How do you use your Handicap?

I know there have been many handicap threads, and if this has been discussed, I apologize.  But I was wanting to know how you use your handicap?  Do you use it in tournament play?   As a personal measure?   For bragging rights?

All the above?

Personally, I had never even attempted to calculate my handicap until joining this forum.  My handicap on here is not official, but I think is accurate.

I understand the thought behind the handicap system, but have a hard time with it.  Competitive sports should not "level the playing field", IMO.  Or do I have the wrong idea about handicaps?

I use it for net competitions at my golf club. I hate net comps, they are bullshit for low handicaps. Last year my mate who is the reigning club champ shot a 66 off the stick playing off +2 and got beaten by 5 shots in the competition by a 25+ handicapper. How that is fair, I have no idea.

Thats what I mean.  I could never feel good about beating anybody if I had to use strokes to do it.

I think it's the best measure of the overall "quality" of your golf.  I use mine to set my high level goals for the year.  I have other more specific goals as well (fewer 3 putts, higher GIR, etc) but I always have a goal for my handicap.

If a 25+ handicapper beats a true +2 by 5 strokes there's something wrong with the way the tournament was set up, one of their handicaps wasn't accurate or someone played way above or below their ability.

As a former league bowler I appreciate the benefits of a handicap when they are applied properly.  No one except top level bowlers would participate in money bowling leagues if a handicap structure wasn't implemented.  Why would a 160 average bowler pay money to compete straight up with a 220 average bowler?

Handicaps keep the playing field fairly level and allow everyone to participate and have a fair shot at winning.  Most bowling leagues use an 80% handicapping system so in the above example, the 25 handicapper wouldn't get 27 strokes he'd get 21 or 22.  80% seems to be a good normalizer and allows people of varying levels to compete fairly.  The system is only as good as the accuracy of the handicaps.  If people are carrying vanity handicaps or are sand baggers then the results will be skewed.

Your friend lost, but he's a much better player. The guy who won surely knows this too. Net competitions do give bad players the incentive to compete (in net events), that's all.  For example, the "low net" winner at most Club Championships I've been involved with would never actually refer to themselves as the Club Champion - that would be pretty lame.

But if one golfer played a little above his ability (the high capper) and one played a little below (the 2), then wouldn't a 5 stroke differential be conceivable?

I was trying to think of any other sport that used a handicap system and bowling came to mind.

I guess it just comes down to whether or not you agree with an "equalizing" system.  In a sport or competition, I think it's kind of ridiculous.  If you don't have the actual ability to compete, you shouldn't.  If I am inherently worse at a sport than my competition, I don't expect a "modified" scoring system to give me a shot at winning.  That is not fair at all, IMO.

Was a poor tournament format,,had they flighted the tournament, neither would have been in the same flight.  Most clubs use flights to not only eliminate such skill differences, but to also make the individual competitors have a bit more fun by playing with similar handicaps.

When I run into a poor format as you describe,,the answer is to simply not participate.

Using handicaps to flight tournaments makes more sense. What is the stroke variance within each flight typically?    Do you still get to use your strokes/handicap?  Or are you straight stroke play against your flight?

Straight up unless the 25 handicapper is a serious sandbagger he's never going to beat a +2.  On a Par 70 course, the 25 handicapper is going to shoot 95, the +2 is going to shoot 68 straight up.  If 80% handicap is used then the 25 handicappers net score is 75 - meaning the +2 would have to shoot a 80 to lose by 5 strokes.  It's conceivable, but also means the +2 had a really bad day or the course wasn't conducive to his play.

I currently participate in running races (5K's, 10K's, 1/2 marathons and marathons).  I'm not fast but can run the distances.  Every race I enter, it's to race against previous times since I have no shot at winning straight up.  Even with age categories it's not a level playing field as some people are 3-4 min/mile faster than I am.  It takes a different mind set when you're a competitor to compete in an event you know up front you have no chance in winning.

I think handicaps help make it more fun for everyone, but as Sean Miller stated, anyone that wins using their handicap in a net tournament is a fool to think that makes them the champion.

It depends on how many players are entered overall.  Usually the Championship flight is gross, with lower flights being net.

A good number for each flight is around 10.   Although, that number can be increased or decreased to make the handicap spread less for a given flight.  Only in the lowest flight is there normally a larger handicap difference,,and the ideal variance should be less than 2-3 but that isnt always possible.

Our club also allows a player to "declare up" to a higher flight, but never down.  Many times a player on the bubble will decide to declare up, perhaps due to coming off injury, a few bad rounds, or to play with their normal partners, or just to see how they can actually do in the Championship flight.

The way we play is net + matchplay.. difference in handicap, thats how many holes you get a stroke on, starting at the hardest hole.

So at the end, its how many holes you won + 2 points for net. It really even things out, but we never play againts anyone more than a few handicaps above or bellow us.

I never liked the handicap system myself. I only recently started tracking mine on yahoo just because its a representation of how well or badly I play over the long run, and that is it. I think that's all it should ever be used for. I personally don't believe that if someone earned a 75 or a 95 that they should be netted anything other than the score that they shot any any tournament form. Its like scoring an A on a test by getting the questions right, but the instructor throws questions out and gives the others points because "too many people missed it." Too many people didn't study, but they get my grade because the instructor/professor wants to be "fair."

I say to netting! When I get myself into competition fashion, I will not enter netted events. If I manage to shoot below par then great. If I shoot a 75 then I don't expect to win because the guy who shot a 73 only netted 3 strokes and I was able to net 6.

I use mine to keep track of my overall progress.  I know that as I see mine drop that I'm playing better.  I also like it because it takes into account the difficulty of each course so it kind of gives me an idea of what I should shoot at a particular course.

And as far as leveling the playing field, I think that is one of the cool things about golf.  In other sports if you aren't at the same ability as somebody else you can't really compete against each other and there is no fun in it as one person will win each and every time.  In golf, the handicap system gives players of differing abilities the chance to win.  That's not to say that 18 capper is better than a scratch (obviously not the case), but if done right, the handicaps give them a way to compete against each other and still keep it fair.  The problem is that a lot of times the handicaps aren't kept accurately and so you either have people with vanity caps or they are sandbagging.

As far as the above referenced tournament, I agree that it should have been flighted... it just works out better that way.

How is it fair? You have "no idea"?

It is fair because it was a net competition.

It is pretty obvious that people who whine about net competitions areen't members of clubs where the majority of players are older guys with high handicaps.

The 25 handicapper beat his own handicap by more than your mate. IT's that simple.

What are they supposed to do - say "Oh , even though it was a net competition we're going to award te net prize to someone who didn't win becauase he played a great round?

Come on.....he would have won the scratch component of the competition.

Obviously, it is easier for a 25 marjker to play 5 under his handicap than it is for a +2 marker to play 5 under his, but that is WHY we have handicaps.

So that there is competition. It's not a measure of who is the best golfer, that is obvious, it's simply a net competition. And ------ surely the competition is graded. Your mate wouldn't have been in the same competition as the 25 marker.

Now....if you had said that the 25 marker was declared the club champion,that would be something else.

I've golfed for over 40yrs and if it wasn't for the handicap system I'd would have had little comptetition golf... why? Think about it, if you only wanted to compete against those within a few shots of you that would severly limit how many people you'd play with/against. And as an aside, it would severly limit how many new friends you would have made down the years.

Also, competing against competitors with vastly different handicaps in a matchplay game concentrates the mind.

Every dog has his day, and just occasionally you'll post a stellar score and another dog will beat you. Take on the chin, and bear in mind you will have your day. Life's too short to worry about why you can't win every week.

Use handicaps every week. Play off low player's handicap and everyone gets strokes on holes based on the holes' handicaps. We play cart against cart, low ball, low total. The holes are not really rated hardest to easiest. The hole handicap is supposed to be based on the difference between a par golfer and a boggy golfer. That means the #1 hole is the hole most likely to have a better golfer beat a less better golfer. Odds on front nine and even number handicap holes on the back nine.

Handicaps make every week competitive regardless of who partners with whom. In our group, low guy gets no strokes, one guy get 4, another 11, and the high handicap guy gets 19 (so on the #1 handicap hole he gets two strokes -- the hole is a short but dangerous par four.)

Exactly.

It is pretty clear that people who complain don't actually understand what handicaps are or how they work.

They think that if they are 25 years old and shoot 75 against a 70 year old  who's had a heart transplant and plays off 16, and the old guy has nett 69 and he has nett 70, the handicap system is "bullshit".

In the same way that if Tiger Woods played with a 60 year old 10 marker who had nett 64 to his 65 off the stick  the handicap system is "bullshit".

The 25 markers at my club don't see the scratch marker as their competition andte scratch marker certainly doesn't see the 25 marker as their competition, except in the nett component of the competition which they don't care about.

What could be a bigger loser than someone who shoots 66 off the stick and feels robbed because a 25 marker shot 89?