Current Handicap System

[RGDave]

I can't see how you can ever get cut off yellow tees, or tbh, whites, if they are not the longest tees. Your h/cap should be off the blocks, in a comp, with all the stress involved. Knocking it round in level par off the yellows is irrelevant.
A short hitter could be off 5 off the yellows, and 15 off the blocks, as they don't have the length to hit gir.

Praise the Murph!!!!

You have hit the nail on the head.

A short hitter could be off 5 off the yellows, and 15 off the blocks, as they don't have the length to hit gir.

My club gave me my h'cap off the BLUE Winter tees. Off these forward tees I can physically hit (GIR) 16/18. Off yellows this is 15/18 and whites about 14/18...i.e. four holes where I can't get on. I.M.O. my original h'cap was two shots too low.
As a point of fact, I birdied the 15th hole (3w, 8i) and off the whites I can't reach.....
They took this birdie as a "sure sign" I was capable of playing either 9 way under +5.5 shots (1/2 of 11).
Now they won't move me either way. I play in yellow tee games 9/10 times and IF I have a good or bad round, there's no change......arghhh.....

I think agree with you, maybe CUTS off yellows is impractical, but to put someone UP 0.1 ought to be allowable of yellows......let's face it, if you shoot nett 5 over off yellows you don't get 0.1 but if you shoot nett 3 over off whites you DO get 0.1...how crazy is that??

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We have a guy at mine (nice chap, bad golfer!!) who ONLY plays Sundays, like me. 52 weeks a year he manages to go round in approx. 94-95. His h'cap is 16, so every week he is 7-9 shots adrift, off the shorter course than the whites!!!

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He is still on 16 because of the day he plays!!!!

Is it fair for him to play off 16 whenever he plays in a bounce friendly....??

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If he can't do it off yellows, I'd give him 0.1 EVERY WEEK until he can play to his h'cap.....

 

[Herbie]

What about players who actually play better from the blocks, where their ranges match better the course yardage?

I have not been on many courses where there is such a dramatic difference in yardage other than a couple of holes and bare in mind that h/c assessments take into account the tee played off and the sss, so I dont understand this argument at all, if your h/c is worked out from the yellows and the sss from the yellow tees, what is the problem? (other than a generous calculation in your favour)

sss off yellows where I am is 68, off whites its 70, I dont see any holes where a short hitting player should have such a dramatic difference as has been indicated, I think a lot of it is in the mind and what has actually stopped such people getting h/c off the blocks anyway?

 

[Herbie]

Re: above post, sss should read 70 and 72 respectively, I was thinking of a previous course. Same point though!

 

[SammmeBee]

It's a length thing - golfers have a limit of how far they can actually hit it but for most golfers that it not very far....20 yards diffence can actually make the difference of being able to get over the bunker or onto the fairway and it brings out the fact that you have to engage the 6 inches between your ears, which is probably the most fundamental flaw in everyone's game....

I prime and relative example - the 1st at Royal Ascot, straightforward 3 of the yellows but off the whites.....

It probably goes to prove the point that only competitions of the 'blocks should count only for handicap....

Most people problem play 1 competition round in 5 rounds of golf, if every round was counted that would give me a fantastic chance to get the handicap back up for the competition...perhaps a better why would be only to allow increases if you have played in a certain number of competitions in a certain period and the only allow increases on a 3/6 monthly basis....

 

[jammydodger]

An interesting debate this one and I find myself agreeing with a lot of folks on different sides of the fence. !!

There was an argument a while back when the club said there would be no h/c movement while we had temp tees and greens , some older fellas in the bar said the course should be played as it was built to be played , to which my mate replied "but you only ever play off the yellows and never set foot on the whites " , the silence was deafening.

Anyway , the h/c system for me is quite long winded , in that it takes ages to get yourself cut down. A few years ago before I gave golf up I played off 3 and it took me about 3 yaers to get from 6 to 3 (about a stroke a year). A lot of time , effort and hours and hours around the short game area before getting a .1 reduction in the monthly medal and scraping a buffer round here and there.

Well I picked the clubs up again late last year and now play off 9. I see my old h/c and yearn for the consistency I used to show and I'm determined to get myself cut (6 by end of year hopefully) but cant help feeling that it could take years with only dropping .2 per shot for the moment. Some people have suggested a voluntary cut but I would rather 'earn' it with hard work.

I cant help feeling that a larger cut per shot better than CSS is needed and i'm sure there's people out there with better brains than mine to work something out.

 

[Herbie]

Thinking about it I think all clubs should assess the first h/c of a player from yellow tees only, or even a new player to the club who holds a h/c, because if there is a slight difference from the whites (or even a significant dist on a couple of holes)
this would have the correct effect on making h/c harder to play to in comps, something I advocate.

 

[RGDave]

It's a length thing - golfers have a limit of how far they can actually hit it but for most golfers that it not very far....20 yards difference can actually make the difference of being able to get over the bunker or onto the fairway and it brings out the fact that you have to engage the 6 inches between your ears, which is probably the most fundamental flaw in everyone's game....

I Agree, totally.

At the club I chose NOT to join (the "other" one!) there are 5 holes that punish the short hitter and let the big boys run wild. 2 of these holes have bunkers in the middle of the fairway approx 40 yards short of two 450 yard par 4s. These WERE designed to catch the long-hitter of yesteryear....but now they are a pain in the backside for average men and ladies.....there's then 2 others where you have to drive over a hill (at 250-260)....if you can't, you are lucky to get 230 yards out of a "would-be" 250 yard drive, but IF you can get over the hill, you roll down to wedge distance....no kidding (in the summer of course)....

There's no answer really (for me)....I just do the best I can......I just wish my original h'cap was calculated off white.....that would have stopped the par-birdie-par-par-par run I put together on the last 5 holes. My "normal" score on these holes off white is bogey, par, par, bogey, bogey...that's 1 under (playing for my card) compared to 3 over (usual medal score).....>????