your club handicap.

recently i've noticed people's golf shake handicaps are usually lower than their club handicaps - me being one of them (16). anyone else noticed this? also i am aware that Gols Shake doesn't go by the CONGU handicap rules.

Liam that is correct, we are slightly different to CONGU.  Obviously your 'official' club handicap is a handicap based on your club, using Golfshake we obviously monitor based on ALL rounds for any course and not just competitive golf.

Interestingly though through quite a bit of research.  Active club golfers that play a lot of competitive golf but also track every social round they play generally see only a +/- 1 difference between what we provide with the Golfshake handicap and their club handicap.

Maybe we should employ a similar system to the US & South African and make every golfer record every full round they play!

i have just checked my Handicap on a different website and found my Golf Shake handicap is higher.

What one should i use when i next play? 

One must always play off their lowest handicap.

Matt, club handicap if you have one.

Paul, Is handicap adjustment not based on the sss of any course ? Although handicap would only be true at 1 course. So a 10 handicap at a sss67 may not be as good as a15 handicap on a sss 73. Get where youre coming from DOH!

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

The Standard Scratch Score does take the difficulty of courses into account.

Maybe an aditional equation should be implimented so that handicaps from 2 different courses could be compared. What about (Hcap / sss of own club x 72) so 15 hcap at an easy sss 66 would equate to 15/66x72=16.3   15 hcap at a hard sss 73 would equate to 15/73x72=14.8 something along these lines.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

or here's an idea.  Money is spent and the courses are rated using the US system of slope/course rating similar to what European courses are doing.

You can then get a golf handicap across courses and your handicap can be adjusted when you play different courses.

What happens when 2 clubs play each other in a local comp or league ? Club A is an easy SSS 67 and club B is a tricky SSS 73. Is anything adjusted? if not higher SSS players will have the advantage.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

I'm not a club golfer until this afternoon, so can't comment on club comps

For Open Club Comps there is a system set-up for home/away CSS etc

Dave, that would seem logical but I watch a lot (and I mean more than you can probably imagine) of elite amatuer golf being played.  Strangely, you often find that the handicaps from those at courses with high SSS's are lower than they probably should be - at least for Category 1 playes.

My own club is a tight tree lined parkland course (Par 71, SSS 71).  We have one member who also plays at Birkdale.  He regularly makes the 200+ mile round trip to play competitions at Birkdale (Par 70, SSS 74) becuse he finds it easier to get his handicap cut round there!

Richard

The major difference between courses has always been home advantage. If you move from one club to another, you cannot expect to play to your previous handicap until you have got to grips with the ins and outs of the new course (i.e. home advantage). Handicaps are transferable but you cannot expect to play to handicap immediately on arrival at a new course.

You said it yourself that there was a 5 or 6 difference in SSS, so you would expect your scores to be at least 5 or 6 more, if not 9 or 10 because of the unfamiliarity of the new course.

I will always play off my congu official handicap in competitions because I have achieved that handicap in competitive play

Come on Darren, tell us which club has the honour of having you as a member.