New handicap is killing me

[Wormkiller]

Joined a private club about 5 weeks ago, played my three rounds to get an official handicap scoring 92, 100 and 102 and I’ve been given a handicap of 13. The course is tough (73/132) so my playing handicap is 15 when I play the course, but I reckon it’s about 10 lower than my actual ability, at least.

Played in my first stableford comp on the weekend and came dead last with a miserable and embarrassing 17 points. It wasn’t even fun really. Yes, I played really bad, but then again I didn’t play a whole lot worse than my average round.

After the comp I thought it would go up, but it only went to 14. Anyone else have similar experiences? I don’t really see the incentive to keep playing comps if I’m just going to have a nightmare of a time trying to play to what I think is an unachievable ability level at the moment.

[mjguzik]

Had a decent handicap - real low single digit - when I joined a club.  Previous muni-course I played was basically short par 4s with long par 3s.  Generally only had an 8 to wedge in my hand for a second shot.  New club forced me to use clubs that I barely ever used before.  Cap went up about 4 to 5 strokes.  Keep posting and time will take care of you HC.

[DrDon]

Don't be so hard on yourself.    And, don't let your handicap affect your enjoyment of the game.

 

Your handicap will adjust to your true playing potential as you get more rounds posted.

 

And, please note, if you can go out onto a new golf course and shoot a score of 92, then you are certainly a better than average golfer.

[phizzy30]

Your handicap will go up.  You only have 3 rounds under your belt.  Same thing happened to me eons ago.  You can never cheat the system unless you start posting erroneous scores, haha.  I have no doubt your an honest person however. 

[MtlJeff]

You don't have a lot of scores in, just keep posting honestly and it will work out in the end. Most people post honestly, so the handicap system tends to work for the most part in the long haul

[Wormkiller]

2 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

You don't have a lot of scores in, just keep posting honestly and it will work out in the end. Most people post honestly, so the handicap system tends to work for the most part in the long haul

Do some not post honestly? In the comps at our club, we have to play with a marker and mark each others scores, then sign the card at the end.

[GolfTurkey]

44 minutes ago, Wormkiller said:

Do some not post honestly? In the comps at our club, we have to play with a marker and mark each others scores, then sign the card at the end.

 

You must be new to golf! 😁

 

I sometimes play with a guy that unless you shadow him all the way round, uses foot wedges in the trees and bunkers, marks and then replaces his ball much closer to the hole on greens, has amnesia when adding up his score on a hole etc. Wouldn't matter if the pope was marking his card.

 

Then of course you have the sandbaggers who intentionally play like rubbish most of the time so they can win the big handicap events.

[mjguzik]

In a club there will be a mix of players and HC.  Most will post every single score including the one's they bring back from vacation or winter.  Others haven't posted a score except competitions or evening outings.  You just will not see a casual score posted.  Most other members address this by getting the cards turned after the round.

 

Mutually exclusive are the types that carry a HC. You have the sandbaggers, vanity cappers, and everyone else.  Vanities are the ones I like the best($).  Baggers are a frustrating lot, particularly in club tournaments when they bring their A game.  Both ends of the spectrum become known commodities within the club, so eventually it is never a surprise to the other players. Our club scores go through the pro shop for posting and does wonders for keeping things in check.  Other venues will have some issues depending on what is the norm or typical running up to tournaments.  

 

Keep posting your rounds where you subscribe to the rules of golf.  It will take care of itself.  That's the beauty of the game where a broad cross section of abilities can play together in a competitive round.  Some will have bad days and others will get hot.  Most of us are often within a few strokes of where they should be, usually over.  It is when you have some players busting statistical norms that you go "Hmmm".

 

 

[AndersUK]

It is because you only have 3 cards.  Here in the UK at least the new system no longer bases your handicap off an average of 3 cards. The new system bases your handicap off your best score out of the 3 and then applies a further reduction penalty for only having 3 cards.  Therefore, it will base your handicap on the 92 with a further penalty on top!  This is to stop new members cheating the system with 3 "poor" rounds.  You really need 10+ cards before the system will issue a more realistic HC, as it will then be calculated as an average of your submitted cards.  I seen this before with a 20 cap that was issued an 8.   Also note that what you have is your index HC, but your playing HC will be higher due to the course rating. 

[SNIPERBBB]

Until you get 6 scores your index is based off your lowest scores then it starts averaging off the lowest x scores incrementally till you hit 20 rounds

[SNIPERBBB]

Handicapping rule 5.2a tells you what scores are used and till you hit 20

[DLev45]

12 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

Joined a private club about 5 weeks ago, played my three rounds to get an official handicap scoring 92, 100 and 102 and I’ve been given a handicap of 13. The course is tough (73/132) so my playing handicap is 15 when I play the course, but I reckon it’s about 10 lower than my actual ability, at least.

Played in my first stableford comp on the weekend and came dead last with a miserable and embarrassing 17 points. It wasn’t even fun really. Yes, I played really bad, but then again I didn’t play a whole lot worse than my average round.

After the comp I thought it would go up, but it only went to 14. Anyone else have similar experiences? I don’t really see the incentive to keep playing comps if I’m just going to have a nightmare of a time trying to play to what I think is an unachievable ability level at the moment.

 

As others have said, it's because you have only posted 3 scores. Once you have played 20 rounds, your handicap will be based on the best 8 differentials of those 20 rounds. Right now, it's based on the best single differential of your 3 rounds (92 on a 73/132 = 16.3 differential) minus 2 = 14.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nickc]

Thanks for above explanation - couldn't see using all 3 scores how the h/c index was 14

 

[Krt22]

Play more! The whole point of a private club is to play a lot of golf, 3 rounds in 5 weeks is wasting money at most clubs.

[GSDriver]

Never heard anyone complaining about handicap being too low....more scores will even out your HDCP...just post all your scores, not those you like.

[davep043]

12 hours ago, GolfTurkey said:

You must be new to golf! 😁

Its because he's not in the USGA jurisdiction.  In other parts of the world, competition scores have been the primary basis for handicaps, and that will continue.  "Casual scores" in most parts of the world will still require pre-registration, and attestation by a playing partner.  The USGA regions currently have the least stringent checks on the scores posted for handicap, even after the introduction of the WHS.

For @Wormkiller, I hope you can see from the table posted above that as you play and post more scores, the handicap calculation will utilize a greater percentage of your scores, and your handicap is likely to go up to an appropriate level.  It may feel painful for a while, but before long you'll be where you need to be.

[Wormkiller]

17 hours ago, mjguzik said:

In a club there will be a mix of players and HC.  Most will post every single score including the one's they bring back from vacation or winter.  Others haven't posted a score except competitions or evening outings.  You just will not see a casual score posted.  Most other members address this by getting the cards turned after the round.

 

Mutually exclusive are the types that carry a HC. You have the sandbaggers, vanity cappers, and everyone else.  Vanities are the ones I like the best($).  Baggers are a frustrating lot, particularly in club tournaments when they bring their A game.  Both ends of the spectrum become known commodities within the club, so eventually it is never a surprise to the other players. Our club scores go through the pro shop for posting and does wonders for keeping things in check.  Other venues will have some issues depending on what is the norm or typical running up to tournaments.  

 

Keep posting your rounds where you subscribe to the rules of golf.  It will take care of itself.  That's the beauty of the game where a broad cross section of abilities can play together in a competitive round.  Some will have bad days and others will get hot.  Most of us are often within a few strokes of where they should be, usually over.  It is when you have some players busting statistical norms that you go "Hmmm".

 

 

 

Im pretty sure at my club we can't put in cards from social rounds to go towards our handicap, even if played with another member. Is this standard? Im in Australia btw.

[Wormkiller]

10 hours ago, Krt22 said:

Play more! The whole point of a private club is to play a lot of golf, 3 rounds in 5 weeks is wasting money at most clubs.

Played much more than 3 rounds in that time - I play a lot of social, non comp rounds after work.So far Im playing at least 3 times a week. However, the comp tee off times finish well before I knock off.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wormkiller

[Wormkiller]

10 hours ago, GSDriver said:

Never heard anyone complaining about handicap being too low....more scores will even out your HDCP...just post all your scores, not those you like.

Unfortunately only competition scores count. Because I'm only able to play a full 18 hole comp one day week at most, its going to take a long time to budge this handicap I feel. Shame I can't put in all the casual rounds I play.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wormkiller

[Krt22]

8 minutes ago, Wormkiller said:

Played much more than 3 rounds in that time - I play a lot of social, non comp rounds after work.So far Im playing at least 3 times a week. However, the comp tee off times finish well before I knock off.

Ah bugger. Nothing you can do then, just wait it out. 

[nsxguy]

12 minutes ago, Wormkiller said:

Cant post all my scores at my club unfortunately. Only competition scores. Because I'm only able to play a full 18 hole comp one day week at most, its going to take a long time to budge this handicap I feel. Shame I can't put in casual rounds.

 

"Social scores may be used for handicapping if the player’s home club has chosen to allow the use of social scores, and if the player has nominated prior to starting a round that it is to count for handicap purposes. Otherwise, social scores will not be permitted for handicap purposes."

 

https://www.golf.org.au/whs/

 

 

[sfdoddsy]

4 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

 

Im pretty sure at my club we can't put in cards from social rounds to go towards our handicap, even if played with another member. Is this standard? Im in Australia btw.

 

I put in social cards in Australia sometimes. As long as you play by the Rules of Golf it is fine.

[Wormkiller]

Confirmed with the pro shop today that they won’t accept social rounds for handicapping. Oh well.

 

Shot 47 on the front nine so feeling better about things.

Edited March 10, 2021 by Wormkiller

[AndersUK]

10 minutes ago, Wormkiller said:

Confirmed with the pro shop today that they won’t accept social rounds for handicapping. Oh well.

 

Shot 30 points so feeling better about things.

 

I am not sure that is correct and must be a local club rule?  As long as the course is fully operational (i.e. no temp tees or greens) then per the WHS you should be able to submit supplementary cards providing you register the fact before the round and the card is verified/signed by a member.  Someone will chime in if I am incorrect?

[davep043]

46 minutes ago, AndersUK said:

I am not sure that is correct and must be a local club rule?

I think @nsxguy posted the right information for Australia a few posts earlier.  Even with a more unified WHS, some differences remain between regions and/or countries.

[Krt22]

2 hours ago, davep043 said:

I think @nsxguy posted the right information for Australia a few posts earlier.  Even with a more unified WHS, some differences remain between regions and/or countries.

They should rename the system the SWHS...sorta world handicap system

[davep043]

48 minutes ago, Krt22 said:

They should rename the system the SWHS...sorta world handicap system

Maybe the "World" part is a bit aspirational, not real at the moment.  I've said all along that more changes will be made, change is inevitable.  I hope we all move closer to each other, and I won't mind if its the USGA that moves towards the rest of the world regarding pre-registration and attestation for non-competition rounds.

[SNIPERBBB]

The world part to me was more about portability and comparison across the world.  So a scratch here in the US is a scratch in the UK.  I prefer the competition scores only model in other parts of the world vs the post casual round model here.

[SNIPERBBB]

As an example people trying to figure out how Poulter could be a pro golfer at a 4 cap when in the old  USGA,  you'd need to be +6 or better. Despite the can a 4 cap beat X threads here

[Wormkiller]

16 hours ago, davep043 said:

I think @nsxguy posted the right information for Australia a few posts earlier.  Even with a more unified WHS, some differences remain between regions and/or countries.

I think its quite uniform that across clubs in Australia casual rounds can't go towards handicap, with the exception of online managed "clubs" like Future Golf and Perth Golf Network here, where you take photos of scorecards and submit them online.