Two handicaps

FuzzyDuck

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My official club handicap is 24 (23.7), however I also play in a golf society that I joined before I had an official handicap, so I was given a society handicap of 28. It did briefly get cut to 27 after a win but has now returned to 28. The society rules say that in any society match, the society handicap must be used.

So yesterday I was playing a society individual matchplay against another member and he had to give me 11 shots, he was a bit miffed when he discovered my club handicap was 4 less. We played the match and I won 2&1.

I later checked the holes where I received an extra shot to see what difference it would have made, it turned out (assuming the scoring had remained the same) I would have still won the match but by 1 hole. On two of the holes I would have still won and one would have changed from a halve to a loss. Which meant we would have been contesting the 18th with me 1 up. The final hole would now have been halved, instead of a win for me.

So although the final result would have been the same there was a feeling that the society handicapping rules aren't a true reflection.

I was wondering how other golf society handle the handicapping minefield and if my society is doing something unusual?
 

duncan mackie

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Most societies have the rule that your society handicap is the lower of any formal handicap or one allocated by them.

Either way, when you were allocated 24 as a club handicap and advised them, what did they say?
 

Neilds

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Same here, our Society rules that your club handicap must not be lower than your society one, but can be much higher..........
 

Ndw7

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Same here. When I used to play in a society, we had a system of sorting out the handicaps. Whatever happened, for the society members who were also members of clubs, their society handicap could not be higher than their club handicap. So you would have instantly dropped from 28 to 24 the minutes you told our handicap guy (which was me) that you had a new official handicap
 

jusme

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Same rule as above, but if your society does not do that, whats the problem. You played of your allocated handicap given and established per their rules and won a match - tell them to change their rules or move on
 

rksquire

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I'm 8 shots lower at my Society vs my club! I am not a single handicap golfer by any stretch so scoring is hard - but it makes sure everyone has a shot at winning something, and as I picked up a few prizes at the start of the society season I'm just enjoying the challenge of trying to remain competitive!
 

clubchamp98

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My official hcap is 6 but I play off 1 in my society as I have won a few comps.
I go back to my official hcap at the start of every new season 1st Jan usually.
Most lads are not very consistent and struggle to play to Their hcap as they only play occasionally and are not members anywhere.
This Just evens things out.
But you can’t have a higher cap than your official one.

But society golf is for fun mostly and you can do what you want with hcaps.
 
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