Can you really call yourself a low handicapper.....

As I recall you used to have to play so many away courses to keep a Cat1 handicap.

Reality is that most Cat1 players end up playing a lot of away courses by the nature of the competitions they play in. Often not worth them playing in a lot of home club handicap comps as they stand little or no chance of being competitive.
 
Low is 3 and below for me.
Cat1 is achievable through a good swing and practice. Below 3 you need to have a great golfing mind and mental strength. Drop a couple of shots early on and you've only got 1 shot to play with for the rest on the round. Having the mental strength to trust your game is massive.

How many can keep a round going when they only have a shot left of handicap? That's what being a low handicapper is like from the first tee.

My total respect goes to anyone that can maintain a 3 and below handicap.
 
Hobbit said:
I love watching a good low handicapper. Sometimes you don't even realise they are playing well as its done without any fuss. Fairway, green and 2 putts. Occasionally a birdie and occasionally a bogey. Equally, you see the odd Cat 1 player that thrashes and bashes and has a swing that looks like an octopus putting on a sweater in a phone box.
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I know a few of those at my place...:)
 
garyinderry said:
They do play boring golf. As you say it looks almost pedestrian. Decent long drive. Good iron to green. Putt putt.

Last day I played with a low man off 2 he landed last minute onto the tee. Missed the first green and failed to get up and down from a not to difficult spot. After that it was plain sailing with 3 birds and one more missed green and fail to get up and down for a total of 1 under.

I honestly didn't realise he was going so well till late on.
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Our new club champion is a young lad off +2. On Sunday in the second round he had a poor front nine (for him) for 3 over - then on back nine hit 6 birdies, that's the way to do it...
 
Lump said:
Low is 3 and below for me.
Cat1 is achievable through a good swing and practice. Below 3 you need to have a great golfing mind and mental strength. Drop a couple of shots early on and you've only got 1 shot to play with for the rest on the round. Having the mental strength to trust your game is massive.

How many can keep a round going when they only have a shot left of handicap? That's what being a low handicapper is like from the first tee.

My total respect goes to anyone that can maintain a 3 and below handicap.
Click to expand...

Tbf the low guys know they have a bunch of birdies in their game that can repair a round. Nothing smartens up a card like 3 or 4 birdies or more.
 
Lump said:
Just like any golfer, you don't always have your "swing" or a putter stroke.
Knowing and doing are 2 very different things.
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Of course, and they pick up plenty of 0.1s like everyone else when they arent on their game.

Their stats will also tell them they make more birdies on average than most and can turn a bad start into a good round.
 
Lump said:
Low is 3 and below for me.
Cat1 is achievable through a good swing and practice. Below 3 you need to have a great golfing mind and mental strength. Drop a couple of shots early on and you've only got 1 shot to play with for the rest on the round. Having the mental strength to trust your game is massive.

How many can keep a round going when they only have a shot left of handicap? That's what being a low handicapper is like from the first tee.

My total respect goes to anyone that can maintain a 3 and below handicap.
Click to expand...

Depends on the CSS if the CSS is +2 for the course you have more than one shot to play with if you do drop a couple early doors. However there is the flip side if your CSS is below par!!!

Tough mentality required!
 
I play with a guy who plays off 2 (think it may be 3 now). He started the year at 4 and basically all of his cuts have came from away events. Our CSS is always 1 under, so when he was playing off 2, he had to shoot level par for a .1 cut. Yet when he went away and the CSS went up, he got some really big cuts. There was also a member at our club who played off 2, moved to a new club and within a year was off +1. My course is short but very tricky and can easily drop 1 or 2 shots making the simplest of errors.
 
Coffey said:
I play with a guy who plays off 2 (think it may be 3 now). He started the year at 4 and basically all of his cuts have came from away events. Our CSS is always 1 under, so when he was playing off 2, he had to shoot level par for a .1 cut. Yet when he went away and the CSS went up, he got some really big cuts. There was also a member at our club who played off 2, moved to a new club and within a year was off +1. My course is short but very tricky and can easily drop 1 or 2 shots making the simplest of errors.
Click to expand...
You have just summarised two of the problems with the present system. 1. the CSS doesn't reflect course difficulty accurately for Cat. 1 players in difficult conditions & 2. SSS from one course to another doesn't reflect the relative difficulty of the courses. The slope system attempts to deal with the latter point & is used in most other parts of the world.
 
Maninblack4612 said:
You have just summarised two of the problems with the present system. 1. the CSS doesn't reflect course difficulty accurately for Cat. 1 players in difficult conditions & 2. SSS from one course to another doesn't reflect the relative difficulty of the courses. The slope system attempts to deal with the latter point & is used in most other parts of the world.
Click to expand...

OR

Maybe a good deal amount of players who have a cat 1 HC cant actually play to that HC - remembering for most the HC gained is done on that course. If someone cant regulary play to buffer then they have the wrong HC. Hence why a great deal amount of Cat 1 players play in Open where they know they can not play to HC yet not go up .1 - manufacturing their HC to keep it low. These Cat 1 players will have the same issue when it comes to slope - in fact they will possibly get a shock.

It was the same with your mate and the complaints about SSS/CSS at home course. Many cat 1 players cant play to their HC at their Home course hence why they play Opens and Scratch events because the system allows them to play 3/ worse than their HC yet not get .1 back
 
I do think the cat 1 boys should play in scratch cups to test themselves against other low guys. If only to see how good their game is and also what they can learn playing with other good players.

The low men at my club have had decent success this year in the local scratch cups. Full credit to them as well because the weather has been brutal from what I've seen any time a club in the north west held a scratch cup this summer.
 
garyinderry said:
...the weather has been brutal from what I've seen any time a club in the north west held a scratch cup this summer.
Click to expand...
Ours back in June was probably the worst conditions I can remember staying out in, absolutely miserable. Only reason I finished out the 36 is I was marking for someone who was going decent in the second round. I think there were a few lads from your direction changed their mind in the carpark that morning and went home without even teeing it up...hindsight says I should have done the same!

Usual family commitments meant I didn't get to any more 'local' ones, despite my best intentions this year.
 
Addressing this question is never going to be an issue for me! :rofl:
 
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