Handicap : Honest With Self vs True Tests

dduarte85

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I’m curious how people interpret their handicaps when it comes to staying within their abilities and when traveling.

My issue is that I believe my handicap is flawed and false in many ways. This summer whenever I played a shorter course, regardless of course attributes (green speed, tightness of fairways, rough thickness, number of fw and green side traps etc) I eat the course up... talking even par to 2 over.

The minute I touch a 6900 yard course I’m back up to 83-85 because I’m just not long enough off the tee.

At 6200 I’m hitting driver 8 irons, at 6900 it’s a 4 iron.

How do you see your handicap?


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Last year, my handicap travelled very well. I was always shooting within a few shots of it either way on all types of courses. This year, it was great to start with. However I’m so embarrassed carrying a 10.2 and shooting in the hundreds. But it’s creeping up fast as those early season scores are falling off. I just played a new course today and shot a 103. It was utterly embarrassing.
 
You are adding 700 yards which would equate to roughly 7-8 strokes a round. (say a short par 5 and long par 3) Always easier to hit a short iron into a green than a long iron, short irons should be more accurate.. Personally I won't touch that yardage and prefer to keep it under 6400 max just because of being shorter of the tee. My HC has traveled better this year, but I know what distances I can play and get away with.
 
Mine can travel fairly well, depending on the course layout. I get in trouble when I can’t see what I’m trying to do from the tee. If I can see the landing area or at least some of it, I can figure my way around it, if I can’t I might as well find a drop area & hit 4 from there.


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I have never thought of this but I play ball down and no gimmies. So as bad as I am, my handicap is an accurate reflection. I would expect to shot what a person of my handicap will from those specific tees at any course.
 
dduarte85;n8881086 said:
I’m curious how people interpret their handicaps when it comes to staying within their abilities and when traveling.

My issue is that I believe my handicap is flawed and false in many ways. This summer whenever I played a shorter course, regardless of course attributes (green speed, tightness of fairways, rough thickness, number of fw and green side traps etc) I eat the course up... talking even par to 2 over.

The minute I touch a 6900 yard course I’m back up to 83-85 because I’m just not long enough off the tee.

At 6200 I’m hitting driver 8 irons, at 6900 it’s a 4 iron.

How do you see your handicap?


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The handicap system is in place for this though. Course rating is higher from further back.
 
Unless your home course isn't rated correctly, I don't think I would call your handicap 'false' - obviously you can hit a lot of quality shots if you're shooting around par anywhere. I get that you face more challenges moving back a set of tees, but I think if you did it often enough you would find a way to manage your game around the longer course and play to your handicap. The difference in course rating should account for the change in length (from a handicap perspective).

If there are a couple of holes where you have uncomfortable approaches (i.e. long iron or FW), why not lay up and take double out of play? There should still be enough other holes to score on.
 
My handicap tends to suffer a bit when traveling but I attribute most of that to playing courses for the first time.
Not knowing the ideal spots to hit to and how the greens break and their speeds mean higher scores than normal for me.
 
My buddy plays par 61 courses a lot, as we have two or three nearby. He bases his score off of those, and when we play a par 72 he plays really poorly. I think its apples to oranges.
 
My index travels well as the greens and greenside shots at my home course are tougher than most. Here are my last 13 handicapped rounds - All but one of my last 6 away rounds have counted towards my index while five of my last 7 home rounds have counted. All these rounds were in the 6400-6500 yard range except for the round at Braemar(new course that I'd never played before) that was at 6850 yards. I don't play many rounds a year outside of the 6400-6900 range now that I'm 54 years old. Anything beyond 6,900 starts to become a chore with too many long irons into greens especially with the soft conditions after having our 2nd wettest year on record.
 

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I'll answer this question after the Budget Championship at Coeur d'Alene...
 
On any course I've previously played there is always a chance I could get close to my index - as long as I'm playing from tees 6,000 yards or less. From over 6,000 or on an unfamiliar course, there's little chance regardless of the course rating. The times I've played courses longer than 6300, it was driver - long iron on par 4's, long irons or 5w on the par 3's, and carries pushing the limits of my driver. The higher course ratings do not seem to make up for much higher scores.

That said, on a day when no one is behind me, it can be fun to play from the tees I have no business being on.
 
joebute;n8881142 said:
Unless your home course isn't rated correctly, I don't think I would call your handicap 'false' - obviously you can hit a lot of quality shots if you're shooting around par anywhere. I get that you face more challenges moving back a set of tees, but I think if you did it often enough you would find a way to manage your game around the longer course and play to your handicap. The difference in course rating should account for the change in length (from a handicap perspective).

If there are a couple of holes where you have uncomfortable approaches (i.e. long iron or FW), why not lay up and take double out of play? There should still be enough other holes to score on.

I’m with JB on this on theory alone ... but theory and reality don’t often match up.


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I've been proud that my handicap has always traveled pretty well. Heck I think I play better at new courses these days than I do my home course.
 
You know, the handicap system pretty much stinks. We all know this.

But I just play my rounds, keep an honest "score" (i.e. the kind of "score" the handicap system tells me I have to enter with all their ESC, etc.) and type it into the app. Whatever number they give me, I tell people it's my handicap.

Life's too short to try to figure out my woulda, coulda, shoulda handicap if it were a perfect world where the handicap system didn't stink.
 
Im not sure I get the question as for how it relates to being honest with oneself. I mean if scores are properly posted on any given course and given tees, how can that ever be a question of honesty?

I get the system it self is far from being without flaw. But it is what it is and as long as followed correctly is honest (at lest on the part of the player).

But fwiw the HC itself is not truly reflective anyway cause its only reflecting our best. Technically our caps are always a step or two better than our play.
 
All the handicap is meant to reflect is a number that can be used to have a fair game between one (non-sandbagger, non-vanity-'capper) handicap holder and another (non-sandbagger, non-vanity-'capper) with different abilities. And if everyone involved in a particular game is keeping their handicap strictly according to the system's rules, it works pretty well for that.

Two problem. Only a small proportion of handicap holders neither sandbag or vanity 'cap. And people lumber the handicap with all sorts of add-on baggage it was never designed for, like "tracking my progress" or "knowing how good I am" types of thing.
 
rollin;n8881342 said:
Im not sure I get the question as for how it relates to being honest with oneself. I mean if scores are properly posted on any given course and given tees, how can that ever be a question of honesty?
.

What percentage of players actually post truly honest scores? It's well understood that most players tend to play by their own Rules (not exactly the Rules of Golf), and that factor alone makes posted scores questionable.
The game has always had a mix of players, from honest true handicaps, to betting handicaps, and some bragging handicaps.
 
dduarte85;n8881086 said:
I’m curious how people interpret their handicaps when it comes to staying within their abilities and when traveling.

My issue is that I believe my handicap is flawed and false in many ways. This summer whenever I played a shorter course, regardless of course attributes (green speed, tightness of fairways, rough thickness, number of fw and green side traps etc) I eat the course up... talking even par to 2 over.

The minute I touch a 6900 yard course I’m back up to 83-85 because I’m just not long enough off the tee.

At 6200 I’m hitting driver 8 irons, at 6900 it’s a 4 iron.

How do you see your handicap?

Would you mind me asking what’s your handicap? Then what is your differential for the 6200 yard course and the 6900 yard course?
 
DG_1234;n8881356 said:
What percentage of players actually post truly honest scores? It's well understood that most players tend to play by their own Rules (not exactly the Rules of Golf), and that factor alone makes posted scores questionable.
The game has always had a mix of players, from honest true handicaps, to betting handicaps, and some bragging handicaps.

Only about 10% of golfers take the game seriously enough to have an official handicap and from my experience the majority of these play by the rules of golf. All my regular golf buddies have honest handicaps from scores posted while playing by the rules. None of them when posting scores use range finders with slope, roll their ball in the fairway or take mulligans. I'd guess that maybe 10% of the guys at my club are sandbaggers and maybe 1-2% are vanity handicappers. Your experience may be different but I found about those same percentages at my last club.
 
dduarte85;n8881086 said:
I’m curious how people interpret their handicaps when it comes to staying within their abilities and when traveling.

My issue is that I believe my handicap is flawed and false in many ways. This summer whenever I played a shorter course, regardless of course attributes (green speed, tightness of fairways, rough thickness, number of fw and green side traps etc) I eat the course up... talking even par to 2 over.

The minute I touch a 6900 yard course I’m back up to 83-85 because I’m just not long enough off the tee.

At 6200 I’m hitting driver 8 irons, at 6900 it’s a 4 iron.

How do you see your handicap?


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I believe that's a tee it forward issue, not a traveling issue.

Once you hit your threshold, your potential to score drops significantly. I've seen it time and time again, and it's why I don't play 7,000+
 
zbeekner4;n8881357 said:
Would you mind me asking what’s your handicap? Then what is your differential for the 6200 yard course and the 6900 yard course?

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From the whites I average even par 72, from the blues I tend to shoot around 76-78.

My handicap is at 3.9

When I play a “real” golf course (that’s a mixed bag that people here will give me a ton of flack about) I tend to shoot right around 85. Some of that is because it’s my first time around that course and then just killer lightning fast greens that take me 8 holes to even start to comprehend some kind of pace on them. Those are courses like TPC Boston, Old Sandwich, Boston Golf Club where I’m standing on a 495 yard par 4 tee box and find myself hitting a damn 3 wood into a green all day.



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DG_1234;n8881356 said:
What percentage of players actually post truly honest scores? It's well understood that most players tend to play by their own Rules (not exactly the Rules of Golf), and that factor alone makes posted scores questionable.
The game has always had a mix of players, from honest true handicaps, to betting handicaps, and some bragging handicaps.

I’ve actually found myself posting every single score from this season. I also play pretty tight in the rules. The only place where I flex on the rules is around hazards on the course. Unless I’m playing somewhere mint I’ll move rocks and if the ball lands in an obvious footprint then I rake and place. My course has major issues with people not raking, fixing marks, replacing divots.


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Snickerdog;n8881115 said:
You are adding 700 yards which would equate to roughly 7-8 strokes a round.

That's a stretch assumption I think, and the true ratings probably reflect it. I don't think I've seen a course that rated a stroke higher for every 100 yards. There's one near hear that's just under 1,000 longer from the blues than the whites, ~ 6300 and 7300 respectively. It rates 4.6 strokes higher from the blues. I actually play it better from a handicap standpoint from them. I'm no monster off the tee, but it opens up landing areas for tee shots a little so I hit more fairways, and the rough there really costs me.

My handicap has traveled well this year I think, but I'm with drumdog on unfamiliarity being the main factor when it doesn't. Just like how a good caddie can benefit you a few strokes, not having one and being unfamiliar can cost you a few pretty quickly. In my opinion at least. And like Matthew mentioned, blind landing areas can get me even using gps apps if I've never played it. A digital rendering or satellite image doesn't always translate perfectly.

The shorter courses you play might just have a layout that plays better to your strengths. If you struggle with that 4 iron approach there are 6200 yd courses that will force you to use it, and plenty that won't. I'm not a huge fan of that length of course if they don't. 'Eating a course up' with just the top and bottom of the bag all day gets old to me, and I honestly think it's not as true an indicator of skill level. So imo playing the 6900 course on occasion might make your handicap a little more honest in that case, unless it is just prohibitively long for you.

It's not a perfect system though.
 
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dduarte85;n8881424 said:
and then just killer lightning fast greens that take me 8 holes to even start to comprehend some kind of pace on them

The opposite of this bugs the daylights out of me (my score I mean, lol). The easiest rated course near me has epically slow greens and I just cannot wrap my head around how hard you have to actually hit putts until I'm well into the back nine. Just. Can't. Do it.
 
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