Breaking 90 with an *

Went out last night to try and catch 18 before dark, playing as a single and walking. Tee'd off a little past 5 so was going to have plenty of time, but was more concerned with the wife being pissed if I ran too late. Was cruising around the front 9, where the course was pretty empty so I wasn't getting hung up by any groups. There was a pair in a cart (CPO today) coming off the green on 9 when I came around the corner so figured I would have to play through one group at worst (parking lot was pretty empty). Course has been super wet as of late since we've had record rainfall this year (one of the 2 courses being closed indefinitely until the water levels recede).

I catch up to the pair on the tee of 11 where I played with them on a Par 5. As we were coming down the fairway I saw a foursome on the Par 3 in front of us so now I start to wonder how I'm going to make this work as I don't have all night to watch these guys hack around from behind, and trying to pass a group when you are walking and are a 20 handicap is never a fun situation. So I decide the smartest thing to do is to skip the Par 3 12th, and the Par 4 13th, as the foursome is barely off the tee box with a couple guys as I come up to the box.

So I go jogging down the path to the Par 3 14th to get around both groups, so I can make a decent time and get home before the wife severs my week night golf rounds. The layout of this course puts the Par 4 13th at almost the back of the property, so there was no way I was going to be able to loop back around and play the 12th & 13th again. I finish up the Par 5 17th and Par 4 18th with some of the best up and downs of my life, thinking I probably beat my personal best of 93, by a couple of stroke, but not expecting what I actually shot.

The way GHIN defines scoring an incomplete round is:
The Par 3 12th is the easiest hole on the course and the Par 4 13th is the 4th hardest hole on the course, so with that being said and a 22 handicap, my scores would be an X-4 (Bogey) on 12 and an X-6 (Double) on 13. This would put my score at 86. I was talking to my buddies when I left, trying to see how best to justify all of this, seeing as I've never made worse than a double on 12 but have also par'd in more than enough time. However I have had a couple of blow up +4's on 13 before, and only recently have started posting pars/bogeys on the hole.

All things considered, this was some of the best golf I've ever played in my life consistently and luckily my misses fit very well with pin locations today. Left a lot of things short off the green, that still gave myself easy chips and a lot of 3ft to 6ft clean up putts. Usually my misses compound quickly and I will +4 or triple three or four holes lately that keep me up in the 90s.

Would you post it as an 86, or post it as an 89 (taking worst case scenario into play)?

Not post it at all. Played as a single and as you put it an "*". Take the fact that you played well and build off that to get an official score your next time out.

The number posted to GHIN is (sometimes) not an actual score. I would not say I broke 90 (or 80 or broke par) based on an incomplete round or based on an ESC-adjusted score. If you say you broke 90 that means you played every hole, putted out and the actual stroke-play score was 89 or better.

Keep "ESC-adjusted score" for typing numbers into the app. Your actual score was "79 for 16 holes" or whatever it worked out to for the holes you actually played.

If you’re going to post it, you would post it as a 4 on 12 and a 6 on 13 which I believe would put your round at 86 you said. It has been pointed out that you shouldn’t post as a single, but that’s a controversial subject. If you’re playing in a lot of serious competitions that are handicapped, you probably shouldn’t post it. If you are just using it to track your progress and you play a lot of rounds as a single, post it. I think that’s the general consensus.

At any rate I wouldn’t claim it as an 86 for sure, but congrats on a likely 86! It’s about like hitting a HIO on a re-tee. Sure it went in on one shot from the tee and is a helluva par, but it’s not a 1 on the scorecard.

Smiter said:

It’s about like hitting a HIO on a re-tee. Sure it went in on one shot from the tee and is a helluva par, but it’s not a 1 on the scorecard.

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That's a perfect analogy. Although the scoundrels I play golf with would probably bill a round of drinks to my account anyway ;-)

Another analogy is, it's like playing 9 holes today and shooting 43, then another 9 holes next week and shooting 43. The handicap system says you post that as an 86 "combined" score but you didn't shoot 86 because you never played the full round.

P.S. No controversy about not posting as a single. It's not allowed in the USGA system. That's like saying it's controversial that you have to add a penalty stroke when you take an unplayable lie drop. It's not controversial, no matter how many people ignore the rule and cheat instead by "giving themselves" a free drop.

If you're playing solo, it's considered a practice round and does not count toward your HC. Also when you post a score into the system when playing with a group, you have to remember to adjust your score. Any holes you went over your ESC allowance have to be adjusted before you enter your score. It doesn't mean you "shot" that on that day. It means that's your adjusted score for that date. That's what gets entered to keep people from sandbagging. No blowup holes allowed. i.e. My ESC allowance is 8. So if I'm not on the green by 7 I'll pick up and take an E8.

If you play a lot of solo rounds and want to at least keep track of your progress, get something like Game Golf or Arccos. BTW Game Golf Pro comes out this month and you won't have to tag your clubs anymore.

the solos round is a bunch of crap. For that one thing I would count any round solo. Reason being is because playing solo isn't at all any performance related rules infraction. The ideology about solo rounds stems from sandbagging. When one is honestly trying to play well and lower their cap, is the opposite of sandbagging so the ideology means nothing. Posting solo is not like taking a mulligan or fluffing a lie and moving balls or taking drop and stroke or whatever else have us. Its not performance related like those other penalties are. I wouldn't and don't worry one bit about posting solo. Its stupid not to imo.

That said, not finishing holes and using the default scoring system is imo the same as esc holes. Neither imo can count towards actual score. That stuff is only for handicap purposes. I could never accept my best round as one in which I didnt finish every hole because truth is we never can really know what we would have done on any those holes. I could have played one my best rounds and yet had a quad and a triple mixed in with a bunch of pars and even a couple/few birds. There is no way (no matter how well Ive played) that I canever be certain what I would have done on the hole/s I missed. Its not possible to know and especially being a mid and high cappers we all know how any given holes can turn disasterous even right smack in the midst of our best golf. Its happened a million times over. So Im sorry to bust your bubble but for me for myself I couldn't say was my best round. I mean I can feel great about it and know I played some my best golf today but I can never claim a new PB on it. But id still be more than happy about the round.

Opinions noted, but coming from a guy that doesn't ever play competition golf, and posts merely to keep track of my progress I think i'll take it for what it is. If my game somehow came into form enough to play competitions than I could see the point, but we definitely aren't there right now.

Smiter said:

It’s about like hitting a HIO on a re-tee. Sure it went in on one shot from the tee and is a helluva par, but it’s not a 1 on the scorecard.

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This is a good analogy, but I have to question the mindset of people who would still consider those HIO's

I guess in the end maybe it's my own fault for not keeping a running total to know what was going on. But if I was doing that in the first place I probably would self implode, which is why I quit counting up everything until the very end. I knew I had a good round going but wasn't trying to think about it. Either way I don't think it would have changed the tactic, as golf is enjoyable to me when I can get around quickly, but I'm not looking to put other groups out because I'm playing as a solo either so I just go on by and do my own thing.

If I rode in a cart it would be easier to swing back around and make up these holes, but cart golf just isn't enjoyable to me.

Just remember, the purpose of golf is to play and have fun. It's not to generate numbers for the handicap computer. I've met plenty of people who get so focused on their handicap index they lose sight of the basic appeal of the game.

Interesting. I always took it that if you skipped a hole you took the maximum score possible based on handicap. So if I'm a sub 9 I believe it is, the max I can get for ESC purposes is a double, so I would put down a double for all of those holes. As a 22, I would have thought you had to take an 8 on all of those holes skipped.

If not, how does that have any prevention on you having a horrible round and just not playing the last few holes to get a better score?

cbaker2882 said:

Interesting. I always took it that if you skipped a hole you took the maximum score possible based on handicap. So if I'm a sub 9 I believe it is, the max I can get for ESC purposes is a double, so I would put down a double for all of those holes. As a 22, I would have thought you had to take an 8 on all of those holes skipped.

If not, how does that have any prevention on you having a horrible round and just not playing the last few holes to get a better score?

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You've missed the main point. None of this stuff "gets you a better score". It simply affect the NUMBER YOU TYPE INTO GHIN.

If you've taken 85 strokes to play 15 holes so you just skip the last three, you didn't "score" 85. You have no score because you didn't finish the round.

And if you're wondering why the handicap system requires posting "par plus any handicap strokes" rather than ESC max for unplayed holes, it is so people don't post an extra bunch of ESC max holes to artificially inflate their handicap.

Et Tu Brute? said:

You've missed the main point. None of this stuff "gets you a better score". It simply affect the NUMBER YOU TYPE INTO GHIN.

If you've taken 85 strokes to play 15 holes so you just skip the last three, you didn't "score" 85. You have no score because you didn't finish the round.

And if you're wondering why the handicap system requires posting "par plus any handicap strokes" rather than ESC max for unplayed holes, it is so people don't post an extra bunch of ESC max holes to artificially inflate their handicap.

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I just meant better scores for handicap purposes. No need for all caps. But I guess it’s fighting sandbagging instead of hurting yourself with a vanity cap so that makes sense.

cbaker2882 said:

I just meant better scores for handicap purposes. No need for all caps. But I guess it’s fighting sandbagging instead of hurting yourself with a vanity cap so that makes sense.

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Well don't get me started on the basic silliness of the USGA handicap system. All those measures designed to eliminate sandbagging and vanity 'capping yet they let everyone type in any number they like on GHIN. Why bother to do old-fashioned sandbagging stuff like deliberately 3-putting the last three greens when you can simply play your usual game and add three strokes to the number you type in?

I wouldn't post it at all - its an incomplete round and played solo.

ShanksaloT said:

I wouldn't post it at all - its an incomplete round and played solo.

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I agree.

These forums seem to have a lot of participants who treat "handicap" as some sort of analytical tool to quantify their golf ability. Given that it was designed to do no such thing, they'd be much better off tracking some useful statistics and leaving the handicap to its stated purpose of allowing golfers of different abilities to compete. It works somewhat OK for that purpose but it stinks as a game-analysis tool.

When viewed as a way of letting past competitive rounds determine how many strokes to get or give in future competition rounds, things like the no-solo-round rule, ESC and the other stuff people complain about make perfect sense.

Et Tu Brute? said:

I agree.

These forums seem to have a lot of participants who treat "handicap" as some sort of analytical tool to quantify their golf ability. Given that it was designed to do no such thing, they'd be much better off tracking some useful statistics and leaving the handicap to its stated purpose of allowing golfers of different abilities to compete. It works somewhat OK for that purpose but it stinks as a game-analysis tool.

When viewed as a way of letting past competitive rounds determine how many strokes to get or give in future competition rounds, things like the no-solo-round rule, ESC and the other stuff people complain about make perfect sense.

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Exactly - a handicap shouldnt be the sole measuring stick for how you perform....

For me, tracking how many fairways hit, putts and GIR helped me improve alot more when compared to just focusing on HC...