handicap

Can someone explain how the score handicap system works.

Is it just the difference between what you shoot and par?

JohnV

Generally you would record your scores at one course over 5 rounds (18 Holes each round) Work out the average score over par for the 5 rounds and that becomes your handicap.

For example Round one you had 17 over, then round two you were 14 over and round three 22 over round four 19 over and round five 30 over - your average is 20 and that becomes your handicap.

Hope this helps!!!

Thks sparky.

Knew it had to do with the over par score but didn't know about the average.
JohnV

Thanks for the info Sparky. I too was wondering how the handicap was calculated.

Trish

There is a little more to what happens from the average to the actual Handicap....I have a excel spreadsheet that does the calc and is pretty close to how thw system does it !! If anyone cares I can send it as an attachment ....

dont the courses have like a diffculty number that u use or somthing??

Yup, courses are rated and difficulty is one og the parameters to calculate handicap.

My question in regards to the handicap is:

On a score card, each hole has a handicap number assigned to it. One par 4 may have a handicap number of 3, while another par 4 has a handicap number of 11. What the heck is that all about? I did notice that the longer the hole, the lower the handicap number, but that doesn't help me much.

(Sorry....newbie here...)
Travis

i believe what your refering to is the numbers that tell you how hard the hole is, compared to the other holes, if im right these will go from 1 (the hardest) to 18.

For the Record

I replied to a post asking about handicap. And I gave my understanding of it. Its worthwhile knowing I only play socially at present and I'm not a member of a golf club - which is common down here

There is somewhat more to working out a players handicap than I originally mentioned, and some of you have brought up factors that effect handicap, i.e course rating, sex, age etc.

As a social player it's often handy to have a rough guide to what your handicap maybe for many reasons. This is the guide I used when I replied to the original post as I understand it. Friends who are club members past it onto me, so I hope it's been of help and not hinderence.

There are very knowlegable members on this site who may be able to provide or direct others to far better detailed handicap breakdowns.

Enjoy the game!

Sparky

That's exactly what it is - a guide to how hard the hole is, compared to the other holes on the course, with 1 being the hardest hole, and 18 being the easiest.

I hope this helps some:

An INDEX is calculated by averaging the top ten scores of your last 20 rounds. The top ten scores are determined by the slope and difficulty of each course (i.e. an 80 from the front tees at an easy course wouldn't rate as high as a 85 from the back tees at an extremely difficult course). With an index, you can take to any golf course and they will compare that with the course chart to tell you what your handicap is at that particular course. You will notice your handicap will change from course to course, even from front tees to back tees at the same course!

The handicap on each individual hole on the scorecard is used to determine what holes you should get a stroke on. For example, if in a competition if you are a 10 handicap, that means you should be shooting bogey on the holes ranked 1 - 10 and par on the rest. Your 10 handicap would be applied to the hardest 10 holes and your score adjusted. OR, if you are a 24 handicap, you would get 2 strokes on the 6 hardest holes (ranked 1 - 6) and 1 stroke on the remaining holes.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall