Handicap woes... (mild rant)

[Paddymaster]

Honesty, it's starting to bother me how everyone is hung up on handicap. I don't really believe handicap really tells how good a player is. I even question how many people on Thesandtrap forum have an official handicap. I know I don't. I also don't see the point of trying to be better than people on this forum because it's impossible to tell if someone is being truthful. For all you know, I may shoot 120's. Also, some people play easier courses than others. I just think people should relax and stop trying to judge people via internet because it's impossible. Just keep it in mind.

P.S. I shoot high 100's, but I hit a pitching wedge 230 yards :P

[microcrayfish]

To be honest, I don't see a lot of people "trying to be better than people on this forum" around here. From what I've seen nobody's gone and told anybody else that they're crap or not as good as them at golf on the basis of the little number under their username.There is a bit of judging based on the handicaps that people display but usually it's when someone asks a question and gets told to work on their short game like another recent thread mentioned.

A lot of the handicaps on here are guesses, mine is/was (I've actually got one now so I should change that on here). If you don't want to you don't have to put your handicap up on here for people to see. It's a little hypocritical to complain about people being hung up on handicap yet still post one that's not even official. You're putting yourself out there to be judged if you decide to make you handicap known to everyone else.

[DaveLeeNC]

I play with a group of 16 guys with indexes ranging from 3 to 23. We play team type competitions (handicap adjusted) and doing that you develop a real appreciation for the handicap system. We can mix/match folks about anyway we please with no one being particularly advantaged or disadvantaged.

Try that in tennis.

dave

[neudi]

You can go to GHIN's website and type in someone's name and it brings up their handicap. If they are lying on their scores then it only hurts them.

[ryohazuki222]

I play with a group of 16 guys with indexes ranging from 3 to 23. We play team type competitions (handicap adjusted) and doing that you develop a real appreciation for the handicap system. We can mix/match folks about anyway we please with no one being particularly advantaged or disadvantaged.

Funny that you bring up tennis. I'm assuming you're familiar with their system then? Maybe you can answer something for me (as I still consider myself new to the game of golf.... I grew up playing tennis and know the sport well.)

In tennis there is a big problem with "sandbagging"... ie.. players rate themselves below their ability so that they can play easier opponents and win more. In my experience, this is more among the 35+ ages than youths. I've also found that the youths about 25 and under really overestimate their rating, and aren't good enough to deserve the rating they give themselves. These are just generalizations. So in golf, what's the deal? I've gotten the impression that most people claim lower (or better) handicaps than their ability. But that's disadvantageous isn't it? I wonder if there are many who claim higher handicaps for more free strokes? (Sidenote: I find myself constantly amazed at the fact that because of handicaps and the way the sport is itself... you can still have fun playing with people of varying levels. Like you imply.... tennis isn't a game you have fun with when there is too much gap in ability.)

[microcrayfish]

Funny that you bring up tennis. I'm assuming you're familiar with their system then? Maybe you can answer something for me (as I still consider myself new to the game of golf.... I grew up playing tennis and know the sport well.)

People sandbag a lot in golf too, people inflate their scores to win tournaments all the time. I think you'll find that people are more likely to tell you a lower handicap than they actually have to brag but when it comes down to the official handicap sandbagging is the more common form of cheating. It's a lot easier to miss a putt on purpose or duff a shot in the fairway than to write down the wrong score and get away with it, especially with the marker system in golf.

[Paddymaster]

I'm not completely sure you are understanding what I'm saying. I like the handicap system because it works. I just dislike some of the people going around putting down some people that are higher handicaps. Now I'm not saying many people do, but recently I've seen a lot. While handicap is a good measure, people, like myself, could be higher or lower if it's unofficial.
Say we were to get in an argument and your say a 3 handicap, you may say, "what do you know, your a 10." Whether I'm a 10 or not, it doesn't really explain myself as a golfer. I just think it's too bad that some people abuse the handicap index, which can roughly tell how good a player is, and think it describes every golfer completely. So in the end, I just dislike the people abusing the handicap index to put another player down. I'm not blaming handicap, I'm shunning the people. I just want to see what you guys think.

P.S. TONS of golfers have helped me that have been higher. Yet I have seen a few others discount what others have said because of higher handicap

[Blades4me]

Honesty, it's starting to bother me how everyone is hung up on handicap. I don't really believe handicap really tells how good a player is. I even question how many people on Thesandtrap forum have an official handicap. I know I don't. I also don't see the point of trying to be better than people on this forum because it's impossible to tell if someone is being truthful. For all you know, I may shoot 120's. Also, some people play easier courses than others. I just think people should relax and stop trying to judge people via internet because it's impossible. Just keep it in mind.

I believe I've read that only approimately 20% of all golfers carry a hc. Note, if you are going to play tournaments or money games you will need to have a hc.

I agree that we do put too much emphasis on hc and it gets even worse when its either a vanity hc or sand bagger. But all of that aside what a hc does is level the playing field, oh and gives the USGA a job. LOL, you are right, we all play great golf............on the internet.

[DaveLeeNC]

Funny that you bring up tennis. I'm assuming you're familiar with their system then? Maybe you can answer something for me (as I still consider myself new to the game of golf.... I grew up playing tennis and know the sport well.)

Golf has 'sandbaggers' (guys who are better than their index) and 'vanity handicappers' (guys who are not as good as their index). Each can cause problems but in different ways.

The traditional sandbagger problem would be a 'member-guest' tournament at a high end private golf club (two man teams) where there is some serious prizes at stake (set of Titleist irons maybe). The vanity handicapper problem is only a problem in team formats where the team suffers. Golf has much more 'granularity' in its rating system than the only tennis rating system that I am familiar with (USTA ratings). In my estimation the 'average accuracy' of a USTA rating and the 'average accuracy' of a handicap is similar. dave

[McGolf-Doggie]

To be honest, I don't see a lot of people "trying to be better than people on this forum" around here.

+1.

People here have been really helpful in my experience.

[alcorn]

I think your wrong on this one man.. I've not yet seen a member come out and say "you suck because your handicap is such and such" . I have seen people point out the differences between a Joe Average with a 25 handicap and Bill Goat with a 10 or 12. I'm even guilty of making those types of generalizations but they weren't ever ment to make any one think that.

As far as my handicap goes its a generalization but I'm going to be getting an official one very soon.