Is my 11 handicap valid?

Hello All:

I am having trouble believing I am an 11 handicap.  Here is some background.  I play only between 12-16 rounds per year.  I have had an established handicap for 15 years.  I shoot in the high 70's on a very good day, and on a bad day, I am in the mid 90's.  Last year my best round was a 79, and my worst was a 96.  I played the other day and was horrible with a 100.  Is this the norm?  I just really don't feel like an 11 handicap, especially after carding my first 100 in quite a few years.  Does an 11 handicap shoot a 100 once in a great while?   I know I am physically capable of some pretty decent golf, so could my hang up be mental?  Any info/advice is greatly appreciated.

Well your hc is based on your past 20 rounds and the top 10 are used so that 100 will have no affect on your score so it is very possible since your prob using rounds from last year and half its def possible.

Depends on the course you play.  If you assume its rating/slope are 70/120, then playing to your index would be about an 82.  You should shoot a 79 once every 3-4 years assuming your handicap is stable, you play about 16 rounds a year, and you trust the "exceptional scores" probability tables put out by the USGA (http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=25495).  Most of your rounds will probably be mid-80s.  So it sounds like this is pretty plausible.

Here is something that might help you out. Check this out and make sure you are calculating them correctly.

Golf Handicap Calculation - Step 1
A minimum of five scores and a maximum of 20 is required to get started. Remember, when posting scores for handicaps, you must your adjusted gross scores . For each score, the USGA Course Rating and Slope Rating for the courses played are also required. Using those figures, calculate the handicap differential for each round entered using this formula:

(Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating

For example, let's say the score is 85, the course rating 72.2, the slope 131. The formula would be (85 - 72.2) x 113 / 131.

This differential is calculated for each round entered.

(Note: The number 113 represents the slope rating of a golf course of average difficulty, as set by the USGA.)

Golf Handicap Calculation - Step 2
Figure out how many differentials are being used. Not every differential that results from Step 1 will be used in the next step. If only five rounds are entered, only the lowest differential will be used. If 20 rounds are entered, only the 10 lowest differentials are used. A chart at the bottom of this page shows how many differentials are used based on the number of rounds entered.

Golf Handicap Calculation - Step 3
Get an average of the differentials used by adding them together and dividing by the number used (i.e., if five differentials are used, add them up and divide by five).

Multiply the result by .96 (96-percent). Drop all the digits after the tenths (do not round off) and the result is handicap index.

Number of Differentials Used

Thanks all........great help........one of the questions I still have is does an 11 handicapper shoot a 100 every once in a great while?

Well, let's put it this way... you are a legit 11 hcp, you shot 100, so to answer your question, yes.

OK then, are there any other 11 ish handicappers out there that shoot a 100 every once in a great while?

OK, let me put it another way.....are there any other 11 ish handicappers out there that shoot a once in a great while 100?

I am a single digit and had a horrific experience at the course last year and shot a 95....so I would say yes.....an 11 occasionally can squeeze out a 100.....but it shouldnt be very often.

I think this says it all.  You just dont play enough to have a ton of consistency.  but if you are reaching the seventies you are obviously a good golfer, tho.

Well, I'm a 28 handicapper and I very occasionally shoot a 120...  Anything can happen.  If you're that far off your usual score, there's probably something.  If it's on an unfamiliar course, during unusually bad weather, after a long break, or followed a lot of exertion over the preceding days, those could all make for an uncharacteristically bad round.  My own miserable rounds have all come on unfamiliar courses in either rainy weather (which I don't see in So Cal very often, certainly never on the golf course) or after a few days of intense golf when I've just been worn down.  In those cases, it's not that I'm hitting errant shots or missing putts, it's just that I hit a lot of duffs and finding atypical swing flaws.  For me, those rounds are clearly different from just having a bad day, so I don't let them get to me.

Higher-handicappers like me are more likely to have these swings since we've probably got generally less consistent swings, but there's no limit to how bad a day one can have at any handicap...

Could happen, I followed up 18 hole rounds of 77 and 79 early last year with a 9 hole round of 49 (and I didn't feel like I would have turned it around much on the back 9).  So don't sweat it too much.  Playing a little more frequently would probably get rid of the occasional high 90's-100 round.

Yep, I am one of them.  Current index is an 11.4 and my last 10 rounds are:

83, 87, 100, 89, 78, 103, 88, 89, 83, 98

Course and slope rating seem to have almost no bearing on my scores - its part mental (I get down on myself when I start playing bad) and part fatigue, because I recently realized that the 100, 103 and 98 were when I was carrying my bag and all the other scores I was using a pull cart.  Since the handicap formula throws out the worst 50% of your scores, you could alternate shooing 75 and 150 and be a single digit handicap.

I think I'm a bit unusual because my good shots are really good, easily low single digit quality, but I still hit quite a few chunks, blades, monster hooks, etc.  My dad is a 6 or 7 handicap and he can't hit some of the shots I can, but he hits it solid or close to solid almost every time.

Yep, I am one of them.  Current index is an 11.4 and my last 10 rounds are:

83, 87, 100, 89, 78, 103, 88, 89, 83, 98

Course and slope rating seem to have almost no bearing on my scores - its part mental (I get down on myself when I start playing bad) and part fatigue, because I recently realized that the 100, 103 and 98 were when I was carrying my bag and all the other scores I was using a pull cart.  Since the handicap formula throws out the worst 50% of your scores, you could alternate shooing 75 and 150 and be a single digit handicap.

I think I'm a bit unusual because my good shots are really good, easily low single digit quality, but I still hit quite a few chunks, blades, monster hooks, etc.  My dad is a 6 or 7 handicap and he can't hit some of the shots I can, but he hits it solid or close to solid almost every time.

Basically, YES, I'm a 12hcp, I haven't had a very good year due to family health reasons (but that's another story), my mind has had terrible trouble focusing on the game etc which has effected my game, I have posted some mid 90's rounds, however, my hcp has held at 12, my good rounds are around the Hi 70's- Lo 80's, so I guess it does even itself out.

I'm an 11.2 handicap and shot a 98 last week (difficult course and longer than I usually play (6700yds)).

I will shoot in the 90's more frequently than I break 80.

You are normal.

Thank you all.....Misery sure does love company.  Now to go to work on a bit more "ball striking consistency".

Don