Nice but unexpected surprise

[jammag]

So last night I receive and email from howdidido with the title of handicap change notification, strange I thought as I havent played a qualifier in 6 months due to various reasons. So I was playing off 19.4 and my goal was to be down to 18 by the time my membership comes round again. As I open the email it pops up saying my new handicap is 17.5 so a whole 1.9 shots off the handicap.

Now dont get me wrong I want to play off as low as I can get to so I am quite happy about this but the also at the same time I feel as if I have got to my goal by crook. As technically I havent played to that score to get down to that figure. From what I understand you can get a general review by your handicap committee so I assume this is where this has come from but I am just surprised considering I havent handed a card in for 6 months? Would anyone be able to explain this to me? So I can explain to my friends that I play with why this has happened?

 

[CMAC]

strange- with no cards for 6 months I'd of thought you might have gone up not down. Think you need to ask howdidido for an explanation, or your handicap secretary.

 

[Liverbirdie]

I played with someone off our h/cap committee a few months ago and was chatting about my mate's not being adjusted down despite consistently hitting below h/caps in comps. He said that they do a more comprehensive look over people's h/cap (rather than just the computer) in January, or in case of any computer glitches.

Might be the same for you.

 

[rosecott]

We are in the Annual Review period when all your qualifying scores over the past year are considered. The general principle is that each player has a target performance according to his handicap level and if you exceed your target you are flagged up for consideration for reduction (it works the other way as well).

Your target might be, for example, that you play into buffer zone on 30% of qualifiers. If you exceeded 30% then you would be in line for consideration for reduction.

 

[Rich2601]

This happened to me last year, was playing poorly in January 2011, my last 3 scores had been 29, 31 and 30 points all causing a .1 increase when I received the Howdidido email saying my h'cap had changed from 16.5 to 14.5! I emailed my club h'cap secretary to be told an annual review had taken place and due to my 'good form' back in the previous summer a two shot drop was granted.

It took me a good six weeks to get 'used' to the new h'cap but I must say it made me concentrate a bit more and I'm now down to 13 so once your used to it see it as a positive thing!

Rich

 

[jammag]

Ah right so its my scores from the beginning of the season that have done this. I did win 2 competitions early on in the year so that could explain it. Was just unexpected as I hadnt played in so long so it didnt make much sense to me. Thanks for clearing that up at least I know how I can explain it to mates how I have gone down 1.9 without playing. Cheers.

 

[Val]

Also the handicap review can see players going up for a year of poor scores, I went up 1 full stroke unfortunately just the other week.

I found a really good link explaining how it works.

Can't post the link but if you google, Congu handicap review it's one of the first hits and opens a pdf file.