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Maximum Score on a Hole

TripleF

TripleF

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2017
Messages
252
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Location
Littleton, NC
Handicap
15.9
Unfortunately, with the group of golfers I play with, a maximum score on a hole happens quite frequently! Since we all do maintain a handicap we seem to frequently deal with this issue. Our handicaps vary from a 15 to a 26!

I believe we should play out each hole completely and then adjust our final recorded score using the USGA Equitable Stroke Control rules . . . but I'm not sure. But we don't! If we did, our pace of play would shoot up and I have a feeling our club members would lynch us!! Hahahaha!

I'm a 19 handicap so I believe my hole maximum per USGA is a 7. BUT if my handicap slips to a 20 my maximum goes to a 8 per hole! Whatever the "par" is on a hole doesn't matter. This seems stupid to us. Triple bogey seems more rational.

How do you all handle this? What should we be doing to keep the pace of play reasonable and also be fair.
 
I typically play until I hit my max strokes and pick up at that point. If it’s competition I play out and post ESC.
 
We adjust using the USGA Equitable Stroke Adjustment.
 
Depends on who I'm playing with but I prefer max triple bogey, some groups prefer double par as the max
 
In the groups I play in it depends on the situation. Some groups we have matches and we just pick up whne we are out of the hole and take an X on the hole and mark our esc score next to it

In the other groups it's all stroke play and we mark the actual score then adjust post round before entering hdcp score. Of playing for a hdcp maxin out at triple bogey isn't accurate. Especially in the 10+ range. A fitter item to consider is whether your hdcp is actually the course hdcp. You maybe a 19 but for the course you are playing it could be higher or even lower thus changing what your max score is if you end up in the 20+ group.
 
For practical purposes; we use ESC (Enough!..Stop Counting!). If there is a beverage, or a few bucks on the line, we count them all. In match play it doesn't come up.
 
emart2173 said:
In the groups I play in it depends on the situation. Some groups we have matches and we just pick up whne we are out of the hole and take an X on the hole and mark our esc score next to it

In the other groups it's all stroke play and we mark the actual score then adjust post round before entering hdcp score. Of playing for a hdcp maxin out at triple bogey isn't accurate. Especially in the 10+ range. A fitter item to consider is whether your hdcp is actually the course hdcp. You maybe a 19 but for the course you are playing it could be higher or even lower thus changing what your max score is if you end up in the 20+ group.
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Your comment on the course handicap is excellent but we are always paying on the same course. I see your handicap is quite low (by my standards!!) so when you rarely have a 10+ score on a hole doesn't happen too often so your pace of play probably isn't slow. But for us, probably 1/2 the holes we have at least one person 10+ so our pace of play would just piss members off if we played it out! Hahaha! Plus, at about the double bogey point I know I lose concentration and just want the pain to end!!!!
 
TripleF said:
Your comment on the course handicap is excellent but we are always paying on the same course. I see your handicap is quite low (by my standards!!) so when you rarely have a 10+ score on a hole doesn't happen too often so your pace of play probably isn't slow. But for us, probably 1/2 the holes we have at least one person 10+ so our pace of play would just piss members off if we played it out! Hahaha! Plus, at about the double bogey point I know I lose concentration and just want the pain to end!!!!
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While I have a lower hdcp I still have a blow up hole or two and many of the guys I play with range in hdcp from 9-20+ and there are many holes with 1-2 people have 8+ on the hole. While high scores can have an effect on pace play but there is also whether the group or groups on the course are playing ready golf.

I get the loss of concentration after a certain point and was there at one point when I first started but then I focused on trying to reduce the amount of strokes at that point
 
dazeedmonds said:
I typically play until I hit my max strokes and pick up at that point. If it’s competition I play out and post ESC.
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Same here. Competition meaning any sort of stroke play competition, though my buddies and I usually play match when we go head to head just for this reason.
 
With my groups (we usually have 12 guys), its either triple or double par (depending on handicap/index). We always have money matches so most play out. That is only adjusted if we are starting to lag behind the group in front of us.
 
For me it depends on the situation, but mainly in my weekly mens league we count all strokes, I have seen some guys pick up after 8 strokes, I personally never have, and have had a few 10's scattered here and there. But very rarely do I go above triple bogey to begin with.
 
ESC has me stopping at double bogey max
 
Max I can post is a 7 with my handicap so I tend to pick up when one of those holes occurs. No reason to let the misery drag on when others are waiting.
 
Once I hit double par I concede that the hole has won. I find it much easier to forget about a hole that I've picked up on and just move on to the next. The only exception I have is when I'm on a course that cost me upwards of $150 to play. At those prices I'm putting the ball in the hole, psyche be damned!
:banghead:
 
ESC depends on what the players course handicap is for the course they are playing at. If you are a 19, you would need to check what your course handicap is, it could be a 20 and if so, your max ESC is now an 8 instead of a 7....

That really only matters for people playing tougher courses that have handicaps that end in 8-9 (8,9, 18,19, 28, 29). In friendly play if I play until I hit my max (currently 7) and then will usually pick up (hopefully this doesn't happen often). In tournament stroke play I keep going until the ball is holed. Last year i made an 8 and a 10 in tournaments. Not fun, but it happens to even the best of us (I am definitely not the best of us).
 
My group of friends all play double par. I personally play all my shots and adjust at the end. I notice a lot of my friends who don’t get an official ghin tend to pick up post double par and are proud they broke 90 with an 88-89 which is a little annoying but is what is.


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I play every hole out but I'm also rarely hitting ESC, which for me is a double. I also play quick though, my solo leisurely pace walking is 2:25 for 18 holes (if nobody is in front of me of course)

For a high caper I would say pick the ball up anytime your out of the hole unless you have a chance for a low round or a PB and are just duffing it one hole.
 
pandapicks said:
My group of friends all play double par. I personally play all my shots and adjust at the end. I notice a lot of my friends who don’t get an official ghin tend to pick up post double par and are proud they broke 90 with an 88-89 which is a little annoying but is what is.
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I believe that is what gets me too!! I'm trying to follow the rules and some of our group REALLY ignore the rules (we don't et so from their perspective it doesn't matter!). But when they are talking about their great score when I know the picked up at a double bogey and even then didn't count every stroke they had made . . . it just pisses me off!! My problem really . . . not theirs I know!
 
In the group I play, "maxipad" is triple bogey ... I don't care what anyone writes on the card unless there is money on the table. In the very rare, and I mean very rare, times I play competition based on stroke I count them all.

I golf to relax, enjoy the day, and your company, don't really care what the score is ... if that is not good enough, then we would not make good golf buddies.
 
dazeedmonds said:
I typically play until I hit my max strokes and pick up at that point. If it’s competition I play out and post ESC.
Click to expand...

Good way to go. In our skins group we play for points, so everyone has to play out every hole, but when just playing and posting a score you can just go your max to save time.
 
Normally just finish out all holes, my max is double so it is pretty easy to hit that. If the round isn't have a bet or need to finish sometimes I pick up or just turn and aim my ball at my golf cart to make myself feel better. All the same in the end but I always enter my round with ESC max fixed the way it should be handicap wise.
 
I normally play the hole out and observe ESC when I post after the round.
 
TripleF said:
I believe that is what gets me too!! I'm trying to follow the rules and some of our group REALLY ignore the rules (we don't et so from their perspective it doesn't matter!). But when they are talking about their great score when I know the picked up at a double bogey and even then didn't count every stroke they had made . . . it just pisses me off!! My problem really . . . not theirs I know!
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Yea same here. In end doesn’t matter but I just can’t help with the occasional eye roll when adding up the score card.

If no betting it doesn’t matter. I just don’t like the chest thumping of the Great round when that score should have a few **** next to the number.


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ChristopherKee said:
I play every hole out but I'm also rarely hitting ESC, which for me is a double. I also play quick though, my solo leisurely pace walking is 2:25 for 18 holes (if nobody is in front of me of course)

For a high caper I would say pick the ball up anytime your out of the hole unless you have a chance for a low round or a PB and are just duffing it one hole.
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Do you often find yourself being able to play with no one in front at all? You must be playing weekday rounds solo since that would never happen around me in the north east.


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