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Handicap - Does It Tell Your Golf Story

good thread.
i will say yes to this for my game.
the fact that an index signifies my scoring potential is the key there. my index is what i am capable of shooting on any given day, on any course, and it's what i should be shooting consistently. do i shoot to it every day? absolutely not and some days, not even close on the side of worse than. - but on those days, do i play bad? yes. i don't minimize mistakes and penalties and i do not keep the play in front of me. it's very painful and frustrating.

i've never been one for hdcp because i rarely need it for the golf that i play and in most cases, i don't believe that it is used correctly. i'd much rather eliminate the confusion and play straight up. it's mostly because i'm a firm believer in "any given day". because anyone with a 5-18 hdcp can shoot in the 70's, 80's, 90's on any given day. now most of the time, the lower hdcp will win, especially at two extremes of that range...but golf is still difficult every day.
 
This is a great topic and there are so many variables to a handicap. I posted on here not long ago that I was talking to a guy at our club that went out and shot a 76 at a course across town. He debated for 3 days whether he was going to post his score because he normally was a 14 handicapper. So then started talking to others at the course that claimed they only post their bad scores and never their good ones. Others said that they would only post scores from our home club and never from out of town courses because that was a more true reflection of what their handicap really is. So my question to start off is, it depends on how someone is inputting their scores because in my conversations there were about 5 different ways people were doing it. This is one of the reasons I hate playing money games at my club due to the inconsistency.

As it's well documented on this site because of my trash talking comments that were made one day, I don't usually "score" well at my home course. It's 6600 yards with tight fairways, small greens and lightening fast putting. I don't do well on those courses. My PB on my home course is a 78. But about half my golf is played on other courses as well. Wider fairways, bigger greens, normal putting conditions, etc. I tend to play better on these courses. I would like to think that playing a tigher course with faster greens gets me into better form to play the other courses. I don't really know. I also think my short game (esp. chipping) is the weak part of my game. I've always wanted to be a better putter. But they may be on to something because at my home course I'm probably a 7 or 8 handicapper but at others I might be a 3-5 handicapper.
 
Nate said:
This is a great topic and there are so many variables to a handicap. I posted on here not long ago that I was talking to a guy at our club that went out and shot a 76 at a course across town. He debated for 3 days whether he was going to post his score because he normally was a 14 handicapper. So then started talking to others at the course that claimed they only post their bad scores and never their good ones. Others said that they would only post scores from our home club and never from out of town courses because that was a more true reflection of what their handicap really is. So my question to start off is, it depends on how someone is inputting their scores because in my conversations there were about 5 different ways people were doing it. This is one of the reasons I hate playing money games at my club due to the inconsistency.

As it's well documented on this site because of my trash talking comments that were made one day, I don't usually "score" well at my home course. It's 6600 yards with tight fairways, small greens and lightening fast putting. I don't do well on those courses. My PB on my home course is a 78. But about half my golf is played on other courses as well. Wider fairways, bigger greens, normal putting conditions, etc. I tend to play better on these courses. I would like to think that playing a tigher course with faster greens gets me into better form to play the other courses. I don't really know. I also think my short game (esp. chipping) is the weak part of my game. I've always wanted to be a better putter. But they may be on to something because at my home course I'm probably a 7 or 8 handicapper but at others I might be a 3-5 handicapper.
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sure hope u dont play in any tourneys with these guys that pick and choose what scores to enter lol
 
mikedean441 said:
sure hope u dont play in any tourneys with these guys that pick and choose what scores to enter lol
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Yeah no doubt.. Why the heck people do this (aside from the obvious douchery) is beyond me.
 
Toughness of courses you are playing (ratings)
Some very good rounds mixed in that keep you low
Playing better golf at harder courses
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My home course is a 70.3/120, whatever that means. I play courses and some hard, some are easy. My home course is easy, but I've played it a million times too. I take my scores there with a grain of salt, but I play plenty of rounds on more difficult courses that lower my handicap too. When I play well, it doesn't matter what course I play.
 
i couldn't agree more with this guy.... i could always keep the ball in play for the most part off the tee. and now that i have a decent short game my handicap has gone down a ton. i just don't get myself into big mistakes even on new courses that i havn't played before. it makes a huge difference.
 
I think so. I tend to average about the same fairway % regardless of the course (or at least in those cases where the ball misses the fairway it is rarely so off course as to be lost or unplayable). I tend to putt the same regardless of course (Pete Dye's diabolical, lightning fast greens at the Sawgrass Valley course excluded!). As such I almost always wind up playing to my course handicap give or take a few strokes either way. GIR is much more important for my score either way.
 
I am very interested in this thread becuase I have been thinking alot about my handicap and what it represents. I really do not understand how it relates from one person to another. I am often told by people I play with "You play and hit the ball much better than your handicap shows" and I am not really sure what that means.

I was talking to a friend who has an established handicap of 15 but he plays the same course all the time and it has a rating of 66 and a slope of 106 and I am not sure how that compares to myself. Right now I am about a 20 handicap but the courses I play are have ratings between 70 and 73 and slopes between 120 and 139. Does that mean I should play easier courses to lower my handicap? Is my friend really "better" than I am? ( I know golf is about you vs the course). I want to get my handicap down but by playing the tougher courses am I hurting my chances of that happening?
 
My handicap is nowhere near an indication of my playing ability. I have a very hard time keeping the ball in front of me off the tee, but have a great short game. I hit a lot of balls OB with my driver and several more into the woods. As you can imagine, this is detrimental to my score.

On the flip side, the few occasions where I bag my driver (and ego), I consistently shoot HALF my index. That is a big difference.
 
I just calculated my "away" handicap using only scores from away courses using the USGA formula. The away index is 6.4 which is probably pretty close to my "average" index for the same period of time, January until the present, with most of the scores coming earlier in the year when my index was higher. The away courses with better scores were courses that I had played before, the worst scores were courses played the first time. For me when playing away, scoring depends a lot on putting. But that's what it depends on at home as well.

I generally keep the ball in play better at away courses, the home course is pretty demanding on a few holes and not so much on others.

Short game is so-so home and away.

When playing away I try to choose a slope rating similar to my home course.

My handicap is made up of a few low scores mixed with mostly higher scores. Away scores look like that as well.

I guess the answer for me is my index will carry well away with one big if...if it is not the first time seeing the course.
 
White Rhino said:
I am very interested in this thread becuase I have been thinking alot about my handicap and what it represents. I really do not understand how it relates from one person to another. I am often told by people I play with "You play and hit the ball much better than your handicap shows" and I am not really sure what that means.

I was talking to a friend who has an established handicap of 15 but he plays the same course all the time and it has a rating of 66 and a slope of 106 and I am not sure how that compares to myself. Right now I am about a 20 handicap but the courses I play are have ratings between 70 and 73 and slopes between 120 and 139. Does that mean I should play easier courses to lower my handicap? Is my friend really "better" than I am? ( I know golf is about you vs the course). I want to get my handicap down but by playing the tougher courses am I hurting my chances of that happening?
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I don't know what helps the HDCP better, scoring well on easier courses or scoring avg on harder courses. But if you are really interested in lowering your handicap check out the OP and look at the things he mentioned. Keeping the ball in front of you off the tee, having a good short game, and being able to putt. Those things are universal to me as to whatever course you play.
 
My index is based mostly off rounds at my home course, which can play quite difficult. I routinely play at a 11-16 differential at that course. However, when I play on a relatively easy, flat course, I can easily play 5 strokes better.

I think that saying "be in play off the tee and have a good short game" is an oversimplification. Isn't that the whole point to low scores regardless of your handicap?

If you have established your handicap on a course that's wide open where you can spray it all over the place, then the first part of that equation is pretty obvious. Keep it in play (on your own hole) off the tee and you are on your way to better scores.

Same goes for the greens, their protection, how they roll, etc.

I've played rounds of golf with people who have way lower indexes compared to me and I usually can keep up with them if they've only played on courses where you can't get in much trouble.
 
White Rhino said:
I am often told by people I play with "You play and hit the ball much better than your handicap shows" and I am not really sure what that means.
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It's a nice way of them calling you a sandbagger. I get this ALL the time.
 
My home course is probably very "easy" and the only place I've scored below 120.

From the forward tees its only 5009 yds, with a 70.0/117 rating. I'm still unclear on what that means, though I keep looking for different definitions, hoping I find one that makes me go "ah-ha". My scores there over the last few times have been 107-117.

When I go anywhere else, my scores run the gamut from 124-133, still fwd tees but generally longer courses with higher ratings.

Granted, I'm a newb and nothing about my game is consistent yet.
 
I'll also add that you have a distinct scoring advantage when you play your "home" course. Play enough rounds there and you'll know the breaks, safe spots, bailout areas, etc way more than the "visitor" and this greatly helps you score well.

The travelling golfer is at a disadvantage when they don't know that a particular putt can break uphill.
 
I play at a very easy course that doesn't require long irons and has fairly easy greens. I can go 70s and am almost always in the 80s. I go to a longer course with fast greens and tight fairways and can't break 100.
 
TheIcemann said:
I play at a very easy course that doesn't require long irons and has fairly easy greens. I can go 70s and am almost always in the 80s. I go to a longer course with fast greens and tight fairways and can't break 100.
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I'm kind of the opposite, but not exactly. My course rating/slope isn't all that high. But the course is very narrow. Teaches you to keep the ball in play. So when I go to a course that rates higher but allows for more of a miss off the tee I usually play well because I'm afforded more of a miss. True Blue for example I thought was easier to shoot low at than my course for me, because the tee shots weren't as narrow so my misses weren't as penalized.
 
TheIcemann said:
I play at a very easy course that doesn't require long irons and has fairly easy greens. I can go 70s and am almost always in the 80s. I go to a longer course with fast greens and tight fairways and can't break 100.
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This is a good example for the subject of this thread. Carrying a 12.5 handicap (from your profile) would tell me that you should have said "can't break 90", not 100. I am a 12 and I can't remember the last time I shot 100 or higher on any course.

Probably a real testament to some of the limitations of the handicap system and I believe that this is exactly why they introduced course handicaps and slope ratings.
 
Traveling does hurt me, but that's because of the local course i play on. It's about 2150 yards and on a small plot of land. The rough that separates fairways is about 8-10 yards wide. So for me, it has to do with the fact that most of my golf consists of 1) tee shot, 2) chip shot 3) putting.

But that aside, I think there is a lot of truth in what that guy told you. When I played our city tournament, I shot 4 very low rounds for me. In fact, I ended with my lowest round for the year, and the highest round was only 2 shots off that. I did it by keeping the ball in front of me, taking risky shots out, and making sure my misses were safe (meaning in the fairway). As a result, I played extremely consistent golf. To that end, if I approached all golf like I did that weekend, I suspect my game really would travel just fine and my index (or lack thereof) would tell me story.

~Rock
 
RoundersRob said:
This is a good example for the subject of this thread. Carrying a 12.5 handicap (from your profile) would tell me that you should have said "can't break 90", not 100. I am a 12 and I can't remember the last time I shot 100 or higher on any course.

Probably a real testament to some of the limitations of the handicap system and I believe that this is exactly why they introduced course handicaps and slope ratings.
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Wow, really? I have played to a single digit for quite some time and have shot 100 or higher quite a few times over the last couple of years. I think it comes down to everybody is different I guess and couple that with where people play.
 
I honestly have trouble answering this question. I generally keep the ball in play off the tee, and am pretty good with a putter in my hands, and a wedge around the greens. My problem is not hitting greens, and not missing by a little, but hitting a fat shot from the fairway, which then results in another shot from the fairway that misses the green, to then chip up and putt. Now I don't hit every shot fat, and do hit some greens, but when I do hit one fat followed by a missed green, I have added 2 strokes to the hole and have to scramble for bogey. Maybe I am a glitch in the rule, or maybe I need to work hard on my ball striking and could drop my index fast. That's what I will be trying, so hopefully it works.
 
JB said:
Wow, really? I have played to a single digit for quite some time and have shot 100 or higher quite a few times over the last couple of years. I think it comes down to everybody is different I guess and couple that with where people play.
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I'd have to assume that you were playing a pretty hard course to be ~5 handicap and shoot over 100. That had to be an off day or a round from the tips at Bethpage Black. :)
 
Great topic and something I have been thinking a lot about since the Morgan Cup. I think my HC is about right when I compare it to other THP'rs I have played with from around the country. I find my home course where I play 95% of my rounds to be very difficult even though the slope rating makes it appear to be on the easier end. It is very tight and due to our weather is never in that great of condition compared to most courses in the country. If I played at True Blue, for example as my home course, I think I would shoot in the low 80's on a more regular basis and my index might drop a little because it is rated tougher than my home track. I agree with the original post that someone's index is likely more accurate if they can keep the ball in front of them.
 
I think that my handicap is a good indicator of where I am right now, it's just about the lowest that it's ever been. My short game and putting are decent, but my downfall is accuracy off of the tee. The past few months have shown me that I need to work a lot on "keeping the ball in front of me" as I have enough distance to play comfortably on all of the courses that I play up here. I do think that my handicap travels fairly well because I play 4-5 different courses up here instead of the same course all the time.
 
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