Standard Scratch Scores

Hi,

New poster here from near Newcastle in the North East.

Just wondered if anyone could expand a little on Standard Scratch Scores; is this what a scratch player would be expected to shoot on a course.

I am secretary of our work golf society; we play every other Tuesday afternoon from April to October, and our handicap system is unique (to give everyone a fair chance of winning rather than CONGU), so I am a ridiculous 7 handicap (bears no resemblance to reality). Last Tuesday at Parklands (by Newcastle Racecourse), I shot 13 over, so assumed that this equated to 13 handicap. How wrong I was. Eager to find out my 'true' handicap, I put my 10 rounds of the year in the handicapper calculator on this great site (golfshake), only to discover SSS for that course was 3 below par, so my score equated to 16 handicap standard, and my 10 rounds has rated me at 17.8.

What a wake up call! Admittedly most rounds have been played in very boggy ground, leading to a number of duff shots etc, and hoping to get this handicap down significantly in the next few months, starting with the Mayor's Charity round at South Shields on Thursday (SSS is only 1 below par there!)

How does the SSS compare to par at your clubs? Looking forward to your replies; I think this site is great with such wide course information, links to Google Maps for each course etc.

Hello Colin, and welcome to the site, I think you're right in you're SSS calculation theory. The golf club I play at in Sedgefield in Durham has one course at 72 SSS and another at 70 SSS. Strange that because the 70SSS course is the harder of the two to play.

I play a course that is a par 70 from the yellow tees, with a SSS of 66!!!

Means I have to be four shots under par just to be level with my handicap!

Russ

If you think the Priors is easy, Wayne then I suggest you make an attempt to play to your handicap around it.

I have two courses at my club and the shorter of the two has an par 69 and SSS 67 and it is far more difficult than the longer course which has a par of &" and an SSS of 71.

SSS is a completely unnecessary piece of legislation into the amateur game that has no tangible benefits because when I play away from home my handicap is never adjusted to take into account the degree of difficulty variance between my home club and the visiting club. So what purpose does it serve?

Answers please on a postcard.

JP,

Your Hcp doesn't change because your "Target Score" does. I know you don't agree with SSS but your statement has a flaw.

Home course, Par 72 - SSS 70 = Target Score 86.

Away Course, Par 72 - SSS 72 = Target Score 88.

The Away course is harder so you can drop two extra shots against Par. Or play off 18 against Par.

Chris,

That system also has a flaw. Say I was a member at two clubs, I would have the same Hcp at both?

IMHO, SSS is still the fairest way to differentuate between two courses.

TheLyth

Should be scrapped, the pro's don't play to SSS or CSS, so why should we. There is not one logical reason for this stupidity.

Ray, nice of you to agree with me, if only the once, but par is par. Pars were introduced on the basis of the number of shots a good player would need to get to the green plus an allowance of two strokes for putting. Apart from the freak occasions when shots are holed out from a long way away, the only way to get under par is to single putt.

Chris W has stated that the SSS is based virtually on the total length of a course, which again is a flawed system. Why? lets assume we have an 18 hole course of all par fives.. The Par alone would be 90 and the SSS would be off the radar but this setup would be the easiest of all to shoot a good score on in relation to par.

I would like to know where these shots are going to come from that are taken from the par, because there are no par 4's I can drive and the par fives are unreachable in three for me now.

We do not need a SSS system to tell us which courses are harder than others.

TeesYardsParSSSWhite64787272Yellow60767270Red53577271

These are the tees for Bedord, Wayne, you only quoted the ladies tees.

Course A - 18 holes all 265 yards par 4 - Par 72 would be SSS 63

Course B - 18 holes all 445 yards par 4 - Par 72 would probably be SSS 76/77

Christopher,

Your complaint about CSS for "Away" players is not quite true. Separate CSS should only be calculated if the number of both "Home" and "Away" players exceeds 20. Then, if the "Home" CSS is higher than the "Away" CSS, it reverts to a single CSS.

Colin

If you go to the English Golf Union website, click on handicaps, then handicap publications, you can download a pdf on how courses are assessed for SSS.