very few unpredictable bounces.

 

[rosecott]

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

Did your reduction really have to be considered at your club's AGM?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

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.

Update. All holes that were being worked on were today fully back in play and so all rollups and comps that were previously WHS counting are now back counting.

Aside...the new bunkering around the greens of three holes, and the new fairway bunkering on one of the three, looks great and makes the holes play with much greater hazard - both actual and visual - and as we know visual hazard is one of the subtle tools of the course architect. Great changes that make our four par 3s a great set, with each of the four having it's very own individualistic and challenging character. Well worth the hypothecated levy we have been paying these last 4 years.

 

[fenwayrich]

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.

As far as I'm aware, the fact that one or two holes are out of play does not in itself prevent an acceptable score from being submitted, as long as the rest of the course meets the criteria for the WHS.

 

[LincolnShep]

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 ?

Amen to this, exactly my thoughts.

 

[Swango1980]

Amen to this, exactly my thoughts.

Really? It was only the other day you were boasting about winning a competition in a 3 man field, with a nett 78

 

[LincolnShep]

Really? It was only the other day you were boasting about winning a competition in a 3 man field, with a nett 78

It's my proudest moment in golf, possibly life.

 

[Tashyboy]

Just a quick update. The guy that was reduced to 14 shot 34 points today and was chuffed with that. Won a nearest the pin as well.

 

[Jigger]

In a society it’s fair. Especially if played over the winter months when handicaps don’t change officially. No used to run a winter society which was a mix of club players and non members and I used to take official hcps and estimated for non members and have a harsher style of confusion handicapping to keep it all as fair as possible.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

In a society it’s fair. Especially if played over the winter months when handicaps don’t change officially. No used to run a winter society which was a mix of club players and non members and I used to take official hcps and estimated for non members and have a harsher style of confusion handicapping to keep it all as fair as possible.

For societies / swindles you want a system that allows everyone to have a chance of winning. I think Homer's system sounds good, penalising winners to give others a chance is good fun. However, it's completely separate to an actual handicap.

I had a similar situation when I was new to golf, my first handicap was 20 and I struggled a bit for the first year or so and had edged up to 21. However, after quite a bit of practice over winter I came back a new man in Spring. I had 45 points in a board comp in April, which got me down to 17, and 44 points in another board comp in August and was cut to 12 or 13. I'm sure that plenty of other members found those scores frustrating, but I was more excited about my handicap coming down than winning. Winning was a bonus, improving at golf and my handicap showing it was what it was all about for me.

After the first big points score I spoke to the pro because I did feel a bit of embarrassment about it, but his view was that so long as I was regularly entering competitions, which I was, then I should just make the most of the fruits of my improvement. Golf is hard, and it's not that my handicap was in anyway artificially high, it was just that I'd practiced and got better. There are plenty of golfers, and in my experience they're the ones that moan about others getting big scores, that make no effort to get better but expect to win from time to time.