TheGrint: USGA Handicap Discontinued

[needfasp3ed]

Just received an email that the Pro version of TheGrint will no longer include a USGA compliant handicap, they will need to be purchased directly through the USGA moving forward.  That was one of benefits I enjoyed from TheGrint, hopefully they get something worked out. 

[Springsteennut]

I received that too. I will wait to see if they work out a discount. It won’t be until April around here I even have to worry about it.

[Mr. Bean]

Will the name be changed from Grint to Grinch?

[klebs01]

What is the perceived advantage to using the grint vs having a handicap through your local association?

[ChaosTheory]

1 hour ago, klebs01 said:

What is the perceived advantage to using the grint vs having a handicap through your local association?

 

Prior to joining a country club, as a muni/ daily fee guy I had no idea how to get a handicap.  I bet there are a lot of people like that, and something like The Grint would be seen as very convenient.

 

I wonder if they were dropped because in real life the golfer is just posting independently.  I signed up for Grint one winter in AZ.  I did not join for the handicap, but they made me a member of some online "club" in the Phoenix area.   On paper, the club probably had leadership and a handicap committee but they had never met me nor I them.  I have to think this is the problem.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Snowman9000

[503Mike]

58 minutes ago, klebs01 said:

What is the perceived advantage to using the grint vs having a handicap through your local association?

 

Stats, course gps, and more stats. The Pro and Pro+ have a lot more stats and features than the GHIN app, so if you want to accumulate and use data specific to your game, The Grint is a fantastic choice.

[dugue4]

I don’t plan on renewing my membership due to this. 

[SnowbirdTom]

1 hour ago, dugue4 said:

I don’t plan on renewing my membership due to this. 

 

That was my first thought too, unless they cut the price to reflect the loss of handicap tracking.  Like THAT'S gonna happen.  I downloaded Birdies18 and got spammed to death in the first 10 minutes of looking at the app.  DELETE!  Guess I'll just keep looking or kill the Grint subscription and use the free one.

[Newby]

Does TheGrint include a PCC calculation?

[Mr. Bean]

55 minutes ago, Newby said:

Does TheGrint include a PCC calculation?

 

I am not familiar with this Grint but here in Finland we have a few apps for entering your scores and they give you lots of stats, but what is even more important, they discuss with the central register. That is, all the scores entered in those apps are directly copied into the central register and they return the updated handicap once the PCC calculation has been done (which here in Finland takes place at 2 am). So, using one of those apps there is no need to enter the score separately into any other place but you will maintain your handicap directly via one of the apps.

 

Very handy, I can heartily recommend such technology everywhere.

[Newby]

Just looked at their website. There's a lot more to it than I thought. Apparently available world wide but doesn't seem to handle competitions.  Never seen it used in the UK. It seems to depend on WHS for the HI calculations.

Much the same as ISVs over here which do competition management also.

 

How does the software features differ from GHIN?

Edited December 29, 2022 by Newby

[Curmudg3on]

Wonder if this has something to do with "their" new unofficial handicap system?   

[ChaosTheory]

19 minutes ago, Newby said:

Just looked at their website. There's a lot more to it than I thought. Apparently available world wide but doesn't seem to handle competitions.  Never seen it used in the UK. It seems to depend on WHS for the HI calculations.

Much the same as ISVs over here which do competition management also.

 

How does the software features differ from GHIN?

The Grint offers detailed shot performance tracking and analysis.  That’s what I liked about it.

[Augster]

7 hours ago, Newby said:

Does TheGrint include a PCC calculation?

No it didn’t. The Grint was completely independent from actual state association posting metrics. 
 

I get all the stat tracking stuff, and even a “close” handicap tracker, but to claim the Grint was an official USGA cap was weird. 
 

The PCC barely adds into the calculation, so I’d have no problems putting my cap up against, say, one of my friends that only keeps a Grint cap. They were very close. 
 

Why The Grint was able to claim an “official” cap without the PCC, I’ll never know. 

[bcjim]

Around here,  I believe Grint handicaps were usually adequate for tournaments/leagues/etc, but for state golf association sponsored tournaments,  I think you have be a member of the state golf association. And the way you join the sga is of course to sign up for a handicap at a member club. 

[MisterT]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:46 PM, Augster said:

No it didn’t. The Grint was completely independent from actual state association posting metrics. 
 

I get all the stat tracking stuff, and even a “close” handicap tracker, but to claim the Grint was an official USGA cap was weird. 
 

The PCC barely adds into the calculation, so I’d have no problems putting my cap up against, say, one of my friends that only keeps a Grint cap. They were very close. 
 

Why The Grint was able to claim an “official” cap without the PCC, I’ll never know. 

Hmmm... I have seen PCC adjustments while using The Grint. My scores were uploaded to the USGA and available on GHIN which led me to believe it was official.

 

As with others, I don't plan to continue with The Grint. My decision is due to my move to Tennessee where USGA membership is available through our comunity's men's golf association.

[klebs01]

The GHIN app includes stats and the direction of the miss, there is gps, and and I think an upgraded version with advanced stats. I don’t use them but saw the pop up add in the app. What stats are missing that it would make sense to us the grint vs GHIN?

[Curmudg3on]

TheGrint could not combine two 9 hole rounds.   Via an email I was told they were working on it but if the slope was different between the rounds, they averaged the slopes.   

[Augster]

5 hours ago, MisterT said:

Hmmm... I have seen PCC adjustments while using The Grint. My scores were uploaded to the USGA and available on GHIN which led me to believe it was official.

 

As with others, I don't plan to continue with The Grint. My decision is due to my move to Tennessee where USGA membership is available through our comunity's men's golf association.

Okay. News to me. 
 

The USGA must have wanted some cash for that service. Or they decided to cut them off I’d guess. 

[Curmudg3on]

2 minutes ago, Augster said:

The USGA must have wanted some cash for that service. Or they decided to cut them off I’d guess.

 

It wouldn't be a good business model to give away memberships when others are paying for GHIN.

[nsxguy]

On 12/31/2022 at 9:18 AM, MisterT said:

Hmmm... I have seen PCC adjustments while using The Grint. My scores were uploaded to the USGA and available on GHIN which led me to believe it was official.

 

As with others, I don't plan to continue with The Grint. My decision is due to my move to Tennessee where USGA membership is available through our comunity's men's golf association.

 

I got a notice myself today, via Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, of all places.

 

As I understand it this is what happened previously with the Grint.

 

Scores entered via Grint were immediately uploaded to GHIN. Not sure what Grint member "level" was required.

 

GHIN caps could be viewed on the Grint.

 

So, a handshake deal.

 

It appears that right now, at least here in Florida, if you're not in a formal club associated with a state association, who will generally register its members en masse, an individual can register with GHIN at (more or less ?), any golf course for about $30 - calendar year membership.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by nsxguy

[TerpFangolfer]

Just a heads up...for anyone who subscribes (or maybe you don't need to?) to The Golfers Journal - the Broken Tee Society just announced they are now an official club and you can get a handicap thru them...

 

[MaineMariner]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:46 PM, Augster said:

No it didn’t. The Grint was completely independent from actual state association posting metrics. 
 

I get all the stat tracking stuff, and even a “close” handicap tracker, but to claim the Grint was an official USGA cap was weird. 
 

The PCC barely adds into the calculation, so I’d have no problems putting my cap up against, say, one of my friends that only keeps a Grint cap. They were very close. 
 

Why The Grint was able to claim an “official” cap without the PCC, I’ll never know. 

 

Back in August I noticed a few rounds on my handicap card where I had an "X" after my score instead of the usual "H" (home) or "A" (away). I emailed their customer service and received a response that the "X" denoted rounds where the PCC was applied. I then responded by asking whether there was a way to see what the actual PCC adjustment was for that round and got a response that: "We are actually working on showing that adjustment somewhere in the App or Website. It's in the works."

 

I guess that's not in the works anymore. The stat tracking was nice, but I think the free version would probably suffice. I was paying for the handicap, and only for my own curiosity really. I won't be renewing.

[Celeras]

4 hours ago, MaineMariner said:

 

Back in August I noticed a few rounds on my handicap card where I had an "X" after my score instead of the usual "H" (home) or "A" (away). I emailed their customer service and received a response that the "X" denoted rounds where the PCC was applied. I then responded by asking whether there was a way to see what the actual PCC adjustment was for that round and got a response that: "We are actually working on showing that adjustment somewhere in the App or Website. It's in the works."

 

I guess that's not in the works anymore. The stat tracking was nice, but I think the free version would probably suffice. I was paying for the handicap, and only for my own curiosity really. I won't be renewing.

 

Yeah @Augster was talking out his butt. PCC adjustments always worked, they were just notated with an X like you said. And it will still be "in the works" to show the actual number because you can still use your GHIN# linked to TheGrint for their stats. The only thing that is changing is that you can't buy/renew through them anymore with the pro subscription.

 

Also for what it is worth, they told everybody about this in November of 2021: https://thegrint.com/range/2021/11/thegrint-usga-integration-2022-changes/

[AllShowNoGo82]

This is probably a dumb question, so what happens now for the upcoming season if I need to sign up for a new GHIN to replace my WHS from TheGrint? Is there a way to continue my hdcp index from where I left off last year or am I starting from zero with the new GHIN?

[davep043]

8 hours ago, AllShowNoGo82 said:

This is probably a dumb question, so what happens now for the upcoming season if I need to sign up for a new GHIN to replace my WHS from TheGrint? Is there a way to continue my hdcp index from where I left off last year or am I starting from zero with the new GHIN?

Wherever you sign up for your USGA handicap should be able to simply "transfer" you into their records, your GHIN number and past Scoring Record will remain unchanged.  This is no different from moving to a different state, or changing home clubs within your own state.

[klebs01]

12 hours ago, AllShowNoGo82 said:

This is probably a dumb question, so what happens now for the upcoming season if I need to sign up for a new GHIN to replace my WHS from TheGrint? Is there a way to continue my hdcp index from where I left off last year or am I starting from zero with the new GHIN?

I agree with Dave, however, in a worst case you should download your record and re-enter them. 

[Miker20890]

For VSGA at least you can join clubs through the vsga website and gives you a GHIN number or can transfer current one.

[davep043]

38 minutes ago, Miker20890 said:

For VSGA at least you can join clubs through the vsga website and gives you a GHIN number or can transfer current one.

To do it correctly, you really MUST transfer all of your old scoring records, by giving your existing GHIN number to your "new" club.  If you start up a brand new account with a brand new number, you would appear to be trying to erase all of your previous history.

[betarhoalphadelta]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:46 AM, dugue4 said:

I don’t plan on renewing my membership due to this. 

 

Neither do I. I didn't find the Pro features all that important, so losing the official handicap makes it not nearly worth it. 

 

I personally wonder if part of the reason that you can't get an official handicap through them is because the USGA sees them as potential competition due to The Grint inventing their own handicapping service, GHAP.