Handicap question

[smange]

Hi Guys

Played my first inter club competition(fourballs) at weekend and was a bit confused with how the handicaps worked out.

Im off 15 and my partner is off 16, we played against a 3 and an 18 handicap.

How does the 3/4 handicap work and what should we have been playing off.

We went with the calculations of the 3 handicapper as he seemed to know how it worked but I am not sure if it was correct as we didnt seem to be getting many shots.

Can one of you clever people put my mind at rest and tell me what we should have been playing off.

Thanks in advance.

 

[brendy]

divide by 4, multiply by 3 and rounded to the nearest shot, ie
18 handicapper /4= 4.5x3= 13.5 rounded up to 14.
The 3 handicaper in my eyes would play of 2 (2.25 rounded down). 15 handicapper receives 11 and 16 gets 12 shots, these shots are individual, ie you get your 11 and your partner gets 12, you only play with your own given shots so your opposition gets 2 shots and none of his partners and vice versa.

 

[Marko77]

Hi, sounds like you done it correctly. I assume this was matchplay and not strokeplay?

The 3 handicapper would get nothing and everybody would take 3/4 of the difference between themselves and that player i.e. you would get 3/4 of 12 (9 shots), your partner 3/4 of 13 (10 shots). His partner would get 3/4 of 15 (11 shots)so, apart from the 3 handicapper, you should have all been taking a shot off him on SI's 1-9, yours and his partner on SI 10 and only his partner on SI 11.

Once you've done it a few times it will all seem so natural.

 

[furyk_or_unique]

Smange,
Just to clarify from the replies you have received, Marko is spot on for fourball betterball, and Brendy is wrong on this one I'm afraid.

To summarise, as Marko says, each player basically gets 3/4 of the difference between their handicap and that of the lowest player in the four, and then gets a shot on each relevant stroke index hole - ie you presonally would get 3/4 of 12 (ie 15-3), which equals 9 shots to be taken on SIs 1-9.

When calculating the exact 3/4 allowance everything 0.5 and above is rounded up, and anything else is rounded down.

Had a similar problem with a pair I played in my first winter fourball who were trying to add their two handicaps together, divide by 2 and then goodness knows what...!

As Marko says, simple really once you've got your head round it

 

[brendy]

Sorry, I should have clarified that everyone plays off the low man,
I'll use the excuse of man flu and late night ramblings.

 

[happyhacker]

Remember first time I played like this. I thought I was being done out of shots as well! It really does become much easier after a couple of rounds.

 

[viscount17]

may be naive, but if you're given a handicap in the first place why all the 3/4 in one style of comp, 7/8 in others? does anyone ever play off their full handicap?

 

[smange]

Thanks to all for helping and special thanks to Marko for explaining it clearly and assuring me that we played off the correct handicap.
Even though it was correct, still cant help feeling it not right going from 15 to 9 before ive even hit a ball.

Oh dear, i feel another hard day coming on saturday with the return match.

 

[furyk_or_unique]

Viscount and Smange,
Fractions of handicaps have to be used in pairs comps - certainly betterball - because if you are two 18 handicappers playing together, it's highly unlikely you'll have your disasters and triumphs on the same holes which means as a pair you should in theory be better than your individual handicaps. You tend to lose pairs matches when both of you do indeed have too many simultaneous triumphs and disasters, but as I say, most of the time it isn't the case.
Full handicap diff is now the CONGU advice for individual matchplay, and of course you always get full handicap in individual strokeplay events (unless you're at one of those stuck in the past clubs that docks you in Stablefords but I think they're few and far between now)

And Smange, yes it may seem like you've gone from 15 to 9, but that is for reasons explained above - and don't forget that one of the players in your fourball has lost all 3 of his shots!

Trust me - it all works out in the end most of the time and the pair that plays the best golf will normally win.