How Important Is Your Handicap to You?

I don’t have an official handicap for this year so I guess I’ll say ‘Not much’. I do put my scores in an app that spits out an estimate handicap number. I guess it’s something I hope to see go down and not up. It’s not something I obsess over though.

Consistent play is more my focus. If I’m striking the ball well, managing the courses correctly, and making putts. Everything else will take care of itself. So those are the things I’ve been focusing on this year.
 
It’s important from a development perspective. When I see my handicap drop, I know I’m progressing. That said, my handicap is not where I want it to be right now but I am happy with how I ended the season.
 
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This is the first year I've had an official handicap because of the Morgan Cup. I focused on getting better all year.

doubt I'll maintain it this year.
Interesting! Any reason why?
 
Dammit. Now I want to chase it again. :(
 
It is basically a goal setter for me and gives me a data baseline for where I am at in my game throughout the year. I have gone from 18 in the beginning of the year to as low as 10 this year, but now back up to slightly under 13. It is a revolving door sometimes and reflects the way I am playing.
 
When I made it to a single digit hc, it felt cool and important. I was sure at that point I was on my way to scratch. ;) Down went the hc. And then the golf gods cleared up my false expectations. Up up and away went my scores and hc. I still care at some level -- I have goals -- but stopped worrying about it. Enjoy your crazy up and down life handicap. I'm just going to play golf.
 
It really has little to no meaning and no use other than friendly small money games with buddies. I played in only one tournament this year where handicap was used and many years I don’t play in any handicapped tournaments. I like to keep track of the total number of rounds I play through the handicap system but my index doesn’t always correlate to how my game is progressing or regressing and often the monthly USGA index email is my only awareness on exactly what it is. Handicaps don’t come up often in social settings but if someone I haven’t played with before asks I avoid giving a specific answer. I’ll say it’s singe digits and try to leave it at that.
 
It's important to be only in the sense that I use it as a metric to see how I'm progressing. The only use of it for me is in a local capped golf league, and that league keeps its own handicap indices since most folks in it don't have official indices.
 
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.
 
not very. the tournies i've started to play in have their own HC system...and even then, i don't worry about what mine will be after i reach my minimum 3 events to get one.
 
I don’t really pay attention to it. I mostly play in gross events.
 
I’ve enjoyed it mostly to be able to keep it level in my annual buddies trip and as a way to track my progress but it doesn’t define me.

Since I now am running Arccos it’s an interesting thought of if I would keep an official….

I likely still will keep an official one as our cancelled Scotland trip will happen at some point, but after that who knows…

It has been good to see all the rounds played. That might be the best feature. For example, I shot an 88 as a 13.3 cap at the time on Gaylord Springs.

[ @JDax - that good enough for you? Editors note: the strong gin and tonic at the turn hampered my ability to being home the 40 on the front…]
 
I’ve never had an official handicap and have never had a need for one. I don’t compete against other players so handicap isn’t important to me at all
 
I didn't understand the point of having this at all if I didn't play in leagues or tournaments, but then I paid the 19.99 for it through Grint and I absolutely love keeping track of it. It just gives me a benchmark to chase. A competition within myself. I'm proud of how much I've been able to drop my handicap, it makes me play by the rules. It's been alot of fun. I will admit I do track my individual scores :eek:.
 
Since the advent of Arccos and now ShotScope, I've been more focused on strokes gained and improving my game that way. Before the hand injury I knew I had to work on my approach shots and my sand shots because of SG. My driving accuracy could also improve (which would then improve distance off the tee with any club since I tend to layup off shorter, narrower holes).

I would still submit scores, but unlike my Scottish friend who insists that a proper handicap requires you to submit all scores (I guess he isn't wrong) there are certainly days where I'm practicing or days when my wife and I just don't count scores. We focus on making good contact and having fun. When I first hurt my hand (playing with the Scottish friend who doesn't believe in lift, clean, and place or other things) I only wound up playing about 11 holes. There were subsequent rounds before finally getting the x-ray where I played in the 13-14 range and walked the rest with the wife.

On another note, I sometimes play matches against friends and we do not submit scores for those because of the conceded putts, etc. He drove the green on a short par 4, for example, and I put mine in the water. He had a moderate eagle putt and I was retee-ing my 3rd. I just conceded the hole. Looking at the scorecard for the Match Course or Ohoopee, I am not sure I would be submitting scores from there either.
 
For me it doesn’t mean too much. My friends and I play two man best ball a lot and we don’t handicap it as we think we know how to pair fair teams.

I have been chasing handicap last year and some of this year. However I just don’t have time to put in the 5 days of work a week I need to, to go from a 9/10 to a 3/4.

with the Grandaddy approaching I’ve been looking to just play my game of golf and let my handicap fall hopefully in an accurate representation of where my game is at.

however I do think I’m making strides in getting my cap lower. Removing penalties and making putts has me feeling like my cap could shoot down at anytime.
 
I’ve enjoyed it mostly to be able to keep it level in my annual buddies trip and as a way to track my progress but it doesn’t define me.

Since I now am running Arccos it’s an interesting thought of if I would keep an official….

I likely still will keep an official one as our cancelled Scotland trip will happen at some point, but after that who knows…

It has been good to see all the rounds played. That might be the best feature. For example, I shot an 88 as a 13.3 cap at the time on Gaylord Springs.

[ @JDax - that good enough for you? Editors note: the strong gin and tonic at the turn hampered my ability to being home the 40 on the front…]
Good enough…
 
IMO it is just a gauge to see how I am doing throughout the year. I know where it was when I took up golf again in the upper teens so was nice to get to where it is now and see the accomplishment. Changing home course next year so will see how it goes.
 
it's really not. In fact, I haven't kept a real cap in probably 5 years now.
 
It is important to me because I use it as a gage on how well I am playing. Plus, I play 5 times a week in a money game where everyone must have a HDCP to participate.
 
I never looked at my handicap as something that defined me as a golfer. I always used it to monitor my progress. I am not in search of a specific number, and if it goes up, I am not rushing to get it lower for optics or ego.
 
Handicap is important to me. I use it as the benchmark for my play and always strive to lower it. Doesn’t affect me outwardly when playing with friends or competitively. Then it’s just a number.
 
It matters to some extent in allowing friendly comps to be somewhat balanced. It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t handle well bad spells of golf or golf after injury or medical treatment. As an example, I’m just starting to play after knee replacement and my scores are higher than before. I’ve got 3 rounds 90+ and 2 9s at 49 and 50 that haven’t raised my cap even a tenth.

I still want to get back to a single digit. Preferably, under 8. Will I get there next year, I don’t know.
 
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