First official club handicap

18. Happy with that considering how dire I've been recently. Now looking forward to my first medal comp at the weekend! Also, have a 3 player team comp Sunday, paired with my good mate (8) and the handicap chairman (2)!

Good luck Chris and well done. 

I should also hopefully get my first club handicap later this week.  I'm looking forward to some comps but not quite sure about a medal comp yet

go for it Darren. There's nothing quite like a medal stroke play to concentrate your mind. No other format can truly test a golfer.

Not ready for it yet John, I'll need a few rounds under my belt first   fully agree though.

Chris, let us know how you get on.

Man up Darren, like John said, the only way to prepare for competitive golf is to play in competitions!

You have to do the Medals. It gets my goat how many people don't enter the competitions as soon as it is a medal. You will never get better if you don't test yourself. 

Yeah.....Come on Darren. Test yourself.

All my 40 odd of my scores put down for handicap on this site are medal scores. Other methods of scoring should not be counted in my opinion, it's not a true reflection of your ability.

Playing with the handicap chairman? dangerous...drop of a hat he'll cut you for 'general play' even moreso if he's off 2.

was very ill thursday through Saturday so had to miss the medal, but did play in the 3 man team comp. We scored 74 points, and I played exactly to my full handicap, had a handful of pars though so I suspect he may drop me a few strokes. It was 3/4 handicaps though for the comp sake.

He is expressly forbidden to make that kind of knee-jerk reaction to a single round of golf - team comp, 3/4 handicap - no way.