handicap rant

please forgive me for again ranting but i am led to believe that when when you play this game that we all love and loath in equal measure that you are supposed to play to your handicap 20% of the time. i have this year played 12 competitions at my home club and have only had 1 round within my buffer zone and my handicap has increased from 19-20.1 surely this cannot be right. i do not want to give the game up as i enjoy it but am at the point where i am seriously considering stopping comps each week i feel myself getting more frustrated and disillusioned don't get me wrong i am not asking to win each and every week but to not continually look at the results and see my near the bottom is disheartening. I hae some open comps away from my home club over the next 2 months sowill not be playing any more there in comps and will re asses the situation. Any feedback will be appreciated as you guys have given me some quality feedback in the past

Paul, Looks ok to me. Simple rule of thumb. ( not set in stone ).If you play better than sss then you get cut ( shots under x cat ( 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc ). If you play in buffer then no change. If you shoot worse than buffer then you get 0.1 shots back. If you have 1 very good round you get cut a lot. It takes a long time to recoup the cut from a good round. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

i thought that if you playing to your handicap you should at least have rounds in your buffer zone not +10 and above every week

If your handicap is correct, you should only play to it in perfect conditions when playing your best. By default, it should be hard to play to your handicap. I use a rule of thumb of 1 cut, 3 buffer, 6 increases for any 10 competition rounds. Saying that, I've also had 8 increases, 1 buffer and 3 cuts in 12 rounds so there's no saying it's perfect!

Paul If you are playing 10 over your handicap then you are not playing to it. But it takes time to adjust with only 0.1 shots back per bad round. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

The other thing to remember, and I don't mean this in any harsh way whatsoever, is that at around a 20 handicap, you are not going to be as consistent as someone off a lower handicap...so there will be times you will shoot over your handicap. Just think back to your rounds, and consider if there was a tee shot which has effectively cost you 3 shots as it has put you into some horrible places etc. A lot of handicap cuts can come about through much better course management, and also on the green. How do your putting stats look? Average putts per round? You have to dissect the information you have to see what is costing you the shots. There has to be something.

When you find it and sort it, the handicap will tumble. Trust me. Last year I went from 21 to 10 very quickly

my comp scores are thus 15 comps 2 in buffer zone 13 outside

thanks matt this is what i am doing at present and it is working my course management is getting better after each round now i look where my shots went and will continue in this vain it is just that i am becoming so disillusioned looking every sun morning and being near the bottom do not get me wrong i do not want favours nor do i expect to win but just to have something to encourage me.

Hi Paul, how long has it been that you have been having handicap problems? I know that at the end of each season the handicap committee review all players and have the opportunity to increase/decrease handicaps as guided by the handicap computer system. It probably seems a long way off to the end of the season but at least it can happen then.

in the meantime, I have found the best way to keep in the handicap buffer zone is to practice the short game. Even if your long game puts you in trouble, if you are confident with your chipping and putting you can often rescue a hole!

my initial handicap was given last season at 15 which i endeavoured with. before the start of this season i requested a change and i was given an icrease to 19 clause 23 which i was still not happy with but had to roll with it my handicap has now increased to 20.1 after 15 comps obviously increasing with my latest and best +13. whenever i put my stats on here my scores always show a handicap level of 24 hence my frustration and the fact that i am no longer prepared to spend my hard cash in any more comps this year for the humiliation and feelings of dejection after checking the results every sun morning

my initial handicap was given last season at 15 which i endeavoured with. before the start of this season i requested a change and i was given an icrease to 19 clause 23 which i was still not happy with but had to roll with it my handicap has now increased to 20.1 after 15 comps obviously increasing with my latest and best +13. whenever i put my stats on here my scores always show a handicap level of 24 hence my frustration and the fact that i am no longer prepared to spend my hard cash in any more comps this year for the humiliation and feelings of dejection after checking the results every sun morning

Paul, in order to obtain a handicap you have to have played at that level at some point especially if you were originally given a 15hcp to start with. Maybe you have developed a bad habit within your swing over the last year/18 months. My advice would be to have a lesson or 2. You'll probably find that having someone look at your swing and thinking your way around the course a bit better, your scores will tumble.

Paul, Sorry I got the wrong end of the stick. I assumed you had reached a handicap of 19 and were the struggling to attain it. Q1 Why were you allocated a starting handicap of 15? Your start handicap is based upon 3 cards submited to club monitored by cap or sec. Did this happen? Dave CAC handed Geordie.

my home course is a little different to most in so much as it is a 9 hole with 2 tees off each hole. When you submit cards they are off the yellow tees considerably shorter as most courses, couple that with the fact that they are on the back nine even shorter than the whites and yellows on the front 9 it therefore stands to reason that when submitting cards for your initial handicap you are bound to shoot lower scores hence the initial handicap of 15. i will say that i play often at other courses in my area and subsequently always shoot decent scores. you cannot therefore practice at my home course as you would like, once a week in comps is imo not going to help your game. i am considering leaving and going to another course at the end of the season because of the things listed above

I to play on a nine hole course but only one tee off at each hole, submitted my scores for several holes on golfshake and ended with 22 , joined the club and submitted my three cards and i was given a hcp off 18 told this whas to be a temperary hcp and then i had to play in 4 comp to obtain my proper handicap ended 22 so i am happy with that and try to play in every comp i can the best i have done is finish 10th out of 45 so all i can say just keep playing and enjoy.