My first Handicap

Bdill93

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A little info on the cards and course

Course SSS: 66
Par: 69

Card 1: 91
Card 2: 87
Card 3: 99

My handicap - 19!!!

God its lower than I expected, and since the weathers got hotter I've not gone below 98! Work to do!
 

Sports_Fanatic

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Good to have a challenge, are your scores fairly consistent with bogeys and perhaps a few pars with one or two big blow up holes or more bogeys with a fair few doubles in the mix. I expect it will be easier to be playing off 19 soon if it's the first.
 

Bdill93

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Good to have a challenge, are your scores fairly consistent with bogeys and perhaps a few pars with one or two big blow up holes or more bogeys with a fair few doubles in the mix. I expect it will be easier to be playing off 19 soon if it's the first.

Exactly this mate - Its bogey, bogey, par, 4 over, 5 over, par etc :ROFLMAO: just really put it together on the 87 and driving has improved since! You think its alright?
 

Orikoru

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They will generally just use the best card of the three to work out your handicap so that's about right. When I handed in my cards 3 and a half years ago I thought I'd be 27-28 but got 24. Could play to it for 5 months until I eventually shot a 92 in the second round of the Club Champs, followed by an 88 in the next comp and got my first cut. I'm sure you'll be playing to 19 sooner than you think.
 

Sports_Fanatic

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Exactly this mate - Its bogey, bogey, par, 4 over, 5 over, par etc :ROFLMAO: just really put it together on the 87 and driving has improved since! You think its alright?

I'll leave to someone who knows more about how handicaps are calculated to comment. Perhaps slightly low given SSS is 66 but doesn't sound like you're far off.

This potentially is telling you what you already know, but are you aware of stableford scoring? https://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/features/the-game/golf-stableford-explained-77797

Basically par (adjusted for handicap) is 2 pts, bogey 1 pt, birdie 3 pts with the aim of being 36 pts for handicap (although technically varies depending on SSS) - point being you may find that a better format for playing for a while as those 4 over plus scores don't matter - it's just the same as 3 over based on your handicap as both would be zero points. You're obviously still getting round in the same number of shots, it may just give a more positive focus as it will smooth out the score and reward the pars etc.
 

oltimer

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I think you are only expected to play to your handicap 30% of the time, it`s something you achieve when you have a good round.
 

Bdill93

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They will generally just use the best card of the three to work out your handicap so that's about right. When I handed in my cards 3 and a half years ago I thought I'd be 27-28 but got 24. Could play to it for 5 months until I eventually shot a 92 in the second round of the Club Champs, followed by an 88 in the next comp and got my first cut. I'm sure you'll be playing to 19 sooner than you think.

Good to hear, personally I just thought the SSS being so much lower than Par meant id get over 20, which I'd be very settled with. People play for a while to get sub 20, feels cheeky that I've been stuck with 19 after just one very solid round out of 13/14 I've played (obviously this was one that was declared and just went well)
 

Orikoru

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Good to hear, personally I just thought the SSS being so much lower than Par meant id get over 20, which I'd be very settled with. People play for a while to get sub 20, feels cheeky that I've been stuck with 19 after just one very solid round out of 13/14 I've played (obviously this was one that was declared and just went well)
Like you I didn't realise they just took the best card when I handed mine in, I thought it was an average of the three. But if SSS is 66, you shot 87 which is 21 over, and they normally take anything worse than double bogey and round it down I believe, so I'm guessing you had two shocker holes in your 87 which were rounded down, hence the 19 handicap. You have to think of it as fair enough though, if they didn't do it that way then far more people would be shooting the lights out off their generous starting handicaps.
 

LincolnShep

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Good to hear, personally I just thought the SSS being so much lower than Par meant id get over 20, which I'd be very settled with. People play for a while to get sub 20, feels cheeky that I've been stuck with 19 after just one very solid round out of 13/14 I've played (obviously this was one that was declared and just went well)

There's always the potential for one good round out of three to skew the numbers. If, after a while, it turns out that you're getting 0.1 back every single tournament then your handicap committee should review it and potentially increase it.
 

Bdill93

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There's always the potential for one good round out of three to skew the numbers. If, after a while, it turns out that you're getting 0.1 back every single tournament then your handicap committee should review it and potentially increase it.
Like you I didn't realise they just took the best card when I handed mine in, I thought it was an average of the three. But if SSS is 66, you shot 87 which is 21 over, and they normally take anything worse than double bogey and round it down I believe, so I'm guessing you had two shocker holes in your 87 which were rounded down, hence the 19 handicap. You have to think of it as fair enough though, if they didn't do it that way then far more people would be shooting the lights out off their generous starting handicaps.

Thanks chaps, you've inspired me with some confidence, time to get to work hitting buffer!
 

mikejohnchapman

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Like you I didn't realise they just took the best card when I handed mine in, I thought it was an average of the three. But if SSS is 66, you shot 87 which is 21 over, and they normally take anything worse than double bogey and round it down I believe, so I'm guessing you had two shocker holes in your 87 which were rounded down, hence the 19 handicap. You have to think of it as fair enough though, if they didn't do it that way then far more people would be shooting the lights out off their generous starting handicaps.
Now it's double the par score as a maximum per hole - otherwise you could never get a handicap over 36!

There is a formula used but 2 less than the best performance vs SSS is a reasonable guide.

Play lots - including supplementaries - as your handicap will be recalculaed for WHS in November and the more cards you have in the more accurate it will be.
 

Ethan

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Many years ago, I was at a club where there were junior and senior handicaps. When you got to age 18 (or to a low junior handicap), you could get a senior one. I wanted to mark 3 cards for a senior handicap, and asked a middle aged middle handicapper to mark a card for me. On the first, a par-5, hit a decent drive, 3 wood on the green, holed a 12 footer for eagle. "Jesus, what sort of handicap are you after, son. I've played here for 25 years and never eagled this hole" said the other guy. The standard dropped a bit after that, ended up with 12.
 

Orikoru

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Now it's double the par score as a maximum per hole - otherwise you could never get a handicap over 36!

There is a formula used but 2 less than the best performance vs SSS is a reasonable guide.

Play lots - including supplementaries - as your handicap will be recalculaed for WHS in November and the more cards you have in the more accurate it will be.
Maybe I meant net double bogey.. I was just trying to explain in simply in layman's terms anyway. Basically if you have a car crash hole they round it down. :D(y)
 

shun_naka

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I'll be joining you soon - join my new club officially next week and havent played a round in about 2 years so will need to get my handicap signed.

I'll be a very high handicapper no doubt! Just wondering - was there any restrictions in handing in a hard through covid etc?
 

Bdill93

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I'll be joining you soon - join my new club officially next week and havent played a round in about 2 years so will need to get my handicap signed.

I'll be a very high handicapper no doubt! Just wondering - was there any restrictions in handing in a hard through covid etc?

I didn't have any restrictions as my PP on the rounds was a fellow member who marked my cards, signed them and then just handed them to me to keep until I had the 3. However, my handicap sec did say if you didn't know any other members to play the rounds, mark your own card and sign it as there are currently slightly adapted rules due to Covid-19.
 

jim8flog

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A little info on the cards and course

Course SSS: 66
Par: 69

Card 1: 91
Card 2: 87
Card 3: 99

My handicap - 19!!!

God its lower than I expected, and since the weathers got hotter I've not gone below 98! Work to do!

as a rough and ready guide take the 87 deduct 66 =21 x .09 = 18.9 rounded to a whole number= 19
 

Sats

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On the plus note, you've got something to work with and given you're shocked it's 19 then at least you'll not get too despondent if it does go into the 20's!
 

Grant85

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A little info on the cards and course

Course SSS: 66
Par: 69

Card 1: 91
Card 2: 87
Card 3: 99

My handicap - 19!!!

God its lower than I expected, and since the weathers got hotter I've not gone below 98! Work to do!

I think the idea is that they run your 3 cards and take your best ball score, as well as knocking trebles or worse down to double. Not sure if that's exactly what happens, but you might find that gets to around 19 over the SSS.
 

Bdill93

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as a rough and ready guide take the 87 deduct 66 =21 x .09 = 18.9 rounded to a whole number= 19
I think the idea is that they run your 3 cards and take your best ball score, as well as knocking trebles or worse down to double. Not sure if that's exactly what happens, but you might find that gets to around 19 over the SSS.

Yeah you're both not wrong, I suppose its surprised me really. The sec may have glanced at my other rounds and taken into account my being a new player but still thinks its a fair HC. I guess I was hoping for a couple more shots :ROFLMAO:

On the plus note, you've got something to work with and given you're shocked it's 19 then at least you'll not get too despondent if it does go into the 20's!

You make a great point, and I sound negative - I'm well happy that its 19, makes me look like a respectable golfer to my friends (bragging rights as were all new to the game this year), but you're right, if it goes up a bit I'm not bothered! Just happy to have a handicap that reflects my ability - better than just using 28 every round.
 

jim8flog

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I think the idea is that they run your 3 cards and take your best ball score, as well as knocking trebles or worse down to double. Not sure if that's exactly what happens, but you might find that gets to around 19 over the SSS.


No. It is only the best score that is used. Anything worse than twice the par gets rounded down to twice the par.
 
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