# Handicaps



## .x.Bethan.x. (Nov 21, 2006)

What is everyones handicap? And how long have you been playing?

I'm off 18, but there hasn't been any competetions and I'm playin to about 15 at the moment.

I've been playing for about 6 or 7 years. For the first few years my handicap didn't come down hardly at all but then it started dropping considerably.

=]
xx


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

12.7 as of the last revision. I've played for more than 30 years, and had my index to as low as 9.6 back in 1990-1993.... consistently played off 10 during that period. Got married then and my priorities had to be reset. Handicap ballooned to as high as 19 during some injury problems 6-7 years ago, but it has come back now.

Started this year at 14.7, and had it as low as 12.2, before hitting a wall and bouncing off. I'm still playing decent golf, just not scoring quite where I was earlier in the season. All it seems to take is a couple of mental errors to add a stroke or 2 and turn a good round into an ordinary one. :dunno:


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## Golfbum (Oct 14, 2006)

After todays round of +3, 73 my index dropped down to 6.0. It is slowly coming back down after I struggled for the early part of the season. Now I am hitting quality shots again, putting well and it shows. I have had my index lower in the past and I am trying to lower it again this year. However I am running out of time as the golf season here usually comes to an end around mid-late November.
This is my 25th season of golf. Just in the past 4 years have I really started playing a lot. 114 rounds so far this year and the past 4 years total would be around 550 rounds.


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## 65nlovenit (Dec 8, 2006)

Currently at 15, but thats down from 19.4 that I started the season with. Found a couple tips that have helped get the scores down, but still sadly am a poor putter, IF, being the optimum word, I could find some way of narrowing down my aiming point, I think I could get down to the low double digits. Been playing off and on for the past 5 years, with this being my first full year of being able to get out 3 and 4 times a week. Maybe next year I'll get to that level. Really strange how you get to a certain plateau and get stuck there, and it takes so long to break through to the next one.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Since I play all over the place, I haven't joined a club and don't turn in scores to have a formal handicap returned to me. Just based on being around 80, plus or minus a couple either way, I'm probably a 7 or 8.


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## tkessel (Dec 28, 2006)

I've been away from golf for the past 40 years, and wasn't any good when I quit.

I've played for one season now, and probably taken 15-20 shots off my game, compared to when I first (re-)started.

That's the good news. The bad news is that my best game has been 101, and typically now about 105. I'll worry about my handicap once I start getting around 95.

I think I can do that next summer, based on what I feel is my rate of progress, poor athletic skill overall, and the amount of time I can devote to practice. 

But I know I can do better than I am now: lack of time to practice, consistency and short game shortcomings are my biggest problems.


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## chiefmasterjedi (Sep 21, 2007)

I've just got back into golf after a long break, i played a lot when i was young but never had a lesson, which means i have a few bad habits but i'm working on them. Anyway, i thought i was around a 20 handicap but i entered my last 10 rounds into a online handicap calculator and it has me at 9.6. My last round was 79 (+7) from the easy tees, which is my best round ever. My driving, irons, chipping and putting all came together.........for once!.

Just hope my next round is as good.


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## e.ktech (Oct 12, 2007)

im a 9.5 i am a horrible iron player but have a good short game which helps to get up and down. i hope to lower it more i have been playing for 3 years but i work at a course and play there every day.


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## xiphos (Sep 27, 2007)

Just so every one know how handicaps work. You will very rarely play to your handicap. You are not supposed to. The system takes your best scores averages them and then loweres it by some perecentage from there. So if you always shoot 10 over, you will prob. be an 8 or a 9.2 or soemthing like that.


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## white_tiger_137 (Mar 23, 2006)

Great point Xiphos. You would not beleive how many people don't realize that. I may be a 6 handicap, but that doesn't mean I'm shooting 78every day!


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## white_tiger_137 (Mar 23, 2006)

Great point Xiphos. You would not beleive how many people don't realize that. I may be a 6 handicap, but that doesn't mean I'm shooting 78 every day!


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

white_tiger_137 said:


> Great point Xiphos. You would not beleive how many people don't realize that. I may be a 6 handicap, but that doesn't mean I'm shooting 78 every day!


Your handicap is intended to reflect your scoring *potential*, not your scoring average as so many golfers seem to think. Basically it's an average of the 10 best of your last 20 returned scores, then they use a multiplier of .96 to reduce that average to get your scoring potential. You can never consistently shoot to your handicap, because if you do shoot several rounds at that level, your handicap will go lower, requiring you to shoot still better scores to keep up. :dunno: 

It's a vicious cycle, and one that can never really be won until you play to a "0" cap.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

Years ago, your handicap was calculated to be your average over par, MINUS one shot. So, if you averaged 80 on a par 72 course, your handicap would be 7. Back then, the thought was, you should always strive to improve. Course ratings hadn't been invented yet, so someone might say, "I'm a 5 at Pine Valley"... and people would run like hell, knowing that guy would probably be scratch anywhere else in the country.


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## xiphos (Sep 27, 2007)

It's a vicious cycle, and one that can never really be won until you play to a "0" cap. [/QUOTE]

The purpose of ones handicap is not gage for improvment. The handicap system is used so anyone can compete. If 100 people of different handicap levels play 100 times all 100 people should win once, in theory. That would never actually happen in real life due to a number of obvious reasons. If people would stop using it as a badge of honor and use as the equalizer it is supposed to be, many people would fair better in tournaments.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

xiphos said:


> It's a vicious cycle, and one that can never really be won until you play to a "0" cap.
> 
> The purpose of ones handicap is not gage for improvment. The handicap system is used so anyone can compete. If 100 people of different handicap levels play 100 times all 100 people should win once, in theory. That would never actually happen in real life due to a number of obvious reasons. If people would stop using it as a badge of honor and use as the equalizer it is supposed to be, many people would fair better in tournaments.


I realize this. The point I was making is that if you expect to place well in a handicapped tournament, you have to play at or better than your handicap. If you do so, you may place well, but then the next time your association posts a revision, your handicap will probably be lower, and you will have less chance of doing well in your next competition. If you do exceptionally well, your handicap committee may even flag you for an immediate reduction. It wasn't a knock on the GHIN system, I understand how it works and I think it's a fair system... the best they've come up with yet. :thumbsup:


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## xiphos (Sep 27, 2007)

Fourputt said:


> The purpose of ones handicap is not gage for improvment. The handicap system is used so anyone can compete. If 100 people of different handicap levels play 100 times all 100 people should win once, in theory. That would never actually happen in real life due to a number of obvious reasons. If people would stop using it as a badge of honor and use as the equalizer it is supposed to be, many people would fair better in tournaments.


I realize this. The point I was making is that if you expect to place well in a handicapped tournament, you have to play at or better than your handicap. If you do so, you may place well, but then the next time your association posts a revision, your handicap will probably be lower, and you will have less chance of doing well in your next competition. If you do exceptionally well, your handicap committee may even flag you for an immediate reduction. It wasn't a knock on the GHIN system, I understand how it works and I think it's a fair system... the best they've come up with yet. :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

I figured that you understand that. That is why I never said or implied that you did not. I was stating that for people that may or may not understand how it works. 

The GHIN system is great if people would post properly. If people would realize that the higher handicap you have the better you do. All of my dads friends say that they are like 5 strokes better than they are becuase they cut strokes for one and they also only post their good rounds. Then when they play someone who has not cheated on their handicap they get killed.


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## 373 (Jun 9, 2006)

xiphos said:


> If people would stop using it as a badge of honor and use as the equalizer it is supposed to be, many people would fair better in tournaments.


OK, let's go off on a tangent here. Your comment about a badge of honor is really true. Handicaps are an ego driver. How many times have you heard someone say, "I'm a 9, but I used to be a 6."? It's funny how so few people will admit to their handicaps and want to appear, or sound, like they are better than they are. I guess they have more money to lose than I do.

On the other hand, there's a down side to having to prove your handicap. Not so long ago, a lot of toournaments required nothing but a letter from your club pro and 3 recommendations from friends saying you had game. It was easy for some people to arrange as a favor and some people who never broke 80 got to the tournaments like U.S. Open qualifiers, taking up valuable space from other people who deserved to be there more.

Now, your handicap has to be proven, but to do that, you have to be a member somewhere with a legitimate handicap. It's a better system now, no doubt, in that it keeps the egotists away, but it affects players down to levels nowhere near as important as the U.S. Open.

For example, some charity tournaments I would like to play in around Miami, a hotbed of winter charity events, require a proven handicap, no exceptions. The ones that make an exception limit your handicap because they fear too much exposure from sandbaggers.

There is no happy medium. But in the meantime, I play to about a 7, but I used to be scratch.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

xiphos said:


> I figured that you understand that. That is why I never said or implied that you did not. I was stating that for people that may or may not understand how it works.
> 
> The GHIN system is great if people would post properly. If people would realize that the higher handicap you have the better you do. All of my dads friends say that they are like 5 strokes better than they are becuase they cut strokes for one and they also only post their good rounds. Then when they play someone who has not cheated on their handicap they get killed.


I've had friends and acquaintances who were so stuck on the ego side of it that they simply could not return a high score. One friend never carried a handicap higher than 6, yet I beat him scratch (with my 10 cap) occasionally in casual rounds because he just couldn't stand to turn in those cards. I was capable of playing as well as he did (my lifetime low is 73 on a par 72), but I turned in all of my scores, thus the occasional low to mid 70's score was mitigated by the more usual low to mid 80's scores. He only returned his 70's scores, and thus maintained a handicap that he could brag about, but he rarely played to it over the course of a 2 (or more) round tournament. Of course, then he whined about the unfairness of the system that never let him win because it favored the higher handicappers.... 

I turn in all my cards during the handicap season. While my index is nothing to brag about, it is honest and at least gives me a chance to compete in most tournaments.

I really don't mind guys who reverse sandbag, because they will never be competitive in competitions. They give guys like me a better chance. :laugh:


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## matwoolley1991 (Oct 16, 2007)

does this mean that if you entered a comp, with a handicap of 6, and shot 12 over par then your handicap would get raised? cheers


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

matwoolley1991 said:


> does this mean that if you entered a comp, with a handicap of 6, and shot 12 over par then your handicap would get raised? cheers


Not unless that 12 over was one of your 10 best... and then it would depend on what score dropped out of the calculation. Your handicap can drop slightly from a single entry of a good score, but making it go the other way usually takes several bad rounds to see any change. :dunno:


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## matwoolley1991 (Oct 16, 2007)

hi there, i have just started playing and have been using an unofficial handicap of 36. Today, after 17, i was 4 under my handicap. The last hole a par 5, is normally straightforward enough (yesterday i birdied it). I needed 11 or less on the hole to play to my handicap. ( i have never actually play to 36 before).

anyway, back to the hole. i hit a good tee shot, then used a 3 iron to "try" to get near the green. i shanked the shot into the rough on the right, reguiring a bunt back down along the fairway towards the tee to continue. I then unluckily shanked the next shot, again into the rough and lost the ball,so i had to drop one and concede a two shot penalty. After dropping the ball i was about 40 yards away from the green so decided on a sand wedge to lay up onto the green. Unbelievably i shanked this shot into a huge low growing tree, and after 10 mins locating the ball, it took me three shots to get it out.

Now i was struggling, i had two shots left to get 11. i chipped the ball onto the green but the ball was still about two metres away from the hole. i hit the putt slightly too hard and the ball bounced off the back of the cup and out another foot away.

i made 12 on the hole, and thus playing one shot over my handicap.

i was devastated, but i suppose there is always tomorow :laugh:


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## Platinum_Shafts (Aug 15, 2007)

It's at about a 10 right now. It's been as low as 6, but it's consistantly around 10 at the moment


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## matwoolley1991 (Oct 16, 2007)

matwoolley1991 said:


> hi there, i have just started playing and have been using an unofficial handicap of 36. Today, after 17, i was 4 under my handicap. The last hole a par 5, is normally straightforward enough (yesterday i birdied it). I needed 11 or less on the hole to play to my handicap. ( i have never actually play to 36 before).
> 
> anyway, back to the hole. i hit a good tee shot, then used a 3 iron to "try" to get near the green. i shanked the shot into the rough on the right, reguiring a bunt back down along the fairway towards the tee to continue. I then unluckily shanked the next shot, again into the rough and lost the ball,so i had to drop one and concede a two shot penalty. After dropping the ball i was about 40 yards away from the green so decided on a sand wedge to lay up onto the green. Unbelievably i shanked this shot into a huge low growing tree, and after 10 mins locating the ball, it took me three shots to get it out.
> 
> ...



i have been playing quite a few days this week and thankfully have beaten my handicap.
played to -2 for a couple of rounds and once was 10 under it after the full 18. played today and was 9 under it.


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