Handicaps UK vs. USA

[matwoolley]

is it easier to get lower in america?

I play a tough heath land course where it is always very windy and boasts the highest tee in the UK. I have an 11 handicap but play to more like an 8 handicap. I have been told it is much easier to get lower elsewhere, especially in america as i've heard the greens are better, air thinner meaning longer drives etc. The greens arent great here and as the weather is always pretty poor, the greens are often bobbly. I've heard a UK handicap can often be roughly halved in america therefore if i had a handicap of 8 i would play to more like 4 in the USA. Just wondering if anyone has ay views on this?

[Birdman of Alcatraz]

This old path has been trodden many times on this board. The handicap systems are different. I'd say the US is much more fluid and reflects current playing ability. The US handicap may be a stoke or two lower a best but i would say half is a gross exageration, there ain't that much difference.

 

In the uk system, if your a 6 and bang out 6 rounds to scratch, your a 3. If your a 3 and bang out 10 rounds to 15, your a 4.

 

BTW If your a consistent 11 and a low ball hister on a windy course i think you'd find it hard to play to your handicap on a long wet course in the states, let alone a 4.

[mat562]

As above, the two systems are fundamentally different and both have respective strengths and weaknesses. Neither system is perfect.

 

My experience, as a low handicapper with several friends in the U.S. of a similar standard is that, in the case of a scratch UK golfer, the equivalent handicap is probably two strokes lower (i.e a +2) in the U.S. That's a rough rule of thumb, born out of a fair bit of golf between us all. The difference is somewhat greater as the handicaps rise, but to say that the difference is as large as being half of the other is overstating things. A 25 handicapper in the U.K certainly wouldn't be expected to be toe to toe with a 12 handicapper in the U.S.

 

In all honesty, as we all know, even the vagaries of a particularly tough or easy set-up can make a couple or three strokes difference in handicap between two reasonable players from two different clubs, quite aside from the Standard Scratch values that are allotted to the two places.

 

If you're something like a consistent 9 or 10 over here, it's likely that you'd roughly tally with a 6 or 7 handicapper in the US as a rule of thumb. Not a 4 or 5. Course conditions are neither here nor there - there are bobbly greens anywhere - and not everywhere in the U.S. is at sufficient altitude to have the ball going miles either. Plus, having played a fair bit in Arizona in my time, I can vouch for the fact that a 7-10% distance gain doesn't necessarily make things easier either.

 

If you're after Category 1 golf, I'd hit the practice ground rather than grabbing your passport mate.

 

p.s Birdman. The CONGU system does have a few quirks to it, but I can guarantee you that a 3 handicapper knocking out 15 competition rounds in the mid/high 80s wouldn't be off 4 at the end of it all.

[gregflat9]

I have an 11 handicap but play to more like an 8 handicap.

 

Well, first of all your handicap is a yoru handicap - the numbers don't lie.

 

And yes, your handicap would be lower in the US because they ignore ten of the last twenty rounds they use to calc your index....

 

It's been discussed before on this board. Think it was summed up by someone who knew a caddie at Muirfield and said that when an American says "my index is x" they generally add three or 4 shots to get a UK handicap.

[generalbolg]

typically you will have a 2-3 shot lower handicap in the US. the US system puts more emphasis on how low you CAN shoot, not necessarily what you average. That being said, one of the above posters is right, you can lower your handicap much quicker in the US. US system reflects your current rounds, including casual rounds with friends, from different sets of tees and of course rounds in competition. As a result, we have more rounds to base our handicap off of. Correct me if i'm wrong, but your handicap's are based off of specific competition rounds; casual rounds with the guys don't count. We do emphasize competition rounds as well, these scores stay in your handicap calculation for longer (a year i think). Since we calculate our handicap based on recent rounds, our handicap more accurately reflects our current abilities.

 

having lived in scotland (st. andrews) for a year, i feel your pain. there are much more days in america where weather allows you to score. when i was abroad, i only played 2 competitions, played poor, and officially carried ~8. my US handicap floats between 2-4. the competition days were poor golf days, but they still counted. so as an 8 handicap over there, i carded a few casual rounds at par, and a bunch of rounds in the low 70's, mostly on the old and new courses.

 

my 2 cents says that if you keep up with your handicap rounds in the UK, play them for a few years frequently, youll get a handicap that accurately represents your playing ability and average score. the US handicap is generally 3 shots higher than your average score due to emphasis on your better rounds.

 

edit: i think our handicaps are designed to accommodate our habit of betting while we play. my friends would be out a lot of money if they gave me 8 strokes. thus, we calculate handicaps with more emphasis on how well you can play.

[Cal]

I've just done a quick calculation based on the formula of your best 10 round in the last 20 averaged and then multiplied by .96. I gather this is a rule of thumb for a US handicap.

 

I've been playing OK recently and my handicap came out at 6.0 on the US system. My Australian golf handicap which is based on competition rounds only is 9.9. So for Aussies I'd say subtract 4 shots or even more as social rounds are counted in the US system and I find that I play a shot or two better in social rounds.