How Important Is Your Handicap to You?

not very important to me. In fact I've never had an official handicap until I read about the Grint on this forum and joined it so that I could get a real handicap. Before that I had used golfshot for years and it just gives a close approximation, nothing official. I really only play socially and almost always with the same 4some so it doesn't really matter. Maybe one of these days I'll be good enough to play in an actual tournament.
 
Much like your age....its just a number.
 
It would be interesting to see if you handicap/ability had any correlation to how much it mattered.
 
Vain or not, I am proud to have a single digit handicap.
I don't waive it around like a flag, but if someone asks me what it is, I will tell them.
The most important part of having the handicap is that it allows me to play in tournaments.
 
Kind of a weird question, but I think it might introduce some interesting discussions.

Is your handicap a badge of honor?
Is it something you don't like talking about?
Is it something you celebrate?
Does it annoy you?

What kind of impact does your handicap have on who you are as a golfer?

I established my handicap for our league. As the first round s came in, it was a big does of humble pie watch it climb. I knew I was a beginner so expected it to be high. But for a long time it just went up.

as I worked on my game it dropped. This stage was a huge point of pride for me. As I nearly have achieved my goal….bogey golfer.
However I’ve hit a plateau at 18.8. And actually have seen my current scores raise. So it’s only a matter of time before it goes up.
This is frustrating but part of the game. Time to get to work on taking the next step in my journey to improve.
 
My ego has never been attached to my handicap, though in the past I have used my index and my average score from my past 20 rounds to gauge improvement. I have found it did/does not necessarily indicate an improvement in skill, as there has been times in which I have felt I had improved, but my scores didn't reflect it. But ultimately golf is a game where score is the final measure at the end of the day.

I have hovered all year between a 0.5 and a 2 and haven't been able to get below zero, for some reason hadn't been able to drop lower despite having a great year in tournaments (about half my rounds have been tournament rounds this season, so possibly that could be a reason why the index is a little higher than in the past when I played a lot at home and almost no tournaments). I qualified for the LI Open, the MGA Pub Links- finished top 25, Finished top 30 in Long Island Mid-Am, qualified and finished top 30 in Metropolitan Golf Association Mid Am (at Friars Head), top 15 in NYC AM. And I sit in the top 40 of POY points in my local section despite missing July and August with injury. I am truly no a sandbagger and my home course is Bethpage.

I feel like I am a much better golfer than past two seasons (I have been as low as plus 2, but for some reason just couldn't get that low this year).
 
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I established my handicap for our league. As the first round s came in, it was a big does of humble pie watch it climb. I knew I was a beginner so expected it to be high. But for a long time it just went up.

as I worked on my game it dropped. This stage was a huge point of pride for me. As I nearly have achieved my goal….bogey golfer.
However I’ve hit a plateau at 18.8. And actually have seen my current scores raise. So it’s only a matter of time before it goes up.
This is frustrating but part of the game. Time to get to work on taking the next step in my journey to improve.
What a thrill though, with so much potential to improve!!

Do you have any plans to get better and goals to go along with it?
 
For me it's a measure of how I've recently been playing. Usually during the winter it goes up around a 6 and then comes back down. My low is a 2.6 so that is a small goal to get it lower than that to push myself to get better. I got close this years but stayed mostly around 2.8-3.3 for most of the summer.

I will say it's one thing that I take a little pride in the fact that my handicap is accurate. I don't miss putting low rounds in so no one can say I'm a sandbagger if I win a tournament. It does get a little frustrating at times though when there are 2-3 guys that I would never give strokes to and are in the 5-6 index range. I know very well that are as good or better than me and a couple other guys that are around my HC.
 
What a thrill though, with so much potential to improve!!

Do you have any plans to get better and goals to go along with it?

my biggest need for improvement is the tee box. I’ve got a mental bugaboo there. so it’s time to put in some dedicated practice and lessons for the driver.

I have been playing with 5W or 4i off the tee. But that’s a huge handicap in terms of distance given up and I can still flub them too.

The bright side of my poor tee game, is that I’ve had a lot of practice with my long approaches and scrambling. So lots of confidence there. when I put it all together, I can see the potential to drop my handicap again.
 
Used to be important. Not anymore. I don't even keep an official handicap anymore.
 
Its not important to me. Most handicaps are fictional on both sides anyway, Sandy Capper and Van A. Tee
 
It would be interesting to see if you handicap/ability had any correlation to how much it mattered.
I think there'd be some correlation. Kind of a meat of the curve of guys/gals really working to improve their game, if only because it's the easiest and most standard metric to base progress on. And like in responses here, common to set goals based on it. I know I had a couple that I could just about taste as I got close to them. Wanted it SO bad. Felt really rewarding to reach 'em too.
 
To me, it means little more than I belong to a club which calculates my index for me if I turn in cards.

Basically, it's for gambling since it's not low enough to get me into US Senior Amateur qualifiers.
And the old timers with whom I play don't exactly put the ranch deed on the line with each bet.

So I guess that it doesn't mean much. I play mostly for the fresh air and to hang out with my friends.
That doesn't mean that golf isn't important. It's very important in my way.
 
I never cared for handicap. I don't track it but I know where I fall into. I just hate how one low scoring round can drastically lower your handicap lol. I typically live in the mid 70's scoring range.

Also - if someone plays at one course very often, their scores are most likely consistently lower, which in most cases does not translate into other courses they've never played at.
This was definitely the case for me up until a few months ago. I played 99% of my rounds at my home course, and my handicap didn't travel well at all. It does create a "Home field advantage" when you've played hundreds upon hundreds of rounds at a course and know every nook, cranny and wrinkle of it like the back of your hand. It was kinda fun to see my handicap reach an all-time low, and it worked fine for our Saturday skins games where almost all the other guys all played the same course all the time too, but it sure wouldn't have helped me if I'd played in a handicapped competition anywhere else.

Our home club shut down in September pending a sale/ownership change and there's a lot of baggage attached to the transaction, so we're not sure when it will reopen. Now that we've started bouncing around playing other courses all the time, my handicap is more realistic.
 
I was actually just thinking about this the other day. Are used to care so much about it. Basically in terms of worry that it keeps going up or trying to make sure it stays at a certain point. I was basically just trying to get it low as possible. Only problem was I was doing it not because I want to see myself improve and get better but to show off. That led to a bunch of bad play

now I don’t really care about my handicap. I still keep one for tournaments that I get into every once in a while throughout the year. But I know what I can shoot/I am capable of. So whether it’s mid single digits or creeps up to mid teens, doesn’t really bother me
 
Not important to me at all. The only reason I keep one is for potential tournaments/events or wagers with friends. I generally know when I am playing well or not, and don't need a number to tell me that.
 
It doesn't matter a whole lot to me. I want it to be accurate. But, more import to me is gaining the skill where I enjoy the game and part of enjoying the game is playing in events where you are evenly matched and that is why an accurate cap matters to me.
 
I would say that it is somewhat important to me, like others said it is a good indicator of my skills. It does help me know if I have been improving in my game even if I may not feel like I have been. It also lets me know when I have not been playing so well. It is also useful when playing with others to make the rounds fair for some competition.
 
I've not tracked a handicap since pandemic but I believe I benefit from playing mostly a single course that I know well. My score jumps up on a new course where I don't know where to miss or struggle with green speed.

overall handicap is not important to me. what gets me excited is executing a shot well, then a hole, then a 9 and ....
 
Nope, a handicap isn't too important to me and I don't base my worth off of how I play golf. If I did, I'd be living in a burnt out husk of a vehicle under a bridge somewhere because my golf game sucks.

I've never carried a handicap because I don't play competitively. See above why I don't. And no, a handicap wouldn't help me in competitions. Some people have talent and rise to the challenge. Not me. I don't have talent.:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
I track it, but am not overly concerned about it. As it has lowered, my ability has definitely improved. Doesn't make me feel one way or the other. I used to think getting to single digits would be a huge deal, but now that I have got there, I don't feel any different. I am good at some areas of the game, not so good in others and want to continue improving in all of them.
 
I was very happy when I hit single digits, but a handicap is not something I chase. It is just an indicator of how I am playing and helps me focus on areas I can improve based on others with a similar HC.
 
It annoys me because I know I can play better. I just haven't been playing enough to become more consistent.
 
I am not embarrassed of a 16 handicap since I realize that is better than the vast majority of people I may play with normally. I use it exclusively for handicapping, and as a way to judge my progress.
 
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