Handicap calculation

[Little Jockey]

Morning People,

Interested to hear a little bit more about how handicaps are actually calculated. I play off 17 and I would say currently I score 34 - 40 points 5 out of 10 knocks (At my own club obviously).

A lot of my mates at other clubs reckon that you should only play to your handicap 3 or 4 times per year, but that doesnt seem right to me? Surely your handicap is your average score? Now if you are only beating it or reaching it 3 or 4 times per year is something not wrong?

Thoughts?

 

[Twire]

If it's a true handicap i.e. you play lots of comps it has to be better than your average. Take the example you have just given, if your scoring 34-40 points 50% of the time you play, as a cat 3 player your h'cap should be coming down by 0.3 for every shot under CSS but only going up by 0.1 regardless of how many over h'cap. Even with this simple calculation you must be able to see your handicap coming down quicker than it goes up....until you get to a level that you only play to occasionally.

 

[duncan mackie]

couple of points -

1. without knowledge of the relationship between par and SSS on your course it's impossible to make meaningful comment on your points scores
2. 3-4 times a year is clearly rubbish - it takes no account of how many times you play!

If you work back from the handicap system appendix data you will find that the system (roughly) expects one third of your handicap category to play to their buffer zone or better in any competition. It would be easy to assume that the range 34-40 is a match to that buffer. From that it could be construed that you are a slightly strong 17, but that's all.

Hope this helps.

 

[Little Jockey]

If it's a true handicap i.e. you play lots of comps it has to be better than your average. Take the example you have just given, if your scoring 34-40 points 50% of the time you play, as a cat 3 player your h'cap should be coming down by 0.3 for every shot under CSS but only going up by 0.1 regardless of how many over h'cap. Even with this simple calculation you must be able to see your handicap coming down quicker than it goes up....until you get to a level that you only play to occasionally.

Thanks for the note Twire. I've only started playing comps this year so we'll see about the handicap coming down. Cheers for the note.

 

[Little Jockey]

couple of points -

1. without knowledge of the relationship between par and SSS on your course it's impossible to make meaningful comment on your points scores
2. 3-4 times a year is clearly rubbish - it takes no account of how many times you play! Thanks Duncan i'll check out the SSS.

If you work back from the handicap system appendix data you will find that the system (roughly) expects one third of your handicap category to play to their buffer zone or better in any competition. It would be easy to assume that the range 34-40 is a match to that buffer. From that it could be construed that you are a slightly strong 17, but that's all.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Duncan - ill check out the SSS

 

[Foxholer]

Handicap is not your average score! Handicap is actually a measure of the number of shots you would need to have an equal chance of winning a match against a 'Scratch' player.

If you have a 'stable' handicap - neither moving up nor down, equating to neither improving significantly, nor getting significantly poorer - you should probably play 'in buffer' quite frequently, a little lower than handicap occasionally and worse than buffer slightly more often. These are deliberately vague because it varies quite a bit between players and, more so, at different levels. To specify a certain number of times a year is a bit daft because a player may only play 3 or 4 times in a year, or may play every day! But playing every Monthly Medal, that wouldn't be too far out - perhaps even optomistic. At your level, playing 'in-buffer' means no change, playing poorer than buffer means 0.1 increase and lower means 0.3 decrease for every shot below 17 over (pretty much). So you are 'expected' to play poorer than 20 over (your buffer is 3) at least 3 times as often as you shoot better than 17 over. CSS vs SSS applies, but just complicates things.

Unless, like I think I am, you are pretty consistent in your scoring (albeit not necessarily on the same holes!) I think that, unless your course is pretty easy, your 34-40 points 50% of the time in 'knocks' should convert to a couple of shots lower than your 17. So, imo, it's probably it's 'playing with a card in your hand' that is stopping you from being lower - if that's what you want.

In any case, your handicap is simply a metric that can be used to equate you with another player. It doesn't really matter how it is calculated - as long as it's done consistently. Other countries use different methods (mainly 1) and they can also equate players - if not between players of different systems.

Here's a link to the Congu system used in GB&I http://www.congu.com/ Lots more detail about it in there.

Oh, and there are bandits in all systems!

Hope that helps.

 

[Little Jockey]

Perfect thanks Foxholer!

And you are right Bandits left right and centre!

 

[duncan mackie]

which course?

 

[Little Jockey]

Hi Duncan - Chesterton Valley in Shropshire http://www.ukgolfguide.com/chesterton-valley-golf-club