Handicap - How often played to

[AndrewG]

This has been asked before, and I've done the searches to find lots of opinions on how often a handicap should be played to or beaten. Anything from 'a few times a year' to 4% have been touted as answers, but is there any official analysis on how often you should either a. Play to handicap buffer zone and b. Beat handicap resulting in a cut.

CONGU website doesn't turn anything up...

Cheers all...

 

[Ethan]

For people with a stable handicap, should be around 1 in 4 or 5 rounds to equal or better handicap.

 

[AndrewG]

Cheers for that, but I didn't really want to start another list of 'x times a year' or 'x percent of the time' opinion threads

I was really looking for anything statistically based, or with an explanation of the numbers.

 

[USER1999]

There isn't really an answer to this, which is why you can't find any data.

Playing off 10, in medals, I go up 0.1 per bad round, but come down 0.2 per shot under h/cap. Therefore, I either need to shoot 1 under per 2 bad rounds, or 2 under for 4 bad rounds, 3 under for 6 bad rounds etc.

Me, I'm either brilliant or rubbish. Hence I could go 10 medals without breaking my handicap, and then shot 5 under to regain my place. Somone else may be more consistent.

This is without looking at buffer zones. I buffer quite often too.

You also don't mention whether this in competition play. At other times, the course plays easier, and there is less stress. I would expect to play to my handicap a lot more in casual games for this reason. Especially if I am playing an away course off the yellows (ignoring CSS, as if it is a bounce game, there isn't one).

As a result, stats are hard to come by.

 

[CannyFifer]

Read online you should average 3 shots above your H/C. Below is where I read it, sad I know

Golf Digest, May, 2008

Handicaps

Q: How often you should beat your handicap?

A: You should average about three shots higher than your handicap. For example, a player with a Course Handicap of 16 on a course with a USGA Course Rating of 71.2 should average about 90, not 87. The USGA Handicap System is based on 96 percent of the best 10 differentials (corrected for Course and Slope Rating) of his last 20 rounds. More than half of your scores should be within three strokes of three over your handicap (87 to 93 in our example). Most golfers will beat their handicap (87 or better in our example) 20 per cent of the time and beat it by three strokes one out of every 20 rounds. For this player to break 80 (beat his handicap by eight), the odds are 1,138 to 1 that his handicap is correct. Do that twice and it would take the average golfer to play over 700 years of golf to accomplish it "fairly". In other words, odds far beyond reasonableness. .

By Dean Knuth, Golf Digest Professional Advisor. Former senior director of the USGA handicap department, Knuth invented today's USGA Course Rating and Slope system. EditRegion1

 

[AndrewG]

Read online you should average 3 shots above your H/C. Below is where I read it, sad I know

Golf Digest, May, 2008

Handicaps

Q: How often you should beat your handicap?

A: You should average about three shots higher than your handicap. For example, a player with a Course Handicap of 16 on a course with a USGA Course Rating of 71.2 should average about 90, not 87. The USGA Handicap System is based on 96 percent of the best 10 differentials (corrected for Course and Slope Rating) of his last 20 rounds. More than half of your scores should be within three strokes of three over your handicap (87 to 93 in our example). Most golfers will beat their handicap (87 or better in our example) 20 per cent of the time and beat it by three strokes one out of every 20 rounds. For this player to break 80 (beat his handicap by eight), the odds are 1,138 to 1 that his handicap is correct. Do that twice and it would take the average golfer to play over 700 years of golf to accomplish it "fairly". In other words, odds far beyond reasonableness. .

By Dean Knuth, Golf Digest Professional Advisor. Former senior director of the USGA handicap department, Knuth invented today's USGA Course Rating and Slope system. EditRegion1

Yep - I found that in my travels - but as it was US focussed, didn't pay it much mind - their hcaps are much more statistically based aren't they?

 

[USER1999]

They are, because every round counts. We only count specific rounds.
I wouldn't want every round to count. That would be boring.

 

[Ethan]

In fact the US and UK handicaps tend to have similar effects. US handicaps are typically a shot or two lower than the same player would have in the UK, but that is probably due to higher course ratings (similar to SSS).

In the US system, the player should match or better handicap around 1 in 4 rounds because the handicap is set at approximately the level of the 5th or 6th best rounds out of 20.

In the UK system, reductions (0.2 x X) have more effect than increases (0.1), so a balance point can be found when a reduction occurs only 1/4th as often as increases (on average, for my handicap, say).

 

[brendy]

This year out of 14 qualifying rounds I have been buffer or better half 7 times, digging a little deeper I didn't need my buffer 4 of those times and was -10 one round. Does that make me a bandit? No.
The rest of the stats show that I have been cut 2 shots, hit 18 over A couple of times and averaged 15 over for the rest. It seems to becrhat I usually beat my handicap or play rubbish (for an 8 handicapper). I do know of a couple of very steady handicappers though who are never far off their allowance ever, never wins more than their fair share of comps either though.
To me, it's the inconsistent types that win more often than the steady eddies.

 

[Region3]

Thinking about this from a different angle, you could relate it to how CSS is calculated.

If CSS remains the same as SSS, then the course has neither played easy or hard (in theory - I don't want to start the CSS debate again!).

Therefore, whatever the percentage of players in buffer or better needs to be for the CSS to not change, is how often any individual player should score buffer or better if their handicap is a good reflection of their ability.

Maybe.

 

[Ethan]

This year out of 14 qualifying rounds I have been buffer or better half 7 times, digging a little deeper I didn't need my buffer 4 of those times and was -10 one round. Does that make me a bandit? No.
The rest of the stats show that I have been cut 2 shots, hit 18 over A couple of times and averaged 15 over for the rest. It seems to becrhat I usually beat my handicap or play rubbish (for an 8 handicapper). I do know of a couple of very steady handicappers though who are never far off their allowance ever, never wins more than their fair share of comps either though.
To me, it's the inconsistent types that win more often than the steady eddies.

That is true - a mix of rubbish rounds and great rounds lowers handicap faster than a set of consistent rounds. That is because the system is balanced to reward good rounds more than penalise bad ones.