Handicaps, what percentage are actually correct?

I have noticed that very few people I know have handicaps that actually are an indication of their ability. There seem to be two camps, the sandbaggers, and the egocaps.

The sandbaggers don't put in any of their good scores so they go into tournaments with inflated handicaps, shoot low numbers, and win everything. Smart but cheating.

The egocappers only put in their best scores or some I have known even put in scores better than they can shoot just so they can brag about how low their handicaps are. There is a guy at my club who is a +1.1 who I trounce on a regular basis playing him straight up. Dumb and cheating themselves.

I know myself that I have a tendency to forget about my underpar rounds so I guess I fit into the first group.

So what do you think?

In the handicap rules there is something about putting a cap on a really bad hole and I believe that is a good idea because there are times for whatever reason when you just blow up and that number doesn't reflect your actual ability in a general way, so to include the full score as part of your handicap is not right.

Also, let's say it is your first time at a course, it's raining with wind, you have a terrible playing from the back tees . . . it is right to post your score as it is . . . a handicap should reflect your true ability, not some anomolie. It's true that by averaging one gets closer to that, and you should never post anything higher than what you shot, but I believe that you have to be honest at times and shave a few stokes off.

For example, what if you are practicing on swing changes, experimenting on the course, many rounds are not played with the intention of trying to score as low as possible so would that round be an honest posting???

Ideally your handicap should reflect how you would shoot under competition when you are trying your best to score as low as possible, but a lot of people are never under such conditions so their handicaps will be higher, or they can not post real high rounds, or take few strokes off if they butcher a few holes like quadruple bogey, etc. I believe the handicap system does advocate something like that in order to not have inflated handicaps, but I could be wrong, I'm sure there are those here who are well informed.

Here is another example. Let's say a golfer is working on a swing change and is hitting hundreds of balls at the range for several days in a row, then goes out to practice that swing change on the course, but the wrists are very tired and the body is sore and the swing really sucks but they play 18 and shoot way over their handicap, should they post that round?

How to decide which rounds to post, that is a big question. Do you have to decide before you start the round? I was at a course where the starter asked us if we were posting and then said there were different course rules in place depending on if you were posting or not. One man was using rental clubs and he just shanked the ball all round, yet he was a -13 and a good golfer, he just couldn't deal with the rental clubs . . . he gave up on having a postable round.

It was freezing cold, I was all bundled up and couldn't swing right, kept hooking the ball into very bad places and decided midway through not to post this round as it would artificially inflate my handicap . . . is it right to make this decision mid round?

Regarding the above post, I say yes, post every round. You are only supposed to play to your handicap 10-20% of the time right? And if you shoot 18 over your regular, chances are it won't be a top 10 or your last 20 right? If that's the case, it shouldn't affect your handicap that much. You handicap is supposed to show your potential, but you don't fulfill your potential every time you step on the course. Not ever Tiger Woods has that consistency. Once you start picking and choosing which scores you are going to post, I think that crosses the sandbagger/egocapper line.

I am relatively new to the whole handicap thing. Until last year, I never had one, kept track, or even knew how the system worked.
Now, I post all my rounds, but more for my own tracking and gratification. I am currently using Yahoo! handicap tracker, but plan on signing up with my local course and the USGA once the snow melts. I haven't really seen any sandbagging, because I have yet to play in a real tournament, but I have seen some egocappers - guys that say their handicap is single digit and they play bogey golf all day long - on their home course.

I hope to play in a few tournaments this year, but the one I want to play in most, I need a single digit handicap to enter. So yea, I have a lot of work to do.

Don't you just love this game?

most of the guys i play with are avid golfers, but don't keep handicaps.

for me, i work hard to keep accurate score and post whatever it ends up being. i want to know what kind of progress i'm really making.

Equitable Stroke Control is the rule. Except most people I know don't follow it, either because they don't know or choose not to use it. The tournament software that our Men's Club uses automatically applies it to scores (not for placing in a tournament) when using those scores for handicaps.

I use it religiously. I'm a 20+ handicap, so if I'm playing a course with a slope of 130 or more, I know I'm in for a tough day. ESC makes it a little easier to swallow the big number at the end of the day.

Thank you for educating me. I had never even heard of ESC, but after looking into it, I think I am going to start using it.

Thanks for the link, I will start applying these religiously now:

There are the rules now and apply for all holes equally, no longer are there seperate rules for par 5s and par 3s Handicap -------- Maximum score on any one hole Under 9 handicap: Double Bogey 10-19---------------7 20-29---------------8 29-30---------------9 40 and over--------10 I find that I have been applying the rule correctly, not posting anything over a 7, but it's good to know that this is correct. As for posting every round . . . I may try that this year, last year I played a course several times with a slope of 154 and when the wind blows you will easily shoot over 100 if you usually shoot 80 . . . it's a tricked up course. Most people who post every round won't play there because it ruins their handicap. There are also times when it is stricly recreational golf/business and the players expect you to not take it too seriously and that makes it difficult to stricly adhere.

Technically you are supposed to enter every round except practice rounds. Basically, in order for the handicap system to work, every player must keep an accurate score, including penalty shots, every time they tee it up.

Then they must adjust their score. For instance someone with a 0-9 handicap can have a maximum score of double bogey on any given hole. I am a 2 handicap which means, for handicap purposes, to correctly enter a 18 hole score if I made a nine on a par 5 I have to change that score to a 7 in order to post it. Mind you the 9 would still count if I was in a tournament; it would only be changed prior to putting it in the computer. Because of the two reasons above, the handicapping system has flaws. Not in itself, but because the people using it are not inputting the correct information. First, people are so ignorant of the rules of golf that very few rounds are played within the rules. Therefore, without even knowing many people post rounds with lower scores than they actually shot. Then come the people that know the rules, but just put in whatever score they want, higher or lower to artificially change their handicaps the way they want them. Basically it comes down to this, so few people (myself included) use the handicapping system correctly that the numbers it produces are inevitably flawed. Unfortunately, it is the best system we have so what can we do.

I think it's important to remember or be educated on the fact that a handicap is not your "average" score over par. I think a lot of people view it as that. It is really more of a prediction of ability, and even the USGA says that you will only shoot your handicap about 10% of the time. All it takes is one decent round on a hard course, and your handicap is going to be much better than it was before.

You should have at least 5 scores to qualify, and it keeps track of your last 20 rounds.

As far as them being accurate- it's all based on the honesty of the golfer. If you fudge on the course- your handicap index is going to be fudged as well.

I'm just glad I don't do it myself, it's way too much for me. Just enter my score and it's done for me.

i had a very indepth description of how the handicap system works on another site and cant find the post so i will breifly explain somethings that do and dont affect your handicap.

do you need to enter every score...NO... why you're absolutely terrible rounds will never be used to factor your USGA handicap....here's why

the general starting number for a solid USGA handicap indes is 20 complete rounds...of these 20 only your 10 BEST not LOWEST scores are used to find your index.

by BEST not LOWEST i mean depending on the course rating, slope, and par a lower score may not be used...example: COURSE A; PAR 70 you shoot 74: COURSE B; PAR 72 you shoot 75.

course b's score is used because of it's relation to PAR. that might have been rather obvious to all of you.

now COURSE A AND B are both a par 72: you shoot 74 on A and 75 on B; if course b's slope and course rating is a little higher than course A's then it's score will be used.

the official formula for the things is this: (GROSS SCORE - COURSE RATING) * 113 / (COURSE SLOPE)

you then take your ten BEST rounds and insert them into the equation: the answer is a differential that will be used to find your true handicap.

once you have found all 10 differentials you simply add them up, average them, and multiply by .96.....or 96 %. and that number is your handicap

so if you have 22 rounds input and your ten BEST are say betweem 85- 90 putting in your round of 102 will not raise your handicap...it will have no affect whatsoever on your handicap...now if you do enter them it goes to show how honest you are being. so Kudos to you

NOW let's say that you play any old course, Augusta ...COURSE RATING 76.2 SLOPE RATING 148 (oohhh, pretty tough one there). and let's say you shoot 75, 77,77,76,80,81,74,78,78,73, ...so we have 10 rounds from augusta and we will say we have 10 rounds at our local muni all 85's there...(THE CADDIES AT AUGUSTA MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE OBVIOUSLY)

so since our ten best scores are from Augusta (you are no slouch buddy) we then figure our ten differentials:

-.92,.61,.61,-.15,2.9,3.66,-1.99,1.37,1.37,-2.44......: add em up .... 5.02 and divide by 10 ...0.502 and multiply by .96...... you're handicap index is 0.48


now you can go in and enter all the 105's you want it's only going to use the best 10....so if you went to augusta and shot 92 you would still be a .48 handicap.

I don't like the handicap system because if you are completely honest it is super hard to shoot your handicap and even harder to beat it....so if in the above scenario you would have to shoot even par or better at Augusta even though your very best round was 73...could be tough huh?

i prefer the stroke average which is what the measure on the pros....it's a more accurate representation of a players level. YOUR STOKE AVG. FOR AUGUSTA WOULD BE: 76.9

like mine, I have both and if i say oh I'm a 0.8 handicap you think wow when we get paired together on the first tee and then i shoot 80 and you think...egotistical bastard....he only puts in his best scores what a hack:

but if i tell you my stroke average 77 and then shoot 80 you think oh good guy tells the truth....i have never shot even par on any course much less broken par and yet the usga seems to think i am a 0.8....and there's a reason for that....it's supposed to be a representation of your POTENTIAL not your average score. Hope this helps

The one issue I still have with saying it doesn't matter to enter high scores is that, at least under my knowledge of handicap systems, it's the LAST 20 scores you've entered, not just 20 scores. So by not entering all your scores, you may leave some scores in the equation that shouldn't be. If you play those 10 rounds at augusta- but you had other rounds in between them, they may not all be in your 10 best.

If you are trying to keep handicap to the number, you MUST enter all scores. If you exclude high scores, it may not change your handicap MUCH or in some cases at all, but it will eventually if you are keeping over 20 scores, because they roll out.

you are right it is from your 20 most recent rounds....so enter all your scores would be the answer...a slight oversight on my part: and it appears i havent updated my handicap on here....hmmmm...maybe i should put in stroke avg.

I don't know why the USGA makes it so tough. Like I said earlier, I'm glad I don't have to keep mine manually. I'm sure I'd screw my Excel spreadsheet up.

I do have to say, I like your idea of just using scoring average. Maybe a tweak would be to say scoring average over par. (So some don't abuse with playing executive courses and whatnot). I like it because it compares international scores as well. A unified system.

The president of our handicap committee had a simple solution (at another club), if you teed off and completed your round, you were required to enter a score in the computer. If you did not, a 72 was input for you. Since the club required your crad to be timestamped and turned in, they knew that you finished the round. You can bet that people made sure their score was posted.

But that still doesn't keep people from not playing properly. I played this past summer with a couple of guys who were playing against each other for money. Glad I did not get in to the $$$ with them. I caught one of the guys mismarking his ball (very blantantly too) on the green, and only playing holes with just his wedge, including putting, so he could get a high score (he knew he was out of the hole already). Kept his handicap nice and high this way. Must be nice to try and screw your friends out of money.

I have a close friend who shot a 74 on a golf vacation and he said there was no way he was going to enter that score as it would bring his handicap down. He claimed to be a 14 handicap at the time too.

yeah...you should probably bash your friend in the head for lack of integrity. It's people like that that ruin all the good that an honest handicap system would bring to the game.

use an old driver....incase you get carried away and crack the face...or a wedge...they should hold up pretty nicely.

I have called on it and told him it is cheating. I ceased to play for moeny with him a long time ago. He and his regulars play every weekend for money too. I have noticed him rolling it over in the fairway plenty of times too.

I caught a guy playing in our daily club tournament rolling it over in the rough and giving himself putts and then inputting his score. Reported him after the round. I wish more people would do that if they saw the infractions.