First handicap

[Galby]

Dear sirs

My friend has just joined our club and has submitted 3 cards to get his first handicap. His cards consisted of 20,22,24 over Par. I am under the impression anything over a double bogey is not counted which after our sums gave him an average of 19. his Handicap has came through from the club secretary as 13 to his amazment. He has questioned how the figure of 13 was reached and was told thats what the computer has calculated. The only thing i can think of is that he scored well on the harder stroke index holes which may of had an affect?. Any ideas would be welcome as i have played a few times with him now and he is no way near a 13 handicapper more around the 20 mark going off recent rounds. I fear he is losing intrest in competitions and the like as he is not capable at present to play to 13 and it will take a considerable amount of time for him to get 0.1 lifts.

 

[Evesdad]

On my own personal account I had my handicap down at 28, on my iPhone app it was 30. After handing in 3 cards at 116, 105 and I can't remember the other but above 105 got a handicap of 26. I thought the same that maybe I just scored better on the harder holes and fluffed a few of the easier ones.

 

[Aztecs27]

My handicap was (apparently) calculated on the best score of my 3 handed-in cards after everything over a double had been counted back to a double and I ended up with 19 over as being the best I handed in. This might have been because my scores were all relatively close together though?

I'm not even going toi pretend I know how the handicap system works!

 

[Imurg]

You don't calculate handicap against par, you use Standard Scratch Score (SSS). That may well be a few shots lower than par. It's the score a Scratch player should produce on an average day around your course.
Par may be 70 but SSS may be 67. So an average score of 90 (+20 to par) would be +17 to SSS giving a handicap of 17. If you were expecting 19 and got 13 then I suspect either your adding up was wrong - maybe missed a couple of trebles - or the Computer threw a wobbly!
Worth asking again and checking the cards were entered correctly.

 

[Region3]

You don't calculate handicap against par, you use Standard Scratch Score (SSS). That may well be a few shots lower than par. It's the score a Scratch player should produce on an average day around your course.
Par may be 70 but SSS may be 67. So an average score of 90 (+20 to par) would be +17 to SSS giving a handicap of 17. If you were expecting 19 and got 13 then I suspect either your adding up was wrong - maybe missed a couple of trebles - or the Computer threw a wobbly!
Worth asking again and checking the cards were entered correctly.

You're right, but the maths is the wrong way round me ode fruit
90 - 67 = 23

To the OP. It's not the average of the 3 cards, it's the best, after they've all been adjusted to max double bogeys.
As far as I know the stroke indexes of the holes are irrelevant, although if he had previously held a lowish handicap that might have been taken into account.

My 3 cards were +12, +12, +14, but I used to play off 10 and they gave me 11.

 

[RGDave]

Curious. Firstly, igonre the 22 and 24, look at the 20 over card. If there were some triples on there and pars on the hard holes, 13 is just within the boundaries of reason.
Seems steep though..

 

[rosecott]

The last poster has got it right - it's the best adjusted score that is used.

BUT

The player's previous handicap history (from any source) must be taken into account and a lower handicap may be awarded if the handicap committee considers that a lower handicap is more appropriate to the player's ability.

It's not an exact science.

 

[Imurg]

You don't calculate handicap against par, you use Standard Scratch Score (SSS). That may well be a few shots lower than par. It's the score a Scratch player should produce on an average day around your course.
Par may be 70 but SSS may be 67. So an average score of 90 (+20 to par) would be +17 to SSS giving a handicap of 17. If you were expecting 19 and got 13 then I suspect either your adding up was wrong - maybe missed a couple of trebles - or the Computer threw a wobbly!
Worth asking again and checking the cards were entered correctly.

You're right, but the maths is the wrong way round me ode fruit
90 - 67 = 23 .

Ok so Maths was never my strong point!!