how much is too much?

hi guys. new member here looking for some general advice . I took up golf properly last year. initial handicap was 23. I've since got it down to 18. my course is quite a long par 70. never broke 87. I recently played one of the smaller local courses (9 hole twice round. , par 64,8 par 3's) I had a good round. gross 78, net 60. I've since been taken down to 14.5. which is 3.5 shots off my handicap. the handicap official Stated when I came in that he's been dying to cutt me. I've had 3acores under par in a year. 2 -1 and 1 -2. so hardly winning everything. in fact Sunday was the first thing I have one. my goal was 15 for the year. so I'm happy I've achieved it. not complaining at all. I'll just have to practice more to play to it. i am just wondering if other people have experienced something similar? as at my course it seems to be certain people are being cutt excessively just because the official says so. thanks Leo

We am a member of our handicap committee.  When we adjust a player's handicap, we provide a specific explanation.  Most often a player comes to our attention by placing frequently in the money during our net tournaments.  Out of 200+ members we only adjust 4-5 members.  In no way is the adjustment an accusation of handicap manipulation or sandbagging.  Some people just improve faster than their index does so we slow them down until the index catches up.  The adjustments are typically 1-2 strokes on their course handicap but in the case of someone who wins a lot, it could go higher.

You're a 14.5 and you have 3 rounds under par?  Are those net or gross?  If gross, then I'd be wanting to adjust you too.

My lowest handicap ever was 9.6 and I never shot a round under par gross (my personal best is one over par 73).  I've shot plenty of rounds under par net, but that's a whole other story.

course they are net. if it was gross I'd be expecting them to take more off. . scores of 88 x2 and 87. on the par 70 course. 79 on the par 64 9hole course

In that case I don't think that they have any reason to reduce you.  It certainly wouldn't happen over here.  The handicap system is designed to take care of any adjustments for lower scores by placing more emphasis on one's lower scores and generally ignoring the higher ones.  I wouldn't consider your scoring to be exceptional.

We have a completely different system in the US than you do here but it is possible for your handicap to go down quickly as we revise 2x month. i.e. I was a 7.7 June 15 and was down to a 3.4 Aug 1. I definitely felt I was a more competitive 5.8 the first part of July than I feel now. With that said, under our system, I know exactly what my handicap is going to be based on the scores I shoot, course rating and slopes of the courses I played. It sounds like your system has some subjectivity to it that our system does not (for the most part). What was the course rating/slope on the par 64?

I don't think it has anything to do with the system, I think it's more the handicap official bringing me down cause he can. his actual words. I'm not getting what u mean by slopes?

CR/slope rating.

sorry still unsure of what u mean.

In the US, all qualifying courses for the handicap system are rated by a team, usually from the state or regional golf association.  By a fairly detailed process the course is assigned a rating and slope for each set of tees, adjusted for men and women.  The rating is a number that relates to the posted par and is supposed to reflect the average score that a scratch player would make from a given set of tees.  The slope rating is a number (not really related to any actual measurement) that reflects the relative difficulty of the course for a bogey golfer.  Both numbers are used in the calculations for determining a player's handicap index and in applying that index to calculate his course handicap for a tee set.  The US system uses the lowest 10 of a player's last 20 submitted scores to determine his index.  It would be noted on the scorecard like this:  72.1/135 where 72.1 is the rating and 135 is the slope.

Roughly speaking the course rating is the scratch rating, and the slope rating is the difficulty for bogey golfers. I'm guessing that you do not play that many courses, because usually 14.5 handicaps would know by the first or second time they play another course? The bogey rating or slope gives you some idea how hard it will be for a bogey golfer. EDIT: Fourputt already answered.

ok got ye now: we use Stoke index. so the hardest hole is Stoke index 1. meaning a player off 1, get his 1 Stoke at this hole etc etc. my course standard scratch is 70. course I played to get cut s.s is a 64.

Do you mean stroke index in stableford scoring? That would be completely different. The slope rating is simply how difficult the course is for a bogey golfer. . . Example: 72/130 and 72/145 would be roughly the same difficulty for a scratch golfer but the 145 slope would be much harder for the bogey golfer than the 130 slope rated course.

never heard of that over in Scotland tbh and played a few different courses. gettitn a bit off point from what initial question was.

however thanks tho

The handicap committees love cutting people off into the next level up. I suppose this happens everywhere.

They want to "protect the field" so to speak. There are a lot of established players that are potentially not going to be improving by that much due to any number of factors. You appear to be new to the game improving rapidly, so to put you into the same category as someone who's been playing your level for many years is not exactly fair to them. You have the potential to out shoot them on the next match, simply because you are not close to your ultimate ability.

Sure, hope that was a decent enough explanation.

yeah I understand that and I'm often told I the ball too well for a 18 handicap. unfortuanetly I have a problem controlling direction, so unusually have 1or5 blow out holes a round. might have something to do with the fact I have the handicap secretarie in the next round of the cup.

This is more likely than the latter. Really, just enjoy your improvements for the upcoming years. . .