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vanity handicap

post #1 of 19
8/3/09 at 4:24am
Thread Starter 
*mild rant*
lately ive been feeling ive had a vanity hcp and ive been hating telling ppl what my hcp is...
the past 3 rounds have been horrendous
shot 18 over for a 90 last sun
20 over for a 92 fri
16 over for an 88 yesterday
bogey golf all on relatively short courses between 6200 and 6600...
then i have a round today on a longer harder course (7200)
shot 7 over for a 79 pured everything...
the funny thing is when someone asked what my hcp was today... i told them id been playing bogey golf (due to the past few rounds) and i was looking like a sandbagger...
i guess im just really streaky
i know im not the only one to go thru this... a buddy of mine who's a single digit had a few rounds that were pretty bad...

anyone else go thru this?
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post #2 of 19
8/3/09 at 4:25am

Re: vanity handicap

Yeah, who doesn't. I shot a 95 once in May. I shot a 91 once in June.

I guess we all have our bad days, and our REALLY bad days. Granted, they were on extremely difficult courses, but still, no excuses I played terrible those days.
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post #3 of 19
8/3/09 at 5:21am

Re: vanity handicap

I shot a 91 a few months ago (my best to date) to get my handicap to 20.

But lately I've been shooting mid to high 90s and, on occasion, even in to the 100s (bless me). It's just annoying knowing that I can shoot low 90s and even into the 80s if I put together a good round yet I'm still having this high scores that aren't helping my handicap!! argh it's frustrating, but then again, it's golf.
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post #4 of 19
8/3/09 at 5:26am

Re: vanity handicap

Exactly what I'm experiencing the last week and a half. Ive had a few rounds in a row now shooting high 70's, one low 80's, and no rounds that even threatened par. It feels ridiculous being a (near) scratch handicap golfer and struggling to a 78, but at the same time I know that I've been fiddling around with my swing and as a result my scores are bound to fluctuate. It's also pretty easy to get in a position where scores and handicap don't correlate due to the nature of the handicap system.
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post #5 of 19
8/3/09 at 5:57am

Re: vanity handicap

I don't even think about my hdcp, when I play. It's just a rough average of your high and low scores and you can quickly start to expect to shoot your hdcp number or better. This is not realistic.

I have only been tracking my scores for about 2 months which has yielded a 16 hdcp. I would like to think I could shoot an 85-88 whenever I play but that is not what got me to a 16. I also shoot in the low 90's and, on bad days, shoot in the mid-high 90's(not many).

If I can par a hole, I think I can par any hole. I don't go into any hole hoping to save bogey. I expect to par it, at least. When I screw up, I don't get pissed off, I bear down.
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post #6 of 19
8/3/09 at 6:21am

Re: vanity handicap

I hate it too. I shoot mid-high 70's to low 80's and then go and have a blowup round on an easier course.
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post #7 of 19
8/3/09 at 6:50am

Re: vanity handicap

Your handicap is after all only 96% of the *best* half of your latest scores, so reporting a score a stroke better than your fifth best game in the last 20 isn't a bad way to give a really fast estimate.

As I understand it, having a few bad games shouldn't effect your handicap -- unless you make them a consistant habit.
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post #8 of 19
8/3/09 at 7:36am

Re: vanity handicap

Everyone go through it, but I don't care. I keep my handicap according to the rules, I don't expect to play to it all the time.
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post #9 of 19
8/3/09 at 8:15am

Re: vanity handicap

My two good friends and I are constantly updating each other on our handicaps but I think it's more of a "you can do it" thing. Nobody else asks me, nobody else cares. I go out and play rounds with folks I don't know, all that matters to them is how I am playing that day. Last week I played with a friend and one of his buddies. This guy tells me he only played three times this year so don't expect much. I end up shooting a 95, he had a 94 (thankfully, I beat my friend!). Going by my handicap I guess I should have shot 90. Who knows.

At this point, I use my handicap as a goal more than anything. I want to get to a 10 handicap and so does my two best friends. One of them is down to 11.3 and the other one is at 18. They both have broke 90, I've shot 2 rounds of 90 in a row. But they keep giving me positive feedback so it's cool. Unless you play in a lot of tournaments, I think a handicap is just another fun stat.

After all, Scorecard is where the real information lies :) I get more out of that app than anything else. The problem is, I've only entered my last 5 rounds.
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post #10 of 19
8/3/09 at 10:07am

Re: vanity handicap

I've been going through a slump recently as well but it's starting to go away. I usually shoot 4-8 over but it's been pretty bad recently. Well, the thing is I've always been told my swing and ball flight look pretty so most people can tell that I'm not playing well even when they've never seen me play. Wish my scores would be pretty when I'm playing this badly though. My handicap is just a self reference for how much I'm improving so I don't really tell people since I don't really compete with it.
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post #11 of 19
8/3/09 at 12:13pm

Re: vanity handicap

Seems like i m not the only one..LOL!

For the past 10 rounds i have been shooting in the mid 70s and on the most important day at the club tournament , i got flu and shot a 89 !
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post #12 of 19
8/3/09 at 12:47pm
Thread Starter 

Re: vanity handicap

whew thanks for the reassurances guys...
i thought once i broke into single digits id reach some kinda zen plateau and be mr instantly consistant... boy was i wrong...
i just saw other threads with guys knowing about +2's and they totally stink...
i didnt wanna be that guy... (not that im a + or even hint that i am)

and i dont volunteer my hcp... for some reason its comes up in conversation during play... like "where ya from... have you played here before... etc etc" small talk...

oh yeah... if i can have one excuse its that ive been working with my pro on gaining more distance with mixed results
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post #13 of 19
8/3/09 at 1:17pm

Re: vanity handicap

Same here - had to sit out a couple of months due to illness, and after starting to play again i´m all over the place with my scores - mostly in the 80s - 2 90s but also 2 mid 70s this year.

I just type my results into the scorecard software (since i havent played a tourney for ages) and be quite happy with it, what it tells me my hcp is.
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post #14 of 19
8/3/09 at 1:30pm

Re: vanity handicap

Originally Posted by flopdarock View Post
and i dont volunteer my hcp... for some reason its comes up in conversation during play... like "where ya from... have you played here before... etc etc" small talk...
That's so strange to me, for some reason. I play a fair share of rounds with folks I don't know and I can't ever remember talking about handicaps. I'm sure you don't just up and say "Hey, I'm ---- and my handicap is --" ahaha. I think if someone asked me I'd be a bit shy about it. Reading this thread, it tells me how pointless it is to know someone's handicap that you are probably going to only play that one round with. You know your game better than anyone but you can have that off day - after you told your playing partner, "Yeah, I'm an 8" or whatever. Then you go out and shoot like me, 90-95 or something.
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post #15 of 19
8/3/09 at 1:51pm

Re: vanity handicap

John Daly shot an 88 friday.
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post #16 of 19
8/3/09 at 9:08pm
Thread Starter 

Re: vanity handicap

Originally Posted by whetstone View Post
John Daly shot an 88 friday.
its because of the pants
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post #17 of 19
8/3/09 at 10:36pm

Re: vanity handicap

I seem to be able to have a 10 stroke swing from round to round. Scores don't upset me if I play well, but just have some bad luck. What drives me crazy is when you play crappy and score crappy.

Also don't forget ESC does not let your handicap slip too fast. As an 18 under the RCGA system ESC won't let me take more than 2 over par so it is very hard to let my cap slip up to 19. At 19 the RCGA system lets you take 3 over par. As I tend to get lots of pars, the odd Birdie and then a 9 or something stupid like that on a few holes ESC can shave 5 or 6 strokes off my round for HDCP purposes when I have two or three really bad holes.
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post #18 of 19
8/4/09 at 12:31pm

Re: vanity handicap

Stupid game. I've managed to get my Index down to 10.7. First 3 rounds of July: 79, 81, 79. Last 4 rounds: 98, 97, 94, 97. Guess which 3 count.
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