How often do you hit your handicap?

[GeordieAggro80]

Morning troops,

This may have been covered in the past so apologies if it has.

i recently joined a new club at the beginning of the month. i have played the full 18 4 times and had an 87, 88, 94 and a 95 against a par of 70. the one comp i oplayed was the 95 resulting in the 0.1 increase to 18.1. I'm thinking hitting my 18 handicap twice out of 4 times is ok though or should I be hitting it more???

what % of rounds do you play to?

 

[USER1999]

Difficult to answer really.

On my course, the medal tees add a lot of yardage, and the medal pin placements are pretty tricky. As a result, in comps, it is hard to hit your h/cap. For a given medal, out of about 200 entrants, about 20 will be better than h/cap, and about another 40 will buffer. The rest are over.

Off the whites, for general play, I expect to hit my handicap more often than not. The course is shorter, and the pins easier.

Last sunday, in the medal, I shot 83, net 74 off the blocks which put me buffered. Last night I was 4 over for 13 holes, so say I'd hit roughly 78 gross over 18, net 69 on a par 72. I would expect to do similar this afternoon.

 

[Oddsocks]

i tend to play to or below hc 80% of the time ive played every week this year atleast once a week and i think to date im only above hc or buffer 4 times.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Played 2 comp's this year and have finished +5 twice.
However, on one occasion it was a yellow tee comp' and CSS was -3 therefore I went up 0.1

 

[Tommo21]

Played 4 medals so far. Up .1, down .1, buffer, down .2

 

[jammydodger]

Comps this year i've had 2 x 78's both up 0.1 and a 72 which got me a nice cut. This I would think is quite realistic but I probs only hit h/c once every 4-6 rounds and that includes comps and friendlies

 

[GB72]

Pretty much buffer zone every time for me. I think I am still adjusting to the longer course having spent the last few months playing of the shorter Winter tees.

 

[Fyldewhite]

You should play to it roughly one in four or five rounds if you are off the right handicap. Lower, more consistent golfers will be close to it more often but probably won't beat it by a lot very often. Higher handicappers will have a better chance of "shooting the lights out" but will more often shoot miles over their mark too. Your scoring seems fine. New players sometimes score a bit better but the system soon gets you to about the right handicap.

 

[EZprophet]

In my last 8 rounds at my club I've gone under it 2 times, equalled or buffered it 2 times and gone over it 4 times.

 

[Boabski]

on bounce games i can play well under my handicap when i get the old card in the hand its another matter.

 

[Imurg]

And it evens out over time.
YOu'll have a month or so when you beat handicap every time you tee up, then you wont get near it for another 6 weeks...

 

[FourPutt]

At the moment, probably beat handicap about 50% of the time, but there are times when I won't get near it for a few weeks. I generally play within one or two shots either side, with the odd great round or howler thrown in.

 

[Mongoose]

I dont play many counting comps and seem to consistently go up, so its rare for me to play to my handicap then. In social events I play to it about a third of the time.

 

[Bratty]

Seems like I was hitting lower than my handicap in non-qualifiers (one of them I'd have been cut 1.2!) and at some of the friendly rounds I play (Redlibetts forum meet - with apologies! ), but have gone up .2 in my last two club comps.

Hoping that was a blip though (early March and the medal as first qualifier of the season to boot), and expecting good things this year.

Averaged about 1 in 5-6 last season.