"to" or "off"

[Ye Olde Boomer]

An American plays "to" a handicap,
but everybody here on GM plays "off" a handicap.

What is it when an Englishman tries to speak English?

 

[AmandaJR]

We only play "to" a handicap when we do just that...play to it. When asked what handicap we have we'd say "I play off..."

 

[Parsaregood]

Well we would only play to a handicap if we went round in nett level to the course rating for our handicap. You have a handicap and everybody is capable on a good day of breaking it or playing worse than it. The handicap is your starting point to play from, hence you play off of it

 

[Parsaregood]

An American plays "to" a handicap,
but everybody here on GM plays "off" a handicap.

What is it when an Englishman tries to speak English?

Americans claim to speak English but their grasp of the language is very poor on the whole. Its definitely American English with all the mis-pronunciations etc ?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

If you play off 4, and shoot 4 over par, you have played “too” 4.

Only if you meet your handicap target have you managed to play too it!

 

[virtuocity]

What is it when an Englishman tries to speak English?

1. A lesson for Americans
2. A poor version of Scots

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Listen to the Invernessians speak - they like to tell the rest of us Scots, and the rUK, that they speak the best English the UK over. Mibbe.

 

[BubbaP]

What is it when an Englishman tries to speak English?

Ha ha, on shaky ground there, especially on this forum!

I don't know his name but a US commentator on Golf TV, who is going out to an international audience cracks me up as he's clearly been told to not call the second nine holes the "backside" and always remembers not to, but still refers to the "front side" - often in the same sentence!

 

[patricks148]

Listen to the Invernessians speak - they like to tell the rest of us Scots, and the rUK, that they speak the best English the UK over. Mibbe.

Rightenough.... Rubber Bumpers

 

[Orikoru]

I play off 16, and on very rare occasions I play to my handicap which means I was 16 over or got 36 points. They're two different things.

 

[CliveW]

In Edinburgh, outside Waverley Station, there used to be a souvenir seller who had a sign which said "English spoken, American understood." !!! It always made me smile.

 

[jim8flog]

I often play to a handicap. Trouble is it is not the one on my handicap record.

There is many a day when my handicap is off.

 

[jim8flog]

I often wonder why it is that we wear shorts over our pants but Americans wear pants over their shorts.

 

[Liverbirdie]

An American may play "to" a handicap of 6, but lets face it you would be lucky if you were "off" single figures in the UK.

Better?

 

[Bunkermagnet]

An American may play "to" a handicap of 6, but lets face it you would be lucky if you were "off" single figures in the UK.

Better?

I thought all Americans were single figure at worst

 

[Foxholer]

Americans claim to speak English but their grasp of the language is very poor on the whole. Its definitely American English with all the mis-pronunciations etc ?

Totally applicable to Brits too!

Btw. American-English spelling was/is deliberately simplified, originally from 'foreign-invader-derived;multiple translation source decided' UK-English spelling. There has been divergence in 'descriptions' though - it's obvious, to me, how to wear a bum-bag; not so obvious from the US equivalent!

 

[Deleted member 1147]

An American may play "to" a handicap of 6, but lets face it you would be lucky if you were "off" single figures in the UK.

Better?

Is it because they all record their "score" in the same way as their esteemed leader - reputedly, not accurately?

 

[sunshine]

If you play off 4, and shoot 4 over par, you have played “too” 4.

Only if you meet your handicap target have you managed to play too it!

Maybe we should all be careful about laughing at poor American grammar, when we have British posters who make basic errors (twice! ). Learning English at a basic level is really easy and very quick to pick up, but getting to advanced standard the rules and grammar are really tricky.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Ha ha, on shaky ground there, especially on this forum!

I don't know his name but a US commentator on Golf TV, who is going out to an international audience cracks me up as he's clearly been told to not call the second nine holes the "backside" and always remembers not to, but still refers to the "front side" - often in the same sentence!

Back Side and Front Side are by no means universally used in the US. I, for one, agree that those terms sound ridiculous.

"Out" and "int" are derived, I would assume, from links courses where the ninth green and tenth tee are not near the clubhouse.
When they started building courses where each nine went out and in individually, they started to use Front Nine and Back Nine.

Scorecards often refer to each nine as "Out" and "In" no matter how the course is laid out.

As for playing "to" and "off" a handicap, you folks are right. Playing to a handicap means playing to it, plain and simple.
We just don't say "off" as frequently as you do.
Instead of saying that we play off a nine, most of us just say, "I'm a nine."

I love the little differences between English and American English.

American say "in school" or "in church" or even "in jail," much as you do, but for some reason, we don't say "in hospital" the way you do.
We say, "in the hospital" for whatever reason.

I'd be happy to say "in hospital" if we had an NHS like a civilized county. Hell, I'd even say "civilised" country.