Handicaps & Countback.

cliveb

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Isn't that true of any round? The decimal is rounded conventionally, so some 'lose' and some 'gain'.
The reason (as I understand it) for the decimal exact handicap is that it smooths the transition, when going up or down, for both time and number.
Obviously I'm not explaining it clearly enough.
It's nothing to do with "normal scoring", where playing handicaps are used in the taditional manner.
It's ONLY a mechanism to resolve ties, and as far as I can fathom, it makes more sense than countback, especially when you have a multi-tee start.
 

rulie

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While the Rules provide recommendations on how to decide ties, it is ultimately up to the Committee to publish if and how ties will be broken - whether to accept those recommendations or to use a different method. (I had a math teacher once who would teach a method or, as he said, "do it your own ugly way".)
 

backwoodsman

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My club has a three tee start (1, 8 & 13). This means that the last nine holes are different for the various players. Until a few years ago, we used exact handicap to resolve ties, which seems fairer to me. But then it got changed to the CONGU recommend method. I don't understand why, and still feel that exact handicap is a better approach.
Out of interest, where do you play?
 

DickInShorts

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Obviously I'm not explaining it clearly enough.
It's nothing to do with "normal scoring", where playing handicaps are used in the taditional manner.
It's ONLY a mechanism to resolve ties, and as far as I can fathom, it makes more sense than countback, especially when you have a multi-tee start.

I’ve seen this proposed before - it certainly would be more easily understood by most golfers. it’s only in the last couple of years that I found out it was based in nett rather than gross scores - I’d always thought it gave an unfair advantage to the lower handicap. Glad I was wrong and it’s done fairly.
I think the exact handicap method is better
 

duncan mackie

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I can see the validity of the argument to use the exact handicap but CONGU are the only handicapping system to use the handicap related to the exact handicap in competition....and the WHS doesn't go that route so it won't be appropriate for much longer.
 

duncan mackie

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There are exact handicaps in WHS.
how does it handle countback?
There is an exact handicap index, but it will translate to a playing handicap based on a different basis for each handicap and slope index for any given tee. The link between 13 = 12.5 ->13.4 (and the same for each handicap) is completely broken, even to the extent that the proportions of handicap index aren't the same across the range of playing handicaps. Basically what makes the argument for it valid no longer applies. As an example 21.0 could be playing off 26 from our white tees and 25 from our yellows, and the exact cut off will be based on a matrix not a rounding. So (roughly) each 0.1 could be considered to equate to 0.15. For an 11.0 that might be 0.115 (or not) as well. You could run a nominal formulae, but would get the situation where 2 tied players would have a different result from the same calculation applied across 2 different tees on the same course...at which point any claims that it would be easy to explain fail dramatically!
Handles countback the same as the other 99.9% of the world (and most of that plays a lot, lot, less medal than the UK - stableford rules - which is the only point under consideration anyway).
 

duncan mackie

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Where does CONGU use the exact handicap in competition?
I didn't say that - please read what I did say.
The playing handicap under CONGU is related to the exact handicap in the same way for every player regardless of the course played, tees used and handicap level.
This is not the case for others.
 

jim8flog

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My club has a three tee start (1, 8 & 13). This means that the last nine holes are different for the various players. Until a few years ago, we used exact handicap to resolve ties, which seems fairer to me. But then it got changed to the CONGU recommend method. I don't understand why, and still feel that exact handicap is a better approach.

That is simple. It probably coincided with the switch to computer recorded scores and a computer does not know which tee you started on.

We have a shotgun better ball event with more than half the field winning some sort of a prize and the scores used to handled manually. One of the biggest headaches and most time consuming part of the affair was working out countbacks, often going to first 3. The computer has saved us the bother.
 

rulefan

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I didn't say that - please read what I did say.
The playing handicap under CONGU is related to the exact handicap in the same way for every player regardless of the course played, tees used and handicap level.
This is not the case for others.
post #27 doesn't say that
CONGU are the only handicapping system to use the handicap related to the exact handicap in competition
 
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cliveb

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That is simple. It probably coincided with the switch to computer recorded scores and a computer does not know which tee you started on.
Using exact handicap the computer doesn't need to know which tee you started on, so that can't be the reason.
I will need to ask for confirmation, but I think the change was made simply to align us with CONGU recommendations.

And as Duncan has correctly pointed out, once the WHS comes in you couldn't use exact handicap to resolve ties, so the point is moot in any case.
 

duncan mackie

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post #27 doesn't say that
CONGU are the only handicapping system to use the handicap related to the exact handicap in competition
#27 says the same thing in less words - related to the exact being the relevant point.
I simply expanded it in #34 as it was clearly causing confusion
 
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