How real are HANDICAPS???

[pokerjoke]

The only way imo to get a proper handicap,is to join a club,put in 3 cards
and enter comps regular.
One of my biggest problems is people entering 3 big comps a year just keep there
handicap active.
Bandits[and im certainly am not calling you one]are the bane of our game.
If you think your handicap is higher than it should be[to be fair to others]
you may have to join a club to make it official.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

This assumes you already have a handicap though right? Rather than where you are getting your first handicap? I was considering only the latter in my earlier post.

Interesting though, I hadn't realised it was calculated differently for adjusting your handicap.

Yes correct, that is for handicap adjustments.

I believe CONGU have changed how they calculate a new handicap. It always used to be pretty much an average of the three cards but I think they now give you a handicap based on the lowest score. Anyone know this for definite?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

You are correct Drive4Show.

I got my first handicap last month, and to quote the handicap secretary, "...based on your best scorecard your handicap is to be 20.4."

 

[DAVEYBOY]

No I would love to be called a bandit as it means im better than my HCP suggests and id love it to be 18 but an official 18. My goal in golf is to acheive a HCP as low as possible so the lower the better I also dont like golfers who stand infront of me and my mate on the first bragging about a having a 13 HCP then take 3 shots to get 150 yards down the 500 YRD hole LOL

 

[Dave B]

The other thing to remember is that although the handicap system is designed to be a fair system there are golf courses and golf courses. At Agusta most pro's struggle to go around under par, put them on a different course and they will be 5-6 under.

 

[rosecott]

You are correct Drive4Show.

I got my first handicap last month, and to quote the handicap secretary, "...based on your best scorecard your handicap is to be 20.4."

An initial handicap allocation has to be a whole number with nothing after a decimal point.

 

[BTatHome]

You are correct Drive4Show.

I got my first handicap last month, and to quote the handicap secretary, "...based on your best scorecard your handicap is to be 20.4."

How did you ever get a decimal out of a first handicap?

 

[pokerjoke]

No I would love to be called a bandit as it means im better than my HCP suggests and id love it to be 18 but an official 18. My goal in golf is to acheive a HCP as low as possible so the lower the better I also dont like golfers who stand infront of me and my mate on the first bragging about a having a 13 HCP then take 3 shots to get 150 yards down the 500 YRD hole LOL

Youve havnt seen nothin yet.
I hit 3 shots 50 yrds two weeks ago.
Bloody embarassing,as it was on the first with a few 3 balls watching.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

How did you ever get a decimal out of a first handicap?

Basically, my best card would actually have given me an 18, but my other two cards were quite a bit poorer - one would have given me a 23 the other a 28 - so I think they factored that in.

Not strictly the right application of the rules perhaps, but then I think it's appropriate to apply judgement based on all 3 cards.

 

[rosecott]

So is golfshake a very strict HCP system or are alot of golfers HCP's higher than what they are given to make comps fair?(

Far from being a very strict system, score tracking systems will accept anything you tell them. There is a world of difference between submitting scores in casual rounds and the 3 scorecards which will be observed and marked by someone who already has a handicap. I'm not in any way suggesting that you do, but I suspect a lot of scores submitted to tracking systems have things like gimmes and scant knowledge of golf rules such a penalty drops, free drops etc.

To emphasise the point, I was looking at Golfshakes forum 10 minutes ago and someone posted that he had submitted a scorecard for 63 on a par 3 course and was chopped 3 shots.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

NO we where behind him all day and it got no better he even commented on a drive I had hit about 250 yards down the middle (old driver LOL) as a great drive.... not a 13 HCP talking me thinks.

For RBZ promotional purpose I now hit more drives well over the 250 mark LOL

 

[Canary_Yellow]

The other thing to remember is that although the handicap system is designed to be a fair system there are golf courses and golf courses. At Agusta most pro's struggle to go around under par, put them on a different course and they will be 5-6 under.

A good point, and SSS doesn't really seem to make up the difference either.

Someone I play with plays at a council run facility when not playing with me and shoots around 90 (the SSS there is 68 or 70 depending on the tees used). He hasn't broken 100 yet at my course (SSS 72) and is normally around 105!

 

[DAVEYBOY]

Far from being a very strict system, score tracking systems will accept anything you tell them. There is a world of difference between submitting scores in casual rounds and the 3 scorecards which will be observed and marked by someone who already has a handicap. I'm not in any way suggesting that you do, but I suspect a lot of scores submitted to tracking systems have things like gimmes and scant knowledge of golf rules such a penalty drops, free drops etc.

To emphasise the point, I was looking at Golfshakes forum 10 minutes ago and someone posted that he had submitted a scorecard for 63 on a par 3 course and was chopped 3 shots.

No harm but im the most honest player you will find, I play every ball as it lies and have never ever had a gimmie, me and my playing partner are way too competitive. Missed 4 maybe 5 putts for par inside 2-4 foot yesterday but hard luck.

 

[rosecott]

http://www.golftoday.co.uk/clubhouse/coursedir/warwickshire/pypehayes.html

This is where I play most of my golf at the moment as I get 25 and under rate of £100 per year

Why haven't you grasped the nettle and submitted 3 cards for a proper/official handicap which would settle the issue?

Pipe Hayes, I notice, is Par 70, SSS 67 from the yellows (which are the tees you would use for non-competition rounds) which means that "playing to handicap" is 39 points.

Are you absolutely certain that you correctly submitted your scores to Golfshake and that they have the correct Par/SSS for the course and have you been submitting all your scores from every round?

 

[DAVEYBOY]

Yes every score has been submitted correctly, my mate also uses golfshake and his best is 86- 43 pts 88-43 pts and 89-43 pts HCP 20 we dont submit scores when having a practice round instead of range or when having a match play against each other.

 

[rosecott]

Yes every score has been submitted correctly, my mate also uses golfshake and his best is 86- 43 pts 88-43 pts and 89-43 pts HCP 20 we dont submit scores when having a practice round instead of range or when having a match play against each other.

Why not ask Golfshake for an explanation?

 

[DAVEYBOY]

Im not doubting golfshake is wrong im just asking if every HCP is based on the strict system they use and are therefore accurate? This post has made me think every HCP is calculated different from club to club and I should have a different HCP for each course as some are harder than others.... Still very confusing LOL

 

[DAVEYBOY]

Why haven't you grasped the nettle and submitted 3 cards for a proper/official handicap which would settle the issue?

As we pay £100 for the year we cant tee off till 12PM so would have to pay £18 a round to play in weekly comps which defeats the object. Should be joining a different, better course next year as MY TIME Golf has taken over and the course has become a little boring round after round.

 

[jimjoachim]

Im not doubting golfshake is wrong im just asking if every HCP is based on the strict system they use and are therefore accurate? This post has made me think every HCP is calculated different from club to club and I should have a different HCP for each course as some are harder than others.... Still very confusing LOL

I joined a club last summer and submitted the 3 cards i put in to the club for handicap onto golfshake.
Golfshake gave me 24 while the club gave me 21. A club/society will always start you a bit lower than the formula. The manager at my club said they knock a bit off depending on how many pars/birdies you had on the cards.

The week to week reductions/increases are consistent with congu. Which inturn is consistant with golfshake (assuming CSS = SSS)

 

[Imurg]

also remember your handicap is off the white where as bounce and society outings are off yellows

Not always an issue.
My place has 80 yards between White Course length and Yellow Course length.
SSS is the same.
There's only 1 hole where it makes any difference - a par 3 that goes from 160 to 182 yards....

Not really sure why they bother with 2 tees.....