Playing to your handicap

[Lou Reed]

I currently have a handicap of seven. A few years back I was off five and during such time I have failed to really play to my handicap.

One factor for sure is a change of membership to a much more difficult course. However, whats the point in having a handicap if you don't a least try and beat it?

So I pose the question, how am I going to play to my handicap in future? I would like to hear from anyone but especially golfers who have let their game go and turned it around....

[Zeph]

If you don't play to your handicap, record all rounds and see where you end up. You are not supposed to play to your handicap, the handicap indicates your skill level. The handicap system also works in a way that you won't play to your handicap most of the times. Slope value and rating is supposed to even out differences on the courses, but some variations will always be present. Your local course will always be where you play your best. You are comfortable with it and know exactly how to play it. In time you may get better at parts of the game on the new course you didn't face on the old one.

If your game has gotten worse, the only way to play to your handicap must be to find out where you lose strokes and work on it.

[hippyboy]

I read somewhere that if your handicap is right you should only hit it once in every 7 rounds & go one under it every 35 rounds. when playing off 5 or 7 thats pretty tough.

[timtim]

I read somewhere that if your handicap is right you should only hit it once in every 7 rounds & go one under it every 35 rounds. when playing off 5 or 7 thats pretty tough.

I have read it was 1 out of every 4. My question is, when he plays a more difficult course, what changes for him, his handicap, or the course's par? Is it possible that he is not making a calculation based on the course that is even making playing to his handicap more difficult? I would think that if I were a 7 on one par 72 course, I would either be a 9 on a more difficult course, or I would still be a 7 and the course would be a 74 for me. How does that work? He could be shooting an 81 and actually shooting his handicap even if he was used to shooting a 79 on his old course.

[NotAStick]

I have read it was 1 out of every 4. My question is, when he plays a more difficult course, what changes for him, his handicap, or the course's par? Is it possible that he is not making a calculation based on the course that is even making playing to his handicap more difficult? I would think that if I were a 7 on one par 72 course, I would either be a 9 on a more difficult course, or I would still be a 7 and the course would be a 74 for me. How does that work? He could be shooting an 81 and actually shooting his handicap even if he was used to shooting a 79 on his old course.

The USGA provides a "local" course handicap.

You input your index and the slope/rating and it tells you your local handicap. You should always play against that, rather than the index. Especially when competing with someone at a very different level. High slope courses will bring up the local index of higher handicappers. High rating courses will affect the low handicappers more. That said, I find that I score higher differentials than I "should" on harder courses. When I play courses that have a rating near par, I average near par. When I play courses that have a +2 over par rating, I think I shoot more like +4 or +5 on average. When I play courses that are under par ratings, I tend to have a much better chance to go low and very seldom shoot higher scores. I think that's a result of my short game being strong and my long game having some inconsistency. Every course is different and the rating/slope doesn't always perfectly compensate for everyone's game.