Info on handicaps and sss

I am looking at joining a small local club to me that is only 9 holes and around 1950 yds in length. It has a sss of 59 and par of 60. What i would like to know is if i have a handicap with them of say 14 and played at another club thats a lot longer and say a sss of 71 and par 71 would my handicap still be 14? Ive tried looking around but cant seem to find an answer. Thanks

My (limited) understanding is that 18 holes with an SSS of 59 is in theory as difficult to achieve 59 as 18 holes with an SSS of 70 is of achieving 70, so mathmatically, yes, your handicap will apply. I would say however that in reality, your handicap will look artificially low when you play on other longer, more difficult courses due to the SSS not always reflecting the true difficutly of a course.

SSS (standard scratch score) is (in theory at least) a figure that reflects how difficult a course is in relation to it's par for a scratch golfer. So on a par 72 with a SSS of 69, a scratch golfer is expected to achieve -3 if he plays to his ability.

SSS scores are by default related directly to the length of a course - a table dictates that a course of a certain length with a certain par should carry a certain SSS. So by default a longer course with the same par as a shorter course will have a higher SSS. Courses can (and better courses are) assessed by experts (don't ask me of which organisation, I did look it up once but can't remember) to determine their SSS on factors other than simply length, so a really tight course with lots of trouble receives a higher SSS than the same length course that is very open.

A similar concept is CSS (Competition Scratch Score) - this takes into account the condition on the day of competition as well as the SSS to determine the CSS. So on a very windy day with driving rain the CSS would be a shot or two higher than SSS, and is usually assessed by the Handicap or Competition Secretary of the club.

SSS (and CSS) only relates to handicap when actually determining the handicap or adjustments to it. Under CONGU regs, an initial handicap is obtained by submitting three cards; on each card any score over double-bogey is reduced to double-bogey, and the strokes for each hole after this adjustment added together for a total round score. The best of these three round scores is used. However many strokes this best score is over SSS (note - NOT over par) determines your handicap. When adjusting handicaps, the qualifying score is measured against the SSS or CSS rather than par. The point in this is that a player at a mega-tight 6400 yard par 72 (which should carry a higher SSS) who shoots the same gross score as a player at at 5900 yard open parkland par 72 (which should carry a lower SSS) should have a lower handicap, as he must be a better player to achieve the same score on a more difficult course.

Eg. my home course is par 71, SSS 68. My handicap is 18. I shoot 86. Although this is only 15 over par, I would not get cut as I'm 18 over SSS.

So short answer to your question - yes, your handicap would still be 14 no matter where you play. What they're saying is your course is 3900 yards (2x 1950 I'm assuming for 18 holes) with a par of 60 that a scratch player should achieve in 59 strokes. Your handicap will be calculated on the basis that your course is very slightly easier than average for it's par. This will apply equally anywhere.

Hope that makes sense...

A pretty lucid explanation by Chris of how the CONGU Unified Handicap System works � with a couple of minor additions I would like to mention.

As Chris says, course length is the starting point for the SSS of a course. County assessment teams are appointed by each Area Authority (normally County Unions in England) who apply the many other difficulty factors which are laid down by CONGU to be considered to modify the initial base SSS which is based on length.

CSS is not assessed by the club � it is a product of the overall performance of players of handicap 20 and below � to put it simply, a high proportion of good performances by them and CSS will reduce by 1 from SSS, and a low proportion of good performances will see CSS rising by up to 3 over SSS.

Having re-read the question I think my last paragraph would have sufficed...I got a little carried away!!

James, thanks for clarifying the CSS calculation, I guessed there would be some method behind it but have never looked up what it was - I think I should have said 'applied' by the club rather than 'assessed'.

Just to add a point. CCS is not deemed by the 'conditions' on a certain day but by the scores produced on that day by the competitors under 20 hcp.