Which course is better for reducing handicap?

[clubchamp98]

My current HI is 5.0

Course A
A score of 81 would give me a 6.2

Course B
A score of 78 would give me a 6.1

Either of these would give me cut.
I would be inclined to go for Course A to give me the best chance.

Without further info or experience of these two notional courses, I fall back on my experience of my own course which is
Par 70 either tee
White 70.8/132
Yellow 69.1/127

I believe white tees at my club give me the better chance of desirable score differentials.
Yellow tees are "harder" for me.
It niggles me a bit at my club when we have a seniors comp, they put us on the yellow tees, which I find harder. But very few, if any, think like me it seems.

In a real world case, each player will vary from the "standard" by which courses are rated. A personal choice has to be made with regard to one's own strengths and weaknesses.

I do !
Off yellows all the bunkers are reachable for me.
Off whites there not.
There’s not much difference between the tees but I lose two shots off the yellows.

As to the op it depends on the shape of the holes as well.!
Anyone who plays a draw will struggle on a predominantly left to right course and vice versa.
We all have certain courses we just don’t play well.

 

[WGCRider]

Hi, I can help you with the correct answer to your question. TLDR - it doesn't matter, WHS works, just play better to reduce your handicap.

I am a member of 2 clubs, both clubs have 2 courses. The details are as below. My handicap index is 14.9. Should I use only rounds played on each course to calculate my handicap for that course I would have the index labelled "course h/c" on each of those courses. On all courses I have over 20 rounds. All the data is from the "yellow" (or equivalent tee). But where I have played off the longer tee in only 1 instance (on the top course) would this score have counted anyway.

So the way to read this would be - taking the top row. If I only ever played this course my index would be 17.2. So my playing handicap would be 19. In reality, cause my index is 14.9, my actual playing handicap is 16.



As it happens today I have 3 rounds from the top course and 2 each from the bottom two as counting scores for my H/C. (the 8th score is from elsewhere). My perception would be that the top course is only just the toughest of the 4 - the bottom is by some margin the easiest. As I say this is just my feeling but one way the data would show this is that among my 20 scores on each course the spread between highest and lowest on this course is the largest. This is likely cause it has 3 par 5's where the 2nd shot it over water. This would mean you need to hit a good drive or you'd need to lay up followed a good 2nd to avoid the water.

On any course - assuming par from each tee is the same - you are almost always better off going from the shorter tee. My average fairway drive goes 272yds. From longer tee's my no. of fairways hit drops by a third and my greens in regulation by more than half. The number of putts is about the same. So for me - the issue from the "whites" or "blues" isn't the distance in and of itself. It is that my approach shots are taken with longer irons and this results in more missed greens. You could probably work this out for yourself if you just think of your course - on the par 3's that are 130-160 yds how often are you hitting the green vs the par 3's that are 160yds+

 

[KenL]

Thank you to the all seeing, all knowing @WGCRider , a member of many courses.

 

[D-S]

Hi, I can help you with the correct answer to your question. TLDR - it doesn't matter, WHS works, just play better to reduce your handicap.

I am a member of 2 clubs, both clubs have 2 courses. The details are as below. My handicap index is 14.9. Should I use only rounds played on each course to calculate my handicap for that course I would have the index labelled "course h/c" on each of those courses. On all courses I have over 20 rounds. All the data is from the "yellow" (or equivalent tee). But where I have played off the longer tee in only 1 instance (on the top course) would this score have counted anyway.

So the way to read this would be - taking the top row. If I only ever played this course my index would be 17.2. So my playing handicap would be 19. In reality, cause my index is 14.9, my actual playing handicap is 16.

View attachment 61441

As it happens today I have 3 rounds from the top course and 2 each from the bottom two as counting scores for my H/C. (the 8th score is from elsewhere). My perception would be that the top course is only just the toughest of the 4 - the bottom is by some margin the easiest. As I say this is just my feeling but one way the data would show this is that among my 20 scores on each course the spread between highest and lowest on this course is the largest. This is likely cause it has 3 par 5's where the 2nd shot it over water. This would mean you need to hit a good drive or you'd need to lay up followed a good 2nd to avoid the water.

On any course - assuming par from each tee is the same - you are almost always better off going from the shorter tee. My average fairway drive goes 272yds. From longer tee's my no. of fairways hit drops by a third and my greens in regulation by more than half. The number of putts is about the same. So for me - the issue from the "whites" or "blues" isn't the distance in and of itself. It is that my approach shots are taken with longer irons and this results in more missed greens. You could probably work this out for yourself if you just think of your course - on the par 3's that are 130-160 yds how often are you hitting the green vs the par 3's that are 160yds+

272 yard average drive on fairway and 14.9 index? Wow.

 

[WGCRider]

272 yard average drive on fairway and 14.9 index? Wow.

It's not as impressive as you think. It's using Garmin distance, carry and role only counting drives that finish in the fairway.

 

[Golfnut1957]

The answer is that, if the system worked correctly, it wouldn't matter. However the WHS doesn't allow enough latitude between easy & hard courses. Nor does it add enough to the standard scratch score for bad weather conditions or take enough off for playing off yellows instead of whites. At my club, anyone wanting to maintain an artificially low handicap will only play in calm, dry conditions off the yellow tees.

You get calm days at South Shields? Well, I didn't know that.

 

[sunshine]

My course is short, narrow and with hellish greens but because it's short it has very low course ratings. Consequently it's very difficult to get your handicap down there, since even a very good score for me will have a higher score differential. If you really want to get your handicap down you need to join a club with very high course and slope ratings.

This really only applies to a certain type of golfer.

I see a lot of regular golfers who are short hitters but very straight. They do well at short and tight courses but then struggle at longer courses with higher slope and course ratings because they just can’t hit it far enough to reach GIR.

Conversely a big hitter who is a bit wild off the tee will struggle on a short tight course.

 

[ManinBlack]

You get calm days at South Shields? Well, I didn't know that.

PCC on Sunday was 3. Never seen that before

 

[sunshine]

If you want to reduce your handicap then play the hardest course you can

How do you work that out?

Go and play Carnoustie off the Open championship tees. I bet most handicap golfers would get nowhere near their handicap.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

How do you work that out?

I'm with you on this. I'm thinking about the harder courses that I play. My h/c would go up, not down. No question about it.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

I'm with you on this. I'm thinking about the harder courses that I play. My h/c would go up, not down. No question about it.

Yeah I was trying to fathom how that would work! Maybe I’m thick but I can’t see the logic that a hard course would help lower your handicap.

Maybe it’s just me but I’d have thought playing somewhere that’s more of an average to easy course would be more suited to getting low. Say a Par 72 with a CR of 68-70, Slope of 110(ish) possibly lower, fairly and short and not to much danger off the tee. Rather than a hard course that would just see handicaps go up and up surely.