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Self declared "handicap"..?

JoeyJoeJo

JoeyJoeJo

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I've not got an official handicap yet but have signed up for a couple of events at work where I need to declare something and could do with some advice...

I've been loosely collecting scores for the past few rounds (couple of mulligans (ok, maybe more than a couple!), couple of gimmes) but I'm worried about going too far one way or the other.

I can put together a few good holes (back 9 of 42 last week with 3 birdies) but I can also have runs of 6s, 7s and 8s.

Course is par 70, SSS 68, recent rounds have been:
98
97
97
100
87
95
90
91
88

What are the thoughts on what to declare without looking like a chump/bandit...?
 
JoeyJoeJo said:
I've not got an official handicap yet but have signed up for a couple of events at work where I need to declare something and could do with some advice...

I've been loosely collecting scores for the past few rounds (couple of mulligans (ok, maybe more than a couple!), couple of gimmes) but I'm worried about going too far one way or the other.

I can put together a few good holes (back 9 of 42 last week with 3 birdies) but I can also have runs of 6s, 7s and 8s.

Course is par 70, SSS 68, recent rounds have been:
98
97
97
100
87
95
90
91
88

What are the thoughts on what to declare without looking like a chump/bandit...?
Click to expand...

I would say that since youre last few rounds have been pretty good, a 22 would not be out of line. The average for the 9 rounds is 23.6.
 
fupresti said:
I would say that since youre last few rounds have been pretty good, a 22 would not be out of line. The average for the 9 rounds is 23.6.
Click to expand...

I agree with a 22 based on the lowest 5 rounds.
 
One thing to remember is your index is your shooting potential, rather than your average. Its something overlooked at times.
 
If I was having to go off of that, I would say roughly 22, but if the slope was fairly high at your home course it could go either way.

You can sign up for oobgolf or another simialar service and enter all of your scores you have. That would give you an unofficial handicap.
 
The average of your 4 best rounds is roughly 19 over par (par 70) and with a slope of 68 I'd say 21/22 is probably a safe bet.
 
Just find a place, like oob or whatever and enter your scores and it will give you a handicap or use a golf app on your phone.
 
Thanks all, I was thinking 22 but didn't want to make assumptions

JB said:
One thing to remember is your index is your shooting potential, rather than your average. Its something overlooked at times.
Click to expand...

^^^^
This is good info I didn't have before, thanks!
 
If they are all at the same place, then enter them into something like Easy Scorecard if you are on android and it will calculate your handicap, or sign up to the Todays Golfer score tracker and that will do it as well - I put a number of rounds into both and they both came back with the same handicap

Easy scorecard is good but you have to enter all the course details so if you only play one course you only need to set up the course once but for multiple courses it can get a bit tedious hence why I suggested the other option
 
22 is what came to my mind like many others.


THPing on Tapatalk
 
JB said:
One thing to remember is your index is your shooting potential, rather than your average. Its something overlooked at times.
Click to expand...

This^^^^
 
I would say you could comfortably say 21/22 and not feel slighted either way


Tapa Slice
 
I'm not sure there is enough information. It appears that your handicap under CONGU could be much higher than 22 for those scores if those scores are properly adjusted for CONGU. As I read it, the most you can count in the handicap calculation on a hole is double bogie. The system also differs from the USGA in that every score counts toward your handicap after establishing a handicap with the first three scores. And the lower SSS of 68 would cause a handicap to be higher as well.

I don't know much about CONGU but it is fun trying to learn.
 
Lets give him 20 so his ego is not hurt and also something to go for :)
*remember, like JB said, handicap/index is what you are capable of not your average.... based on last 10 best out of 20 (or last 5 best out of 10)
 
nicedivot said:
Lets give him 20 so his ego is not hurt and also something to go for :)
*remember, like JB said, handicap/index is what you are capable of not your average.... based on last 10 best out of 20 (or last 5 best out of 10)
Click to expand...

Not correct, I think he is under the CONGU system in Scotland? If so, his system is not much like our system at all. Theirs does start as an average of three adjusted scores then the handicap is adjusted after every round. So it is not based on 10 of 20, every score counts and it is an average, at least in the beginning. As I stated above, IF his scores are properly adjusted, his handicap could be somewhere around 25-27. Part of it would depend on order that the scores are posted as well. There is not really enough information to choose a handicap for him. I think in that situation, I would take the score cards to the golf pro and ask him/her what a fair HC would be.
 
Sign up for Golfshot on the Computer, its free and then you can enter those scores and it will give you a reasonable guess at a handicap.

You could do the same with OOB
 
Lefty78 said:
Not correct, I think he is under the CONGU system in Scotland? If so, his system is not much like our system at all. Theirs does start as an average of three adjusted scores then the handicap is adjusted after every round. So it is not based on 10 of 20, every score counts and it is an average, at least in the beginning. As I stated above, IF his scores are properly adjusted, his handicap could be somewhere around 25-27. Part of it would depend on order that the scores are posted as well. There is not really enough information to choose a handicap for him. I think in that situation, I would take the score cards to the golf pro and ask him/her what a fair HC would be.
Click to expand...

You're correct Lefty that the handicap would need to be calculated using the CONGU system, based first on an adjusted score for each of the first 3 rounds (most you can claim on each hole is 2 over your par for that hole), then adjust using a set formula after each subsequent qualifying round. There's a decent explaination of the system here:- http://www.mygolfexperience.com/golf/uk/golf-handicap.asp

Given those initial scores and the course SSS of 68 (SSS - Standard scratch score - score you'd expect a scratch golfer to make) I'd put your initial handicap closer to 28 but your more recent scores would bring that down, so probably more like 22 - 23 now.
 
I had already signed up for online tracker but wasn't using it for handicap, just scores for my benefit.

I've now added all the scores for handicap purposes and it comes up with 21

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These were less than formal scores (with a few mulligans and preferred lies thrown in :D ) so I don't think it's being too cheeky to go for 22 on friday.
Or is that taking liberties..??
 
I would say you could probably get away with 22, especially if there are the odd shots you hadn't counted - I would suggest if you want a more accurate handicap then you need to be completely honest with your scores, but for a start, 22 is reasonable
 
Yes, that's why I hadn't ticked these for tracking, the intention was to do medals only for handicap and keep the casual games casual. My head tends to go down and I beat myself up for a few bad holes, I'm more likely to keep going out if I can write off a couple as opposed to religious tracking and recording 120!
These are my first rounds in about 12 years so still settling in to it again.

Thanks all for the input :)
 
20-25. Somewhere in the range sounds about right.
 
Thanks all :)

Was given 24 and shot stableford 27 so didn't play to my potential but did score 4 points at one hole which was satisfying!
 
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