Are You Better than Your Handicap?

If people do hit their handicap or better every round, their handicap is wrong. Your index is 96% of the average differential of your 10 best scores out of your last 20 scores. So if you have a run of scores better than your handicap, the handicap will go down. So, you should shoot your handicap or better approximately 25% of the time. If you do more than than consistently, there is something wrong with your handicap. Oh yeah, while on the subject, use course rating to determine if you "shot your handicap". For example if the course rating is 67.8 but par is 72 and your course handicap is 10 you must shoot 78 just to equal your handicap not 82.

The slope rating is key. That is why my handicap is going to go back up when I move to the Senior tees permanently. Heck maybe I will pan our around a 20 or 25 which if that is what it is, then so be it.
 
For my last eleven rounds, the front side and back side scores were one or two shots different except once a 35-41 when I got really tired on the last 5 holes. Not all the scores were good but they were consistent. DD, The best way to cure that is you just have to play more away courses. :golf: But that's my solution for everything...play more golf!

Exactly right. It is easy to become comfortable on your home course and you know exactly what clubs to hit from where. This is why handicap is only partly an indicator of how good a player you are. I think it was Trevino that said that the most difficult thing for any golfer to do is to go out and shoot a great score on a golf course he or she had never seen before. Or something like that.

I agree guys, sadly I play somewhere around 30 to 35% of my golf elsewhere, it just seems I never really look at the trouble at those courses until I have been in those areas a time or two. I will not miss on the side you must miss on until I am hit in the head with it. Hopefully I can begin to think course stragedy and management more that just think how happy I am to be playing a different course.
 
Many times I have shot a 9 in -1,E,+1,+2 and then the opposite 9 +8,+9,+10. SO frustrating!

I've even done it when playing 36 holes on two different courses. And what's worse is that the 9 I play bad, is usually just a whole bunch of bogeys and maybe a double. One small mistake on every hole. UGH!
 
The slope rating is key. That is why my handicap is going to go back up when I move to the Senior tees permanently. Heck maybe I will pan our around a 20 or 25 which if that is what it is, then so be it.

Agreed, slope is used to determine the differential for a score so the handicap index is based on slope. But then slope is based on course rating compared to bogie rating of a course and represents the relative difficulty of the course. Each set of tees is a different course to the USGA. If you shoot about the same scores on the senior tees as another set of tees, your handicap will probably go up by about the same amount as the difference in course ratings between the two sets of tees. It won't be exactly the same amount because of the difference in slopes but the difference in course ratings will give a very close approximation unless the slopes are wildly different.

More simply, if the senior tees are rated 3 shots easier and you shoot the same scores from there, your handicap will go up by about 3.

My gut instinct after reading a lot of your posts, your handicap will GO DOWN just because you work so hard at your game.
 
Exactly right. It is easy to become comfortable on your home course and you know exactly what clubs to hit from where. This is why handicap is only partly an indicator of how good a player you are. I think it was Trevino that said that the most difficult thing for any golfer to do is to go out and shoot a great score on a golf course he or she had never seen before. Or something like that.

I think I can attest to this. I feel like I can play better than my HDCP but if you look at my rounds throughout the year not once have I played the same course in consecutive rounds. I could go on a 5 round stretch sometimes where I haven't played the same course within those 5 rounds. I guess it's both a curse and a blessing that we have all the options that we have around here.
 
I am nowhere near as good as my handicap right now and it's embarassing to say I am a 6 handicap. I just have lost my swing.
 
I think (KNOW) I'm better than my 17 GHIN. It's not front 9/back 9 differences, but just a few blow-up holes per round that kill my scores. I can go for 3 - 4 pars, a boggie here and there, then have a double and a triple because of a dumb error or brain fart. I should be playing no worse than boggie golf.
 
I agree guys, sadly I play somewhere around 30 to 35% of my golf elsewhere, it just seems I never really look at the trouble at those courses until I have been in those areas a time or two. I will not miss on the side you must miss on until I am hit in the head with it. Hopefully I can begin to think course stragedy and management more that just think how happy I am to be playing a different course.

I'm in the same boat Dawg. Recently I have been playing different courses that I am unfamiliar with and sometimes my ego comes into play, instead of laying up I go for it. Or I am unfamiliar with the greens and have an awful putting day. I think I need to slow my game down on course I've never played before and take into consideration all factors, wind, greens (especially elevated greens), fairways, bunkers.

I think my iron play is better than my handicap but golf is all about a complete consistent game. My wedge game and driver have been struggling as of my last 5-6 rounds. I need to put it all together everyday if I want to bring my handicap down to a solid number.
 
I can play better than my 12 cap, but have a couple of blow up holes per round which do me in. If not, would be somewhere between 8 and 10.
 
It seems my handicap is kept in the mid teens by about 4 holes per round and they vary as to which hole.....I'll play a front nine of 42 with 2 "snowmen" on the card....stuff like that really irritates me too.

:angry::banghead:
 
I think (KNOW) I'm better than my 17 GHIN. It's not front 9/back 9 differences, but just a few blow-up holes per round that kill my scores. I can go for 3 - 4 pars, a boggie here and there, then have a double and a triple because of a dumb error or brain fart. I should be playing no worse than boggie golf.

Actually if you are playing to a 17, you ARE playing bogey golf, Right? :D
 
where do i even start...Well to start it off i can say that if tournaments only took your score from your best 9 holes i would be close to a scratch golfer lol. Two rounds recently really jump out at me. One round i was 8 over after the first 6 holes and i ended up finishing the round at 10 over. Another round, about a week ago, i finished even par on the front 9 and ended up going 6 over on the back. Hopefully one day soon ill be able to put two 9s together
 
I think (KNOW) I'm better than my 17 GHIN. It's not front 9/back 9 differences, but just a few blow-up holes per round that kill my scores. I can go for 3 - 4 pars, a boggie here and there, then have a double and a triple because of a dumb error or brain fart. I should be playing no worse than boggie golf.

the dreaded 7's come in bunches and will jack up the scorecard real fast.

Like me on the par 5 at Beckett, sitting right in front of the water in 2, I send a hosel rocket straight right OB, then take a drop and dribble that shot into the water....7 baby!!
 
I'd like to think I'm better than my oob index but number's don't lie. I'm pretty consistent when comparing front to back 9 scores. Like other folks have mentioned in the forum, I think I need to stay focused and play it hole by hole.
 
I'm one of those people that have a few blow up holes along the way. Its usually from errant tee shots. I guess thats why I tend to do well in tournaments since I pretty much leave my driver in the bag for those. I used to be a 2 so I'd like to think there is some good golf left in me if I can work on my consistency.
 
Actually if you are playing to a 17, you ARE playing bogey golf, Right? :D

Not really. If he is playing to a 17, then about 75% of his rounds are going to be worse than that.
 
EXCELLENT THREAD!!!! I don't know how many of you have seen the fairy files thread but I am on fair way files. I have figured out that I have between 6 and 9 blow up holes a round. I thought par 3s were my weak point but apparently its the opposite, par 5s kill me. Its never the same holes on a give course and its never the same length of the hole (par 3, 4, or 5) when comparing different courses. I have to figure out a way to get out of my own head I guess. I believe I'm better than my handicap suggests but I always tend to lose it somewhere along the way. Once I stop caring, the game seems to come back to me. Any suggestions on how to NOT get to that point???
 
Actually if you are playing to a 17, you ARE playing bogey golf, Right? :D

Well, maybe technically. What I consider bogey golf is 18 over or less. I have a lot of scores, this year, at 90+. GHIN takes into consideration slope and course rating, so those over 18 scores count as less. I'm counting actual strokes, not GHIN strokes.
 
Funny thing about blowup holes. If I didn't have any, I would easily be a single digit handicap!

But the reason I am over 20 is because I do have blowup holes, so my handicap accurately reflects that. "If I can eliminate the blowup holes" is a lot easier than actually eliminating them.
 
Funny thing about blowup holes. If I didn't have any, I would easily be a single digit handicap!

But the reason I am over 20 is because I do have blowup holes, so my handicap accurately reflects that. "If I can eliminate the blowup holes" is a lot easier than actually eliminating them.

Yep. I can shoot bogies and pars most of my round, but I just tend to have a couple doubles and a few blowups (7-8's) that murder my score. It's not for any other reason than I just don't have the on-course abilities to eliminate them yet. Usually blowups are from a combo of bad tee shots and a mistake or two around the green. Doubles are often from a bad approach shot or fat/duff/thin shot. I also think that if I could get my sand game better, I'd drop a couple of those doubles. Then again, if I just didn't hit it in the sand hehe. In the end, I just need more time and experience playing the game. If you didn't count 5-6 holes on my card I'd be an easy 5-7 points lower. Then again, most of us could say that :)
 
Lately I feel as if I'm worse than my handicap. Haven't hit the ball well lately. I don't know what it is. My tee shots are horrible and I can't seem to putt! I just need to practice practice practice. I know I'm like everyone else... If I only didn't have those 2-3 bad holes I'd have scored good.... Yeah Yeah I know if my aunt had a **** she would be my uncle to!
 
I like to think so. but my scores don't reflect it. LoL.

most times I'm pretty even from front nine & back nine. sometimes though, I put together good 2-4 holes. then normally a blow up hole that gives back the strokes.
 
For whatever reason, I always start the first 2-3 holes going 1 or 2 over consistently until I get into a groove. From there I will likely have a few blow up holes here and there due to putting failures, or other poor shots. Honestly I think if I didn't start poorly I'd prolly be able to shave a few strokes from my cap.
 
I usually just "loose IT" for about a 4 hole stretch lately. My swing just falls apart on 2 holes, then I spend the next two trying to patch it back together. I usually do a decent job then of playing well since I have to focus much harder and get myself back in the groove. The other day I was playing in a weekly skins game, completely lost the swing and took a 7 on what should be an easy birdie hole with a 3 iron in the lake off the tee, scrambled for par on the par 3, pull hooked the drive on 9 into the boonies; then received bogey on 10 and 11 trying to figure it out.

I then proceeded to par the rest of the back nine and ended up taking 12 of the 18 skins after a long push that I won on the 13th. 43-37 on a par 70.

I have flashes of the game I had back in October and November where I was shooting in the 70s every round, with a low of a 1 under 71, but I haven't been able to find that game again this year after I tried switching irons in January.
 
I play like a scratch golfer on 14 holes and an 18 handicapper on the other other 4 (normally 2 bad holes a side). Very frustrating - makes match play with my golf buddies fun though
 
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