My handicap is too low (apparently)

[jack1]

Talking to two of our older members the other day i mentioned that i hadn,t managed to score more than 33 points in six months. They insisted my handicap was too low. Given that most of my scores have been in the 20,s i wonder if the secretary will make a special case for me and adjust me to say, 20?

 

[patricks148]

Talking to two of our older members the other day i mentioned that i hadn,t managed to score more than 33 points in six months. They insisted my handicap was too low. Given that most of my scores have been in the 20,s i wonder if the secretary will make a special case for me and adjust me to say, 20?

that would depend on if you are 5 at the moment

 

[jack1]

that would depend on if you are 5 at the moment

14 sorry!

 

[the smiling assassin]

highly unlikely you would receive more than 1-2 strokes in the annual review without significant health issues.
33 pts is still in buffer zone off 14.

 

[patricks148]

14 sorry!

I doubt it, though you can be put up on annual review, but this is done at the end of the season up here.

 

[la_lucha]

Are these qualifying cards that you're putting in?

 

[woody69]

Surely you partake in comps and if you fail to make buffer you start going up 0.1. Why would you want to just be increased to 20 other than to give yourself a much better chance of winning a comp when you do end up playing to your 14 handicap? Play the comps, submit the supplementary cards and your handicap will find the right level IMHO.

 

[cookelad]

Surely you partake in comps and if you fail to make buffer you start going up 0.1. Why would you want to just be increased to 20 other than to give yourself a much better chance of winning a comp when you do end up playing to your 14 handicap? Play the comps, submit the supplementary cards and your handicap will find the right level IMHO.

Agree, your handicap will find it's natural level, if you're in a bit of a slump you'll come out of it eventually so mid-teens will be correct for you again! (The last thing you want is to be adjusted up by 6 shots only to then win the next comp!)

 

[Fyldewhite]

It's not clear if this is a new handicap or just a run of poor form. If you were only allocated it 6 months ago and are failing more or less constantly to play to somewhere near it (especially if most comps are stableford) then not only can they, but they should be looking at the situation to check if the initial allocation was correct. That said, there has to be a lot of evidence, a few rounds are not enough. I doubt very much if 20 would come into the equation though. It's somethimes amazing what a couple of shots will do confidence wise.
If it's a long established handicap then it will certainly be flagged at annual review and could be adjusted then based on the evidence available (2 shot max I think).

 

[Jack_bfc]

It is a mystery how initial HC are worked out.
I was lucky and brought mine with me, but the other 3 mates who joined at the same time had too put cards in.
I've played with these guys for a few years in society and think I could estimate there reaslitic HC.

One of them was about right, one got a 20 HC when his cards, quite rightly, suggested lower.

And the unfortunate one who plays off 24 for the society and still not got anywhere near to winning, put 3 cards in over 100 (par 70) and gets a HC of 20!! He will not hit buffer all year...

And the society has reduced his HC to suit!!!!!!!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Talking to two of our older members the other day i mentioned that i hadn,t managed to score more than 33 points in six months. They insisted my handicap was too low. Given that most of my scores have been in the 20,s i wonder if the secretary will make a special case for me and adjust me to say, 20?

If you put qualifying cards in for club competitions you'll get 0.1 back every time you miss the buffer. If you don't have any cuts or hit the buffer that often chances are you'll get a shot on top in an ANNUAL review. There's no way you'll get 6 shots adjusted. The best thing to do is play as many comps as you can. That way the information is stored online and your secretary will get a full and accurate picture

 

[Birchy]

Is this a serious thread or a wind up?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

It is a mystery how initial HC are worked out.
I was lucky and brought mine with me, but the other 3 mates who joined at the same time had too put cards in.
I've played with these guys for a few years in society and think I could estimate there reaslitic HC.

One of them was about right, one got a 20 HC when his cards, quite rightly, suggested lower.

And the unfortunate one who plays off 24 for the society and still not got anywhere near to winning, put 3 cards in over 100 (par 70) and gets a HC of 20!! He will not hit buffer all year...

And the society has reduced his HC to suit!!!!!!!

It's the best of your 3 cards, discounting anything worse than double bogey, compared against the course SSS with a max of 28, I believe.

So if SSS is 72 and you shoot 95, but in that is a triple bogey, and a 10 on a par 4 with nothing else worse than double bogey, your handicap would be 18. If you shot the same score again in a stableford comp, you'd pick up 33 points, and in a medal comp 77. So, from that example, you can see that you shouldn't expect to hit 36 points or net par very often.

 

[JohnnyLarge]

I got absolutely stuffed last year after a few extraordinary rounds. I was playing off 11 (I have played nearly 20 years) had a decent round and got clipped to 10. A few weeks later I had a 3 over gross round. A fortnight later, shot level par after hitting it like crap but holing 6 or 7 outrageous putts during the round. I got docked 4 shots, two of which were 'general play' making me a 6 handicap.

The problem I have now is that my mind-set is totally different. One bad hole sets all kinds of thoughts going and now I just don't feel competitive. It's also quite embarrassing when playing with people I haven't played before. They ask my handicap (just gone up to 6.7) are pretty impressed and expect me to be a bit of a whiz, then normally end up asking if I was having them on.

I'm in no way a bandit by wanting a few shots back and would never 'manipulate' my scores or handicap, but the game is very difficult for me now and I'm sad to say I don't enjoy it as much.

John

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I got absolutely stuffed last year after a few extraordinary rounds. I was playing off 11 (I have played nearly 20 years) had a decent round and got clipped to 10. A few weeks later I had a 3 over gross round. A fortnight later, shot level par after hitting it like crap but holing 6 or 7 outrageous putts during the round. I got docked 4 shots, two of which were 'general play' making me a 6 handicap.

The problem I have now is that my mind-set is totally different. One bad hole sets all kinds of thoughts going and now I just don't feel competitive. It's also quite embarrassing when playing with people I haven't played before. They ask my handicap (just gone up to 6.7) are pretty impressed and expect me to be a bit of a whiz, then normally end up asking if I was having them on.

I'm in no way a bandit by wanting a few shots back and would never 'manipulate' my scores or handicap, but the game is very difficult for me now and I'm sad to say I don't enjoy it as much.

John

Isn't that how it goes with handicap cuts generally though? It's the mental adjustment to not getting shots where you are used to getting them that is hard and effects your game, it's not that you're not good enough to have a handicap of 6 or 7, clearly you are given your scores last year.

Naturally, people have a comfort zone - I'm finding the transition of 2.7 shots from 20 to 17 difficult, clearly, where it's 40% of your handicap it's a lot harder! Stick with trying to play the best golf you can and try and stick with the lower handicap rather than working out how to get back to the higher one because you'd be more comfortable with it - I'm sure that there are a huge number of players that would kill to be cut from 11 to 6!!

 

[Fyldewhite]

I got absolutely stuffed last year after a few extraordinary rounds. I was playing off 11 (I have played nearly 20 years) had a decent round and got clipped to 10. A few weeks later I had a 3 over gross round. A fortnight later, shot level par after hitting it like crap but holing 6 or 7 outrageous putts during the round. I got docked 4 shots, two of which were 'general play' making me a 6 handicap.

The problem I have now is that my mind-set is totally different. One bad hole sets all kinds of thoughts going and now I just don't feel competitive. It's also quite embarrassing when playing with people I haven't played before. They ask my handicap (just gone up to 6.7) are pretty impressed and expect me to be a bit of a whiz, then normally end up asking if I was having them on.

I'm in no way a bandit by wanting a few shots back and would never 'manipulate' my scores or handicap, but the game is very difficult for me now and I'm sad to say I don't enjoy it as much.

John

It's difficult for committees in cases like this. You actually shot the scores so can't really complain too much. From what you said it would have been 8 naturally and I'd guess another shot to cover the committees back (what happens if you shoot low again, win a major and they have done nothing?) but 2 for general play is a lot for a single figure handicap IMO......can always do another if needed. I'd have said you are not far from where you should be now though.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I got absolutely stuffed last year after a few extraordinary rounds. I was playing off 11 (I have played nearly 20 years) had a decent round and got clipped to 10. A few weeks later I had a 3 over gross round. A fortnight later, shot level par after hitting it like crap but holing 6 or 7 outrageous putts during the round. I got docked 4 shots, two of which were 'general play' making me a 6 handicap.

The problem I have now is that my mind-set is totally different. One bad hole sets all kinds of thoughts going and now I just don't feel competitive. It's also quite embarrassing when playing with people I haven't played before. They ask my handicap (just gone up to 6.7) are pretty impressed and expect me to be a bit of a whiz, then normally end up asking if I was having them on.

I'm in no way a bandit by wanting a few shots back and would never 'manipulate' my scores or handicap, but the game is very difficult for me now and I'm sad to say I don't enjoy it as much.

John

So let me get this right...you shot 3 over gross and then a fortnight later shot level par while hitting it badly and you are complaining about being cut to 6 If you can shoot those scores then your handicap is about right. You just need to get your head in the right place and you'll be fine.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

It's difficult for committees in cases like this. You actually shot the scores so can't really complain too much. From what you said it would have been 8 naturally and I'd guess another shot to cover the committees back (what happens if you shoot low again, win a major and they have done nothing?) but 2 for general play is a lot for a single figure handicap IMO......can always do another if needed. I'd have said you are not far from where you should be now though.

If in England, presumably it was an ESR, so not within the control of the committee. If it was in Scotland and a general play adjustment, then presumably 2 shots is about right given that's what ESR would have given anyway?

 

[jack1]

Just to be clear, i don,t want to play off 20. My handicap was 13 for a couple of years, i entered a sustained slump and have gone up to 14. I have resisted entering comps in the hope that the slump would end. It isn,t. I guess the question is, when does a slump become permanent?

 

[Canary_Yellow]

If you're not entering comps, then it's going to be difficult for your handicap to correct itself and even harder for any committee to know that it might be too low.