Your Handicap?

[kid2]

Looking through the various posts over the last few weeks iv been keeping an eye on peoples handicps....While some have dropped others have risen and some have stayed static....
I started off on 21 im now on 17.6 exact......
Iv played 25 competitions and have won 2 in the 9 months that im playing.......
My best score has been a gross 84 off 17 nett 67....
The cuts iv had to my handicap have been when the course has played at nearly its longest and in tough conditions...One of these cuts came in stablefod and the other 2 were in medals.....
Im just wondering how long it takes to get that level of consistency in your game where you can shoot your handicap regular and even below it sometimes.....I think ill always have that competitive edge as iv just retired from football....
Im baffled as to why i play better when the course is playing long and cant seem to knock a good score together with a little regularity when its playing shorter.....

Many would probably be happy loosing nearly 4 shots off there handicap but iv had 0.1 back for the last 7 comps and last week got a cut of 0.3 for shooting 1 under my handicap in a medal.....(Course set up for junior and scratch stroke play comp)

Am i being too impatient....It just seems that when i get a good cut that takes a few months to achieve its all unravelled again in so many months with average or below avg rounds.

 

[brendy]

Unless your game is constantly improving I think good and bad will happen. Id be more worried going through a year with no cuts.

 

[zoolander]

I had the same problem about a month back was stuck on 19!was knocking it round in low 80s in practice games but couldn't seem 2 do it in comps.lookin back now I was trying 2 force it far 2 much!went for every par 5 in 2,took driver off every tee.now I have a game plan and I stick 2 it.aswell as that u must forget about your score!I try 2 beat my playing partners on hole by hole and take no notice of my card!hope it helps

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My opinion is that you never get consistent enough to regularly play to your h'cap. You'll have good spells where you'll go 3 or 4 weeks playing to oe bettering it and then longer periods playing like you've never held a golf club.

The h'cap system is designed the way it is because you aren't supposed to play to it consistently. It is a measure of your potential when you have a good day, that's why it goes down in larger cuts than it goes up.

I've been cut 3 times this year, the last 2 comps I was in the buffer having hit the ball better than I have all year but chipping and putting poorly. I suspect I've wasted my opportunity but Saturday will reveal all.

I went 3 years playing just about every comp possible without a single cut until this year. The reason was because I put too much pressure on myself to play to my h'cap. Many on here will tell you of their inability to play with a card in their hand, I used to be one of those people until I learned that I couldn't make myself play well. I'm desperate to get to single figures but I'm not gonna put pressure on myself to do it, I'll practice a lot to give myself the best chance but when it comes down to it, whatever will be will be.

You need to try to relax and accept it as it comes, enjoy the good rounds but don't beat yourself up about the bad ones.

 

[Macster]

Ive been playing 20+ years, and was off 12 for many of those, before finally last year deciding that IF I was ever going to reach Single figures, it was then.
Finally achieved it down to 9.2, which I put down to genuinely just 'enjoying' my golf, and not putting too much pressure on myself to 'do well' in Medals.
Since then, I went up 0.1 up to 9.9, before buffering/playing to for at least 4/5 Medals, and then just recently have had 2 small cuts back to 9.5 again, 0.1 off the magic 9 again !

I dont think you should be able to play easily under your HC, its a measure off your very best, but this year has been my most consistent that I can recall.
Target before Mid Oct season end ? - 9.1 or 8.9

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've played all season and managed to move from 11.3 to 12.0. Not exactly earth shattering and not the right direction but I guess what it shows is that I've probably reached my level. I am only going up slowly punctuated by the odd moment of madness where it comes together and I get a cut.

The whole point is that you aren't suppose to play to the handicap everytime and it is thought you should be playing to or under maybe one in four times as it's designed to represent what you can shoot on your very best rounds.

 

[Alex1975]

HawkeyeMS and Macster great posts that I will take into my head for every competition.

I have only just got my 1st handicap and have not yet played in a competition and so am really just at the beginning of this adventure. I am in the forum of my life because I have done exactly what you have described, enjoyed my golf. There is a hole in this theory though, I might be enjoying it because I’m in the forum of my life.

 

[Macster]

Oh, and to show what we are all 'capable of' when it all clicks into place, - last year I took my brother in law for a social game, and knocked it around in +2 Gross, which I hadnt EVER done before, OR since, and probably never will again.

Thats what keeps us coming back though !!

 

[kid2]

Oh, and to show what we are all 'capable of' when it all clicks into place, - last year I took my brother in law for a social game, and knocked it around in +2 Gross, which I hadnt EVER done before, OR since, and probably never will again.

Thats what keeps us coming back though !!

Why the name change Chris?

 

[User 105]

I think most amateur golfers will have a handicap ceiling (or floor depending how you look at it).

Based on ability and time available to practice and improve, most of us will get to a certain level and will struggle to go beyond that.

If you put the work in you should drop reasonably quickly towards that level. Then it will start to level off.

Then once you hit that level (Handicap) you're going to still have to put the same amount of work into just keeping at that handicap.

I think this is when the game gets really frustrating for some people. Putting the same effort in got you a lot of cuts, now you have to put the same effort in and you're unlikely to improve any further.

Bit of a glass half empty way off looking at it I know.

I've been putting the work in this year and have been making good progress. I know by how I'm playing and still improving that I can get into single figures, probably next year I hope. My pro says I've got the potential to get to low single figures if I put the work in.

Only time will tell.

 

[Parmo]

I have had 3 cuts this yeaar and for the past two months played to or about my handicap. For me I see it as been patient and the scores will come if I just keep doing what I do.

My Target is 15 this season, I am sticking to it as well. I might not make it but I am giving it a go.

 

[USER1999]

It isn't just about technique and ability either. There is also a ceiling for the mental side. I might play better than a 10 handicap, but if I can't pull it off in comps, because mentally I haven't got it, then it doesn't matter how good the rest of it is. You can be 4 over standing on the 16th tee, but if you can't bring it home, under pressure, you are never going to make a proper low handicap.

 

[Macster]

Oh, and I'll probably get flamed for saying this again, but playing with people off a lower handicap than you undoubtably can help in making you concentrate and play better, - there is nothing like not wanting to show yourself up to focus your thoughts.

This year, I've played a few Medal rounds with lads off +1 and 4 HC, and it has brought out the best in my game on a couple of occasions.

Having said that, I think you have to be concious of your own level, and be reasonably comfortable with your game, otherwise heaping too much pressure on yourself alongside good players could make some crumble perhaps, which wouldnt be good for either you or them !

Others will say that playing with their regular partners puts them at ease in a Medal, and thats fine, but I dont want 'at ease' and normal chat, I want focus, concentration and inspiration when it really matters.

Oh, and beside that, my buddies insist on playing at 'stupid-o-clock' - 7.15am etc, when I just dont function well at all.
Give me a 11.15am tee time any day on a Medal round.
Just works better for me.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Started the year at 24. Now 24.1.

Drat.

 

[Macster]

Good point Murph - Ive witnessed both extremes in that respect.
Our last 3 holes are
16th 469yds Par 4. (Tour length !!)
17th 183yds Par 3 Stream protected.
18th 392yds Par 4 Tree lined Dogleg.

A good test to keep your score in tact.

I, & many others, have doubled at least 2 of the above on the run in, but my playing partner off +1 Birdied 16, and then 17, before missing his putt for Birdie on 18, to come in with a Gross 63, missing a new Course record by 1.

Thats pressure Golf !

 

[Hendy]

Started this season at 20.7 now at 15.2

Still feel i can get down yet but with me only being able to play 1 more comp this season before winter league. I feel thats going to me this year.. Aim was 16-18.. But the way i had been playing start of Aug before my summer holiday in the sun i was going around the course 10 over which included 1 over par front nine with a 4 double bogey and and 3 more bogey's on the back.. I am still kicking myself yet...

But highlight of the year was a mid week stableford 48 points off 19.. With a 1 over par back nine that time..

Hoping next year for a 5 shot cut again... try and get to at least 10..

 

[CannyFifer]

I like the How did i do graph that shows any trends etc. Mines below.

 

[viscount17]

Unless your game is constantly improving I think good and bad will happen. Id be more worried going through a year with no cuts.

that's where I'm at; get round most social games around net par but give it a sniff of competition and it turns to rodents; either 0.1 or creep into buffer every time this year. last medal (yesterday) putting woeful.

worried of wybo

 

[CannyFifer]

worried of wybo

Whats that?

 

[viscount17]

worried of wybo

Whats that?

that's a who and a where