How does the handicap system work in the UK - rough cut podcast comments

[Petercool]

So I was listening to the Roughcut podcast and the two guys (not Peter) have joined clubs and talking about the handicap system

I’m in Australia and the way it works here is, you go into the pro shop.
Pay your comp fee. $5-$12. Depending on the course.
Play your round
Scores on an app. Your score and your playing partner.
Finish. The score automatically update and is attached to your handicap that is calculated on your last 20 rounds.

You can get soft or hard capped if it’s moving Too fast so you can’t have shocker rounds and let your handicap blow out.
The max your handicap can blow out in 5 shots over 12 months.
It can come in unlimited if you play well consistently.

***** so on the podcast they were saying you can have one bad round and it can blow out 8 shots in the uk. I thought this sounded wrong. As this can’t happen in Australia.
They say other things that I don’t think are right either but can go into those later. Other than one they said one you have a handicap you HAVE TO ALWAYS PLAY COMP.
Once again not a thing here other than at my club you have to play comp of a Saturday only. Other day you can just hit balls or play comp if you want.

 

[Bratty]

As far as I understand it, in the UK you can submit general play as well as comp cards.
It's best 8 of 20 scores that count, so if you have a super high score counting which is replaced by a super low score, and all others are low too, you could see a relatively big cut, I guess, but I'd be surprised if it was 8 shots.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The podcast is talking guff.

The systems are basically the same and there is no requirement to put in a card every time you play.

Ill informed rubbish.

 

[Imurg]

For there to ve a cut or rise of 8 shots via one card...the difference between score differntials would have to astronomically high...like 60 or so
I can't believe anyone, even Fragger, could have such a volatile scoring range...

 

[sunshine]

Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

 

[Orikoru]

So I was listening to the Roughcut podcast and the two guys (not Peter) have joined clubs and talking about the handicap system

I’m in Australia and the way it works here is, you go into the pro shop.
Pay your comp fee. $5-$12. Depending on the course.
Play your round
Scores on an app. Your score and your playing partner.
Finish. The score automatically update and is attached to your handicap that is calculated on your last 20 rounds.

You can get soft or hard capped if it’s moving Too fast so you can’t have shocker rounds and let your handicap blow out.
The max your handicap can blow out in 5 shots over 12 months.
It can come in unlimited if you play well consistently.

***** so on the podcast they were saying you can have one bad round and it can blow out 8 shots in the uk. I thought this sounded wrong. As this can’t happen in Australia.
They say other things that I don’t think are right either but can go into those later. Other than one they said one you have a handicap you HAVE TO ALWAYS PLAY COMP.
Once again not a thing here other than at my club you have to play comp of a Saturday only. Other day you can just hit balls or play comp if you want.

It sounds to me like they have it wrong on the podcast and you are correct. You don't always have to enter comps, although most clubs seem to have a minimum amount of comps per year that you have to enter to be eligible to win a board comp, or play in matchplay knockouts (ours is 8). And yes there are soft and hard caps, but I don't have much knowledge on what they are. I think it's as you say, that you can't go up more than 5.

 

[wjemather]

So I was listening to the Roughcut podcast and the two guys (not Peter) have joined clubs and talking about the handicap system

I’m in Australia and the way it works here is, you go into the pro shop.
Pay your comp fee. $5-$12. Depending on the course.
Play your round
Scores on an app. Your score and your playing partner.
Finish. The score automatically update and is attached to your handicap that is calculated on your last 20 rounds.

You can get soft or hard capped if it’s moving Too fast so you can’t have shocker rounds and let your handicap blow out.
The max your handicap can blow out in 5 shots over 12 months.
It can come in unlimited if you play well consistently.

***** so on the podcast they were saying you can have one bad round and it can blow out 8 shots in the uk. I thought this sounded wrong. As this can’t happen in Australia.
They say other things that I don’t think are right either but can go into those later. Other than one they said one you have a handicap you HAVE TO ALWAYS PLAY COMP.
Once again not a thing here other than at my club you have to play comp of a Saturday only. Other day you can just hit balls or play comp if you want.

If these examples are typical of their understanding ignorance, it's best to assume everything they said about golf in the UK was absolutely wrong.

 

[sjw]

It sounds to me like they have it wrong on the podcast and you are correct. You don't always have to enter comps, although most clubs seem to have a minimum amount of comps per year that you have to enter to be eligible to win or play in matchplay knockouts (ours is 8). And yes there are soft and hard caps, but I don't have much knowledge on what they are. I think it's as you say, that you can't go up more than 5.

Once you go up 3, any increase above that is halved (soft cap) until you get to 5, then you can't go higher (hard cap).

 

[sjw]

As far as I understand it, in the UK you can submit general play as well as comp cards.
It's best 8 of 20 scores that count, so if you have a super high score counting which is replaced by a super low score, and all others are low too, you could see a relatively big cut, I guess, but I'd be surprised if it was 8 shots.

If all the others are low too, the super high one would never be counting It is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to swing that much.

You can't go up 8 shots as you'd hit the hard cap immediately (I assume).

If every differential of your last 20 were +64 and then you shot +0, you'd be cut 8 shots, but I don't think that's very likely!!

 

[Springveldt]

So I was listening to the Roughcut podcast and the two guys (not Peter) have joined clubs and talking about the handicap system

I’m in Australia and the way it works here is, you go into the pro shop.
Pay your comp fee. $5-$12. Depending on the course.
Play your round
Scores on an app. Your score and your playing partner.
Finish. The score automatically update and is attached to your handicap that is calculated on your last 20 rounds.

You can get soft or hard capped if it’s moving Too fast so you can’t have shocker rounds and let your handicap blow out.
The max your handicap can blow out in 5 shots over 12 months.
It can come in unlimited if you play well consistently.

***** so on the podcast they were saying you can have one bad round and it can blow out 8 shots in the uk. I thought this sounded wrong. As this can’t happen in Australia.
They say other things that I don’t think are right either but can go into those later. Other than one they said one you have a handicap you HAVE TO ALWAYS PLAY COMP.
Once again not a thing here other than at my club you have to play comp of a Saturday only. Other day you can just hit balls or play comp if you want.

Either you have misheard, if not, they are talking crap.

Handicap works the same in the UK as it does in Aus mostly. Same scoring differentials, same 8 of 20. You can submit general play rounds in the UK through the countries association app, not sure if you can do that in Aus or not but would be surprised if you can't.

You can have a few bad rounds in a row that knock some good ones off and go up a decent amount but you still have the 3 soft limit and 5 hard limit. I'm pushing that just now, I've gone from 2.6 to 5.1 with the next 2 scores counting as well so may actually push that soft limit if I keep playing crap.

 

[VVega]

For there to ve a cut or rise of 8 shots via one card...the difference between score differntials would have to astronomically high...like 60 or so
I can't believe anyone, even Fragger, could have such a volatile scoring range...

Similar extra changes were reported in other places and it looks like it always turns out to be when talking about initial hcp and not understanding how it’s allocated. Though still can’t imagine a swing of 8 shots.

 

[Deleted member 21784]

It sounds to me like they have it wrong on the podcast and you are correct. You don't always have to enter comps, although most clubs seem to have a minimum amount of comps per year that you have to enter to be eligible to win or play in matchplay knockouts (ours is 8). And yes there are soft and hard caps, but I don't have much knowledge on what they are. I think it's as you say, that you can't go up more than 5.

They set a limit of 12 scores in a year on ours but had to get rid as they wanted it to just be all cards but it only included club comps lol

They turned it off this week when I showed my mate (one the handicap team) my screen saying I couldnt enter next major as had only 7 rounds even tho I had 70 general play cards

 

[YandaB]

Your low handicap index is not set until you have played 20 rounds. That is what is used for the soft/hard cap calculations. Until that is set, handicaps can be a little more volatile. Going out by 8 in one round is almost impossible, perhaps when entering your 6th card with 5 of them being massively worse than the best one.

 

[Petercool]

Either you have misheard, if not, they are talking crap.

Handicap works the same in the UK as it does in Aus mostly. Same scoring differentials, same 8 of 20. You can submit general play rounds in the UK through the countries association app, not sure if you can do that in Aus or not but would be surprised if you can't.

You can have a few bad rounds in a row that knock some good ones off and go up a decent amount but you still have the 3 soft limit and 5 hard limit. I'm pushing that just now, I've gone from 2.6 to 5.1 with the next 2 scores counting as well so may actually push that soft limit if I keep playing crap.

Yeah we can’t do this.

You entertaining comp. Before teeing off. Whatever you get you get. No choice to submit or not.

You can play without going in comp, but you can’t have an amazing round and then go, oh I’ll put that card in.
Or. I’ve had a disaster I’ll put that in to blow my hcap out.

 

[Petercool]

Your low handicap index is not set until you have played 20 rounds. That is what is used for the soft/hard cap calculations. Until that is set, handicaps can be a little more volatile. Going out by 8 in one round is almost impossible, perhaps when entering your 6th card with 5 of them being massively worse than the best one.

It could be this for the 2 guys as they only just joined clubs for the first time.

 

[Orikoru]

Yeah we can’t do this.

You entertaining comp. Before teeing off. Whatever you get you get. No choice to submit or not.

You can play without going in comp, but you can’t have an amazing round and then go, oh I’ll put that card in.
Or. I’ve had a disaster I’ll put that in to blow my hcap out.

That's not what he meant. I mean, some people do do that but you're not supposed to. You're supposed to register your intent to put a general play round in before you tee off. Then afterward submit the score, whether it be good or bad.

 

[Springveldt]

Yeah we can’t do this.

You entertaining comp. Before teeing off. Whatever you get you get. No choice to submit or not.

You can play without going in comp, but you can’t have an amazing round and then go, oh I’ll put that card in.
Or. I’ve had a disaster I’ll put that in to blow my hcap out.

In the UK you can register your intention to submit a general play score before going out. You create a round in the app (England Golf for me) and at the end you submit your score and you say who you were playing with and they get a message to verify the score.

It seems it's a club level decision in Australia.

World Handicap System (WHS)

Golf’s two international governing bodies, The R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), have worked together with the world’s major handicapping authorities to develop a single handicap system for the game, known as the World Handicap System.

www.golf.org.au

6. Optional handicapping of pre-nominated social rounds
Social scores may be used for handicapping if the player’s home club has chosen to allow the use of social scores, and if the player has nominated prior to starting a round that it is to count for handicap purposes. Otherwise, social scores will not be permitted for handicap purposes.