frustrating

hi could someone help me here,i joined a nine hole golf club and put 3 9 hole cards in to get my handicap,unlucky for me i played really well and ended up getting a 14 handicap,this is not a true reflexion of my game,im shooting 94 98 100 on par 72s,but the pro at the shop says it cant be changed so theres no point me entering any comps because ive no chance,plus to add to that ive got a really competitive friend who always wants to play to handicap,although i beat him on the card hes always winning by about 8 or 9 shots with his 26 handicap,please could someone advise because its driving me mad.

Jason, as you only put in three nine hole scores then I would assume that your handicap of 14 is for nine holes only and 28 for 18 holes.

Just done a search on this course and at 4300 from the back tees only makes it a glorified pitch and putt. You will certainly improve your short game there, but a waste of time completely for getting a handicap that you could take almost anywhere.

Why?  Play more, post scores and it will surely adjust itself?  Please correct me if I am wrong!

Cards for initial handicap award must be over a minimum of 3 x 18-hole rounds. Whoever told you otherwise needs to read the CONGU handicap booklet.

Don't accept it - they are so wrong. Don't trust pros with handicap issues.

for me as devils advocate...and dont take it the wrong way jason, theres no malice intended here...you put 3 cards in and the cards said you played to 14...so you are capable of it? I accept 18 holes are different to 9 but still....  I cant see a pro, especially if they ae good guys intentionally shafting you...did they factor in that you may have had a bad back 9?...granted it was a good day but ive had many where my handicap has flown down and ive beleived im good at this darn game only to have a 95 the next day..to put bad cards in would be to manipulate a handicap..if youve played to 14 handicap, or have gone 5-6 over on a front 9 then are you not capable fo playing to it again??

A handicapp is what you are capable of playing to on your best day, so if you can do it once for 9 holes you can do it again. You should just keep plugging away, anybody who plays to there handicap more than a few times a year is a bandit, unless they are new to the game and rapidly improving.

Forget about you friend the truth of the matter is you beat him in stroke play, your handicap is 12 shots lower you are therefore a much much better golfer. Let him have the money you still get to go haome after every round knowing you are mcuh better than he will ever be.

Do you think Tiger Woods gets upset when he plays in pro-Ams and gets beat by amatuers with dodgy handicaps.

colin, I think it should always be calculated correctly...rules are there for a reason...however as much as this is about missing congu rules i think if youve said to a pro you are happy for a handicap calcualted this way and you have agreed it is correct to then say after the event because your not playing to it it is unfair and rules werent followed is a bit naff....we have to take a bit of responsibility..and if it was calculated at 14 i cant see it going up to 26, even if its only 9 holes......i agree with garys commnets.  if youve played to it...(and he has for 9 holes 3 times??) then to want it changing now isnt right in my opinion anyway...i was offered 16 by my club after rejoining as it was still active via congu rules...but i was playing to 11 on scoretracker so told them and this is now my handicap..i struggle to play to it there but i can play to it.....if it was off 1 card you could question consistency but not off 3...just my opinion

also jason your worst points were 36 and your best 41 in your last 3 18 holes?? i would suggest you are a much lower handicapper than 26 on this basis alone/..."golf is not a game of perfect"

Gary

That is utter tosh. Are you really suggesting that a single 9-hole score is a true reflection of your playing ability? I bet that most of the players using this site have had a front nine or a back nine which, if doubled would give a handicap way below the actual one. I think all of us can remember a front nine or back nine which made us think "I've cracked it", only to be brought back down to earth. 

To extend your argument, if you had 2 pars and a birdie on 3 consecutive holes, would your playing ability be a handicap of +6?

Several points here.

You mention the proshop staff. They are not authorised to administer or award handicaps. Only a club affiliated to the National Union can appoint a handicap committee to do this.

If the 9-hole course is, as mentioned in another post, 2150 yards, then the SSS will be based on 4300 yards which means the SSS is likely to be 61. Did the proshop assess the initial handicap award against SSS 61 or against the par of the 18 holes. I suspect the latter.

You need to find out what committee exists - there must be one if it is an affiliated club - and talk to them.

You can't just put in 3 casual cards from here, there and anywhere for handicap. As I said in my last posting, you need to find out who is on your committee and establish the procedure for gaining a handicap. The minimum is 3 cards over 18 holes and most clubs will insist that they are marked by a handicap holding member. Can you tell us the name of this 9-hole course - I am starting to wonder if it is an affiliated club authorised to issue handicaps.

James I would guess it's Douglas Valley Golf Club

http://www.chillidipgolf.com/course

James

I think your the one talking tosh mate, for handicapping purposes worst case is double bogey. so after being 7 over through 9 I can't see him having the 9 worst holes of his life and double bogying everyone.

Were not talking about a medal score here, he may drop off and have 3 or 4 really bad holes getting 12's on each of them but it would not make a blind bit of diference worst case is double bogey for the calculation.Even if he had shot a 95 on the back 9 worst case is 18 over for his handicap so max hanicap he could of recieved is 25 anyway.

If most of us had to put our 3 cards in now we would be of much much lower handicaps than we are.

The double bogey rule applies only to the cards submitted for initial handicap allocation. There must be a minimum of 3 cards submitted over 18 holes, then, after the adjustment, the best is gauged against Standard Scratch Score.

Why do you think CONGU is so specific about the method of allocation? You would be just as well asking players what they think their handicap should be.

Unfortunately some clubs (well 3 to 4 from 2nd hand stories I've heard) seem to be applying there own rules.  I've a buddy who's just joined a club and they have issued a handicap 2 shots below what using the CONGU specifications provide. 

Where is the rhyme and reason in that ?  plus they potentially deter someone from competing in club comps for fair of coming last off an unrealistic handicap!

Yaes James that was my point, his initial handicap of 14 may have been a fluke but there is a good chance in the form he was in by CONGU rules applying only double bogeys to his original scorecard a handicap of 14 is no that unlickely.

I'm glad you agree, seen as before I was talking tosh.