What do I do???

[One Planer]

Gentlemen. I’m in a bit of a quandary and could do with a different perspective.

At the start of this season my handicap was 24 (23.9) and I set myself the goal of getting sub-20 by the end of this season. As it stands my current handicap is 21 (20.8).

I played in the clubs monthly Stableford comp on Saturday, scored 43 points and shot 5 under my handicap, so I’m expecting another handicap reduction.

My quandary is this. If my reduction in H/C takes me below my target and I break 20, do I:

a) Keep going and aim to go as low as I can for the rest of the season.

Or

b) Enter no more tournaments for the remainder of the season and work on technique and consistency for next season (I've played enough tournaments this season for my handicap to remain active)

Personally, I can see merit in both. I would like to try and get lower but fear I may stall, which is where option B comes in, but then my competitive streak kicks in and want to play every tournament.

As I said at the outset, I would appreciate a different perspective, so all opinions welcome.

 

[fundy]

A everytime

why did you set the target of 20? why not reset it to 18 or even maybe 16? why would you stop playing in comps because youve reached some arbitary target you set a few mths ago, surely you get more satisfaction for beating the target out of the water and winnign a few comps a long the way

 

[bladeplayer]

Your obviously playing well , play in every comp you get chance to & get down as low as you can.. youl get the .1's back soon enough & handily enough so keep going the way your going , well done on meeting you goal for the year just keep below it now

 

[Alex1975]

A is the only way, you cant take your foot off the gas when your winning the race. Thats how I see it.

I meet so many club golfers who are like "oohh dont say that too loud in the bar" and the like. I want to get cut, for me I dont care if I never win a comp cos the only thing I really want is a low handicap.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

A.

I think your technique and consistency will improve from playing competitive golf on a regular basis. You'll need to have 25 bad rounds to go back to 20 so i would just keep playing your game and not chase the handicap cut.

 

[One Planer]

Thanks Fundy and BP for the replies.

Fundy: I see what you mean. Just because I set my goal at 20, doesn't mean it has to end there and I could reset it. Sounds silly but that never occured to me. Thanks for that

Blade: Again, good points. It's the playing below or to it that is my concern. What I dont want to do is get too low, too quickly and not be able to play to it.

 

[bladeplayer]

Play honest golf every day you go out mate & you will find your correct level & handicap , youl have a few bad rounds & the h'cap will go out a bit . then a few good rounds & it will come back down . you will find a plateau then you gota practice more to get below that ,

 

[beggsy]

b in my eyes is cheating as you could well improve to mid teens then enter comps next season with a false handicap

 

[brendy]

Play and practice perhaps?

 

[One Planer]

b in my eyes is cheating as you could well improve to mid teens then enter comps next season with a false handicap

Again, I never thought of it like that and completley see your point.

 

[Matty]

Keep entering the comps, be happy you hit your target and maybe set another one or having hit your target spend the rest of the year relaxing in the comps a bit more and just see how low you can get.

 

[GeordieAggro80]

agree with every other post saying option A.

"how low can you go, how low can you go??" - well done by the way for dropping so quickly

 

[Achilles]

Another vote for 'A' here! As has been said the more competitions you play, the more chances of a cut. I set myself a similar goal last year and reached it earlier than planned, but not for one second did I consider stopping. If anything, it made me want to push-on even more and I played as many qualifiers as I could, and plan on doing the same this year. Keep going!

 

[beggsy]

once you have got to your target celebrate then for a while just go out and enjoy your golf you will then see improvment without actually setting yourself a target

 

[Oddsocks]

surely option b is handicap protection which is frowned upon so im lead to believe.

get in as many comps as poss and get into Cat 3 by the end of the season. but dont assume just because you got there you will stay there. Many people on here have seen a HC rise this season, my purple patch has disappeared and i can see 14 creeping up on me quickly, only a few rounds ago i was thinking 12 (and my season aim) was here, now im not so sure.

Bloody game!

 

[One Planer]

surely option b is handicap protection which is frowned upon so im lead to believe.

OS. Being fairly new to the game (April last year) ,as I said in an earlier post, I didn't realise this sort of thing was frowned upon. Looking back now I suppose it's common sense really.

I'm fully expecting a rise sooner or later. This is why I wanted to take a little time away from the comps to adjust to my new handicap.

 

[Oddsocks]

in my opinion, if your on a roll get with it and milk it. As anyone else will tell you there will be a point where you hit a flat spot, so get on and enjoy it why its there.

 

[freddielong]

Is this a serious question do I A/ play golf or B/ Cheat


hmmmmm let me think

 

[pokerjoke]

Can you please tell me how you were looking at it.
I think you were thinking of protecting your handicap for this year,practicing and planning on cleaning up next year[cheating the handicapper].
Gareth A is the only option.

 

[One Planer]

Can you please tell me how you were looking at it.
I think you were thinking of protecting your handicap for this year,practicing and planning on cleaning up next year[cheating the handicapper].
Gareth A is the only option.

PJ. I feel I'm losing strokes a little too quickly. My intention was to adjust to my new handicap, not intentionally improve. The last thing I want is to be labelled a cheat.

As I said in a few posts previous. I've only been playing this game for just over 12 months and honestly wasn't sure what to do. That's why I poseted on here, so as to get some guidence from more experianced players.

Option A it is then.