Handicaps

Hi fella golfers, been having a discussion with a fellow golfer about how they set set handicaps on golf courses, I thought it was to do with players filling in cards, but he seems to think that a pro will set them.

I thought you had to put in 3 cards for that course and your handicap is worked out from them.

It can be a bit of both. To get a Congu handicap you must be a member of a club and have submitted a minimum of 3 cards from your home club. Normally your handicap will be set to the best of those 3 cards. The club should have a handicap committee which can include the Pro and the handicap committee can set someone's handicap different to the best result of the three cards if they are aware of the players history. e.g. when my husband joined he hadn't played for 16 years but used to be a scratch golfer. His best card was a 14 handicap but they actually started him off on a 7 as they knew his background and felt 14 was way too high.

Hi fella golfers, my original post, wasn't how you get a handicap by playing, but who determines what holes are 3's 4's 5's and what SI they are (mainly the SI question)

Par for the hole is set by the course management, mainly based on hole lengths (certain lengths of hole can span different Par's)

SI for holes are determined by the same people usually (and can set for stroke play, or Matchplay ... some courses have two sets of SI, some only use one). There is a set of rules for setting SI (listed in the Congo manual I believe) but many courses don't bother and simply set them according to the difficulty of the hole.

The SSS for the course again is determined by EGU (or local union rep) and is calculated with the help of detailed manual (that can be seen online if you really want to read it). The basis Of it is how a scratch golfer would play the course and includes details of bunker placement, landing areas width of fairways etc.

Thank's for that Brian, I knew there was quiet a bit to it, but it strange when you play certain courses, and the hole they have as SI 1 is not as hard as maybe SI 3 or 4

Graham, this is where local knowledge comes in. SI 1 may be a hole 420yds long, while SI 3 is 440yds long. if they are both on level ground and similar in design you may find SI 1 plays into the prevailing wind. This is a very complex subject and instead of giving all the criteria, feel free to ask any specific question. Someone will answer it for you.

Thank's for that, just wondered how they got the SI 1 - SI 18 in the first place, I suppose over the years as players hand their cards in, they would get an actual idea of what number of shots golfers actually play on each hole and can change them, I played at Ligfield for some time and they changed the par 4 5th from one to two and made the 15th par 5 one, anybody that has played Lingfield will probably agree that the 5th is harder than the 15th.

Graham, just having a quick look at Lingfield's card sees that 1 - 9 are even SI's and 10 - 18 are odds. This is the usual format (or 1 - 9 odd / 10 - 18 even) so moving SI 1 from 5 to 15 isn't too unusual. Having said that some course don't use this configuration. Many Clubs have used computer programmes to record scores (HowdidIdo is one) for a few years now so can easily see which are the hard holes.

Thank's David, yes that sounds fair using that programme, I don't know what SI four is at The Masters but they are all struggling

The 4th at Augusta is a 230yd par three, SI 1. BTW, Augusta is one of the courses that doesn't have SI's of the same odd/even for each 9.