Hi all, I've been playing golf now for 9 months after not playing for about 20 years! My handicap seems to be dropping fast but I am a bit worried that it's due to the local courses I play. My game has improved dramatically due to lots of practice but the 3 local courses I play seem to be a bit forgiving. They all are par 69-71 courses, but it just doesn't feel right saying I play off 16 just from my scores from these 3. I do intend to venture further away now that my game has improved to see if it's me or the courses, does anyone else feel this? My scores have dropped since I got a new ping i15 driver and most holes i play on these courses consist of a drive and a wedge, they just don't seem challenging enough? (that's not me being cocky but just honest) I feel a different course may put me back to upper 90's???

Shane,

You will always find that if you play tougher courses your score will be higher.  This is why SSS was put in place.  I play a course local to where I am working in Bristol (Woodlands) that is par 70 and I would be very disappointed if my score was above 89.  I was a member of The Belfry until recently where The PGA is also par 70.  I would be very happy with an 89 around there.  The SSS around Woodlands is 68 and the SSS of the PGA is 71.  This means I should expect to score 3 shots lower around Woodlands than around the PGA.  SSS is not perfect and there are many who disagree with it, but the theory is that an 18 handicap player from the courses I mention above should be of the same standard. 

I made a concious decision to join a course that wa going to be challenging.  I felt that this would improve my game and course management much more than playing an 'easy' course.  I believed that when I then went elsewhere to play I would see the benefits and this is starting to ring true. 

See if you can get to a course that doesn't suit your game and see how you get on.  It may be that these 'driver-wedge' courses play to your strengths so find a course that forces you to use mid or long irons on many of the holes.  You will struggle initially and your scores will go up, but you will benefit in the long run.

Thanks for the reply Chris and the advice. I will try several different courses for sure and hopefully have to try a different approach to my game. My iron play 5-w is pretty acurate as well especially with distance using a skycaddie. I do think that i need longer holes or more holes where i need to think about how im playing the shot to lay up for the next, most holes i play around these 3 courses are pretty much a straight drive and a 7-w to the green.

I dont understand what an SSS is would you mind explaining to me please.

Many thanks Shane

sss stands for "standard scratch score" or something very similar and its that score your handicap should be worked out from and not the actual par of the course.

basically its for what you have just stated were some courses are easier than others and its supposed to be based around the score a scratch player would expect to go round that course in. you could have 2 different par 72 courses but one may be much harder than the other due to longer holes or whatever else so the sss is in place to give a more accurate difficulty score than the par. some courses could have say a par of 72 but an sss of 67 so for your handicap purposes you would actually work your adjusted score out against the 67 as opposed to the 72 whereas a much harder course may have a par of 72 and an sss of 72 it will usually have the sss score on the card somewhere. sorry if thats not great explaining but i hope u get the jist.

 its like my local course i joined because it was the best i could afford for the minute is a par 66 with a sss of 65 it has loads of trees and tight holes but its not very long at about 4700 yards so i can reach all the greens in regulation and can go round on my best days about 72 which when i take the sss from it would equate to a 7 handicap standard but the problem i have is when i go to some of the much longer courses with par 4s well over 450 yards i cant make a lot of the greens in reg so i dont score as low. as its these longer courses we visit with the golf society where my handicap is calculated. im at 20 at the minute although i anticipate dropping at least 4 off that in the next 2 outings as im playing my best golf ever the last few weeks and striking the ball cleaner than i ever thought i would be able to do. so the course really makes a difference if your not a big hitter as im not.   

Shane,

The link below takes you to the CONGU (Concil of National Golf Unions) website answering your question specifically.   

http://www.congu.com/faqDetail2.asp?id=39

David has explained it fairly well though.  Basically, it's what a scratch golfer playing the course should expect to score and is based on things like length, hazards, difficulty, etc.  It is in place to ensure that players with the same handicap but from courses of differing difficulty are indded to the same standard.  Opinions vary signifcantly on the effectiveness and applicability of it (especially on here!) 

ive just checked the 2 courses that i play and 1 is par/sss 70/70 one is 71/73 so in theory that would make the latter a harder course, but that seems the easier of the 2??? i think its time to venture out.  many thanks for your help and happy golfing!

Get yourself registered for one of the Golfshake Open qualifiers.  They would be a great test and fun.

Blatent plug.  Just cos you own the site doesn't give you the right to spam Darren!

I agree with Darren, get yourself into one of the Golfshake qualifiers Shane.  It's one thing to knock around the same courses and quite another to try and grind out a decent score on a new course (and most of them are pretty good too), playing with strangers and under pressure - that's when you find out how good or bad you really are - with the added bonus of getting to see some really good players doing their stuff too.

PS - still playing off 17 Perry?

OMG...Hawkins handicap is dropping

Perry will be stuck on 17 for as long as he keeps loosing balls in Water Hazards that aren't there, but then suddenly are there hidden in the trees. And plays provisional balls

Down to 16.9 Hawkins.  But for the five (yes five, how embarassing!) penalties on my last round the cut would've been more than 0.3. 

The race is on to see who can get down to 14 first Hawkins (14 means no shots on par 3's on the majority of courses)

Hawkins is already there in my book he's just a charlatan

Blimey leyo that's a big word for you ????

It's the only word i could use the one's I wanted to use would have broken all the AUP rules !!

Remember David, one swallow does not a summer make.  My drop in handicap will just make it easier for you to beat me..

You mean...Even easier