Interesting point touched on in a post about clubs a bit further down the forum where a couple of people indicated the bandings they regard as low/mid/high handicaps.

For me, I see low as 0-8, mid 9-17, high 18+

What are the general thoughts on this?

What purpose do bandings that state low/mid/high serve?

Why only 3 bandings, my classification of golfers would require at least 5 bandings.

I am of the opinion that even the average ability golfer should have a handicap below 20.

Some golfers are of thenopinion that those handicapped above 20 should never be allowed to enter club competitions outside their own group 21 - 28 unless they are prepared to play off 7/8's of their handicap with a maximum of 20.  Is this fair, or does this penalise the honest golfer?

I class players in the following groups,

0 - 3, Very Good

4 - 8, Very Good - Good

9 - 13, Good - Average

14 - 20, Average - Fair

21 - 28, Fair - Unclassified (these come into their own categories of being either, improvers, learners, elderly, lazy, clueless, blatant bandits or a Recreational Menace)

Every able bodied golfer should be able to play to a handicap of 18 with proper coaching and a little commitment to practice and understanding.

I would go as far to say that you cannot really and fairly assess a golfers ability until they get down to around 10 handicap.  With plenty of quality coaching and practice i would expect any golfer to get to a single figure handicap.

As for monthly club comps, i would introduce categories as follows,

0 - 8, 9 - 15 , 16 - 20, 21 - 28,  subject to the number of players in each category.

I think the 4 handicap catagories serve as a decent indicator. But our club has 3 catagories for all comps so it's a bit fairer on the prize allocation and they work out well. Cat 1 and 2 play for one prize catagory, cat 3 in the other and finally the choppers in the 3rd catagory. 

Colin - love the phrase 'recreational menace'!

I think the handicap system is a reasonable guide, but can also be very misleading - a player with a 4 handicap gained at Wentworth for example, is likely to be significantly better than someone with a 4 handicap gained at an easier course?

agree with the comment above, if your going to put players in brackets i think you ought to put courses in brackets, some courses are harder than others,some courses you shouldn't go passed a double bogey all day and if you did there's got to be a good explanation for it, i.e.water. and then theres courses were you think theres numerous holes just waiting to wreck a good card.

Holes don't wreck score cards players do!!

Dave Smith has it bang on!

Colins comments are bassically an insult!!! "9-13 Good to average"!!! are you kidding me??!!

Any single figure handicap is a massive achievment in fact i checked on the net and it says 5% ish of recreational golfers acheive single figures in their golfing life! so before you put a 9 handicapper in a good to average bracket get there yourself and see the hard work it not only takes to get there but to stay there aswell!!

Colin, love the "recreational menace" phrase, however I disagree with your rankings mate. It's damn hard to maintain a decent handicap (IMO 12-17) and harder still to progress in to the next category. Where decent golfers move on to good, then excellent categories.

Hi Chris & Chris

my classification refers to club golfers down to those playing off scratch.  Golfers playing off below scratch have their own categories of Excellent and Brilliant.    There are differences between a scratch player and a Pro, and a Pro and a Tour Pro. 

i try not to exaggerate a golfers true ability in relation to all golfers, Excellence only occurs for me below scratch. 

As for interpreting my classifications, a 9 h'cap is Good, whereas a 13 h'cap is average, those in between 9 & 13 are classed as on the Good side of Average, not Good to Average.

The average golfer to me is in the region of 13 to 17 h'cap, and a Fair golfer plays off 20 mark.

As for getting myself down to single figures myself, and seeing the hard work required to ge tthere and stay there aswell, i am a strong believer in enjoying myself when i play and practice and i don't see how it can be viewed as being hard work. Playing regularly and having a regular quality practice regime in place are aspects that can improve a players game.  Over the autumn and winter period i would be confident to claim i will get to a single figure handicap this summer depending on how much golf i can play.

Players handicaps can differ between course length and difficulty of the course along with the approach of the handicap secretary are 2 main contributing factors to accurately assess a players handicap.  Those improving golfers will always seem to have shots in hand of their handicap mark, that is just the rub of the green.

If anyone wants have their own classification of what constitutes a Good golfer then fine, it is only a personal opinion.

Colin

i am not one to criticise someone else for their opinions, but i will watch with anticipation over the next 4 months as you halve your handicap to single figures !!!!

Colin is a nice guy who writes extremely good posts, but I too also feel that he is setting himself up for the inevitable fall. Getting into single fiogures is done very quickly in my opinion. It is not a long drawn out excercise.

you cant tell me there aren't a couple of holes that have multiple ways of making you look silly,the back 9 where i play is littered with them, of course i realise i am the common denominator in these "card wreckers"...getting back to low/mid high, low 4-10, mid 10-18,high 18-24,..24+still learning,0-4 pretty special

I'll respond to a few things here....

The 3 bandings i used are simply those which general get associated with golfers, whether its clubs or just bar banter.  I dont think I could see the day when I walk into a golf shop explaining that I'm an 'average to fair' with a bit of a slice.....

John and Mally, agree with both of your points:

John - totally agree that those who will excel are those with natural ability.  If you take a handicap list and look at the same list for 3-5 years prior you'll find most will be in the same/similar CONGU category.  I'm under no illusions that dropping to (and maintaining) 11 this year is a fairly tall order

Mally - totally agree that you are normally the common demoniator......  (sorry mate, couldn't resist)

Hey Thanks for the information. I have some resources to help you make your game better!

Open Golf

Hi Guys

My handicap of 20.1 is not a true reflection of my golf game.  I am in a much better place physically now than at the same time in the last 4 years. 

I have agreed with our handicap secretary for him to reduce me to 18 but i have yet to have had this confirmed.  He wanted to cut me down to 15 based on a few late season comps..

I have not up dated any scores on this site for a while and the last couple of years have been work in progress on my game, this last summer i reintroduced mt Driver back into my bag and that extra 40 - 60 yds off the tee has had a dramatic effect on my scores. 

When the club comps start in the spring, hopefully the greens will be in good order and don't have a dramatic effect on my score then i am going to be looking to start scoring around the low 80 mark and as the greens improve so should my score.  So it will be down to my playing in as many comps as possible for my handicap to fall until it catches up with my scorecards.

As for any offense taken by anyone who thinks being a high single handicapper makes them better than my classification of a Good golfer, that is down to you and what you class as a Good golfer.  

As far as i am concerned i put myself down as an average golfer (decent), but one that is improving also.  Potentially i am looking at single figures, that will take me through the broad  average range to being better than average, Good is the next step.  I know i will not be any better than Good because of my knees, back and age.  it also depends on whether my handicap can catch upto my scores.

I intend to record my scores this year and see where it takes me.

Hi Colin,

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I in no way meant to come across as demeaning yours, so apologies if I did. I too would love to get down to a single figure handicap, and if i can replicate some of the form I had in autumn last year, should get there. At the minute I've no chance, confidence and swing are erratic to say the least. The difficulty I think most people face in getting their handicap down, is time dedicated to doing it.

Hi Colin

I had a quick look at your profile last night and thought that might be the case.

Good luck this year, look forward to seeing your scores.

Hi Chris, no offense taken, no apology required but thanks anyway.

When posting on such things like handicaps it is very difficult to be specific without posting a literary masterpiece, lol.  I have just had to expand my thoughts to show that handicaps are not precise and in most cases variable to each golfer and course he plays.  Basically, a club handicap relates specifically to how that player plays his home course.  When they play a harder or easier course the score should reflect this when compared to their handicap mark.  So  a 9 handicapper who has attained his mark on an easy short course would most probably find it more difficult to play to their mark on a harder or much longer course such as a links course.  So would that make this golfer any better or worse?  Would they suddenly have gone from being classed as a Good player to an Average or even Fair  player? 

So depending on how you assess the difficulty of your own course, this will reflect on your classification of golfers at your course in relation to their handicap mark.  Harder the course, higher the handicap relates to a Good player and so on.  My classification is based on my home course and its members.

Hi Tim

Yes, it took me a couple of years to address my back and then knee problems and around August last year i was finally able to put my Driver back in my bag and start to take more of my game to the course.   So far i have been able to keep physivcally active this year and so long as i can retain my present level of fitness going into the season i am looking forward to this years golf and further improvement in my fitness.   Chipping and putting are the 2 areas of my game that will decide how fast i lower my handicap, after that, i will need to change my old driver to a better quality to look for extra distance.

I have the added advantage of being able to practice chipping at home in my garden whenever i get the opportunity.  Nearly 40 yards long bordered by a lane, a field and farmyard, so plenty of scope to overhit the ball without causing any damage,  Priceless.

The course plays a massive part, we were a 4 ball of members playing at whychwood park last season, all of us struggled massivly to play to our handicaps and were just steadily rising and rising. We have recently changed clubs obviously handicaps came with and our 4 ball at the new clubs has had a lot of funny looks recently. 4 comps played we've had 3 victories from the 4 ball (overall not just in our category) and 5 runner up/place prizes.  I am yet to score under 36 points in any of the 4 comps we have been in. All comps are non-qualifying at the minute but I don't see a drastic reduction in handicapp happening overnight because the CSS is allways well under par on the course. At wychwood you shot under your handicap you were pretty much guarnteed a cut.