some ignorance here about handicap and such

I understand what it is and also read up on how to get one etc... Index and all. But i am still igorant to the situation. I just dont know and never really had any reason to use one since I only play when I can on a weekend morning (non competative) and the ocasional charity fun type outing also (although prizes and such) still non competative.

There are probably more people out there golfing without one like me. Perhaps not on this forum but out in the rest of the golfing world. With that said, I dont belong to any club in order to obtain one. And I think I am supoe to. And I am lucky if will be able to golf 20 times a season. If I aproach that and more will be greatest ever for me.LOL

My question is what happens if I (or someone in my shoes) decided to play in something that uses handicaps? What does that person do? can they play in such without one? Are there limits to how much of one you can have?

Another question. Even the THP event/s when in my area. If I am able to possibly hook up with it, Is that only for those with established handicaps? Is it also OK to take part in such as a player who currently may score anything between high 80's at best up to even over a 100 but usually low/mid 90'ish such as myself?

Forgive my ignorance but I dont know so I am asking about such.

Thanks

THP Events do not require established indexes and are ALWAYS open to all skill levels.

Outside of the 2013 Morgan Cup that requires an index of 18 or better.

In the UK, there are a few times when a handicap comes in handy. A couple of sites howdidido, golf shake etc will calculate and track a handicap for you, which is not official, but works ok. Most of it all, it helps you track your own progress. The US, I'm not sure...

rollin said:

My question is what happens if I (or someone in my shoes) decided to play in something that uses handicaps? What does that person do? can they play in such without one? Are there limits to how much of one you can have?
Thanks

Click to expand...

An example of what happens in an NCGA (Northern California Golf Association) tournament:

First - you can only play in some gross score tournaments with an established handicap of 5.4 or better.

In the event of a NET tournament, you could usually play but if you do not have an established handicap you are listed as NH (no handicap) and you receive no handicap benefits that you would normally get in a net scoring tournament. This is a huge disadvantage.

It's very easily to keep a handicap index on several different internet based sites by inputting your scores at the courses you play. Some tournaments require that you belong to an official club of some sort, be it internet based or at a local course, and have a handicap established through them.

Even if you are a beginner, you can still have a handicap up to 40 (I think - might be 36). There's nothing wrong with that at all and it's a great way to track your progress as a player. As you improve, you watch your handicap come down.

Thanks for the info guys.

I thought from the way I read things is that technically internet based sites may not really count? Is that correct? And the problem with joining local area club etc... is one of money and how often and where and when I can golf seems to unfortunately make it not a practicle thing for me.

Even the club I belong to has 500 members but there are only about 200 of us that turn in cards for a USGA handicap. There are other alternatives just using your club, a lot of people on here use the OOB golf site where you can enter your scores yourself and it provides you a handicap, it's not USGA approved but I believe that it uses basically the same methodology.


At my course there are weekly skins games that use handicaps and some of the charity scrambles even figure in handicaps, of course there are 2 events each year that use them also, the club championships and the club match play cup.


If you just play a few weekend rounds a year then it's probably not worth it, but you might look into OOB golf and see about getting an account there, I think it's free...just entering your scores and keeping up with you index going up or down will help you see if you are improving or not.

I used an Android app called Easy Scorecard to keep a track of scores for a couple of us at work so that we could use unofficial handicaps amongst ourselves when we went out

All you need is a scorecard/website to enter the hole length/par/stroke index - it even allows you to enter different tee details as well, so you could enter the yellow tees for normal play, then the whites for competitions etc

Once the course and player details have been entered you can enter scorecards as you go, or retrospectively after the round and it will even email a copy of the scorecard to each player assuming you have an address entered in their profile and after you have entererd 3 rounds it will give you a handicap and will adjust it as you enter more rounds

OOB (& other similar websites) are a great way to keep track if you just want to see how your game changes and aren't concerned with official handicap scores. Be sure not to confuse a web based handicapping service with an official e-club type membership.

An e-club is has all the required elements of a golf club, without being tied to a particular course.

Read here for the USGA's definition of a "golf club". http://www.usga.org/handicapping/get_handicap/Definition-Of-A-Golf-Club/

thanks all thus far. Very helpfull