Club Championship season

[NCGolfer]

You better get it together for the Newport Cup. You are going to have to carry me this year.

Well, I followed my 78 up with a 71 on Monday at one of the courses we're playing...so hopefully that is a sign of things to come.

[mgresh]

Mine is over Labor Day weekend (weekend after next) and it is match play. I have to play a qualifying round from the tips (75.0/142) which I don't play from all that often as it is hard to get a game from there I'm with most of you guys in that I think stroke play is the better way to go for the "accepted" club champ but mine is what it is so I must do with what I have. I am on the upper end (as in higher) as far as indices go from championship flight (which I have to qualify for) so I hope to just have a great weekend...two 18-hole matches and, God willing, a 36-hole final.

[ragontona]

September 16th for me. I still haven't decided if I'm in yet or not though. I'm not exactly lighting it up on the greens right now. I've still got a little bit of time to get things worked out. If I can get things at least to "mediocre," I'll probably throw my hat in the ring...

[NM Golf]

Mine is the 9th and 10th of September. I need to get the game in gear. Just finished the 2 man best ball at my club, my partner and I shot 64-72 and finished second. If I can play like I did the first day of that tourney I will be tough to beat.

[Everardo]

Mine isn't until December 9th and 10th and because the dates were changed later on I won't be able to play since I'll be on vacation

[underparnv]

Mine was just this past weekend. I went into the thing with a 6.2 index...and was hot!

I shot 73 the first day. Three off the scratch lead (in the lead on the handicap side) in the championship flight. Second day...75. Finished 8 back of the scratch winner...but I won the handicap portion.

My putting absolutely stank over the weekend. I think I made one putt over 10 feet and it was a 25 footer for birdie on the 16th of the last day.

I guess there's always next year...right?!

[greenail]

I entered in my club championship just so I get some tee times next weekend. top 1/3rd wins something so I may get lucky.

[iacas]

Mine was just this past weekend. I went into the thing with a 6.2 index...and was hot!

What are the odds of shooting the scores you shot?

[underparnv]

Hey iacas,

I'm not sure what the odds of me shooting that are, but I have done it a couple of times over my last four rounds. Obviously, my 6.2 index should go down, but as of the last revision, per the USGA, my index is a 6.2.

[iacas]

Hey iacas,

I was asking you to

look them up . I don't know your course's slope, etc. But it seems to me you shot well below your handicap.

[underparnv]

I was asking you to

I guess I'm a bit of a tard, because I'm not sure how to read that table.

The slope and rating of the course is 123/70.6 respectively. So my differentials for each round: 75: 4.0 78: 6.7 Doesn't look like too much under my handicap to me...

[iacas]

Mine was just this past weekend. I went into the thing with a 6.2 index...and was hot!

I guess I'm a bit of a tard, because I'm not sure how to read that table.

How did 73 and 75 jump to 75 and 78?

You're a 7 handicap on your course, yet you shot 73 75? I'm assuming it's a par 72, so you would have shot two 79s to "match" your handicap. If it's par 70, that's a pair of 77s. If it's 72, you shot 10 under over two days, or five per day. The odds of shooting 5 under your handicap in one round is 276:1. You did it twice in a row. If it's 70, you shot 6 under over two days, or three per day averaged. That's more believable at 51:1 odds... but again back-to-back. Using the bottom chart, we're comparing -6 and -4 (par 72) or -4 and -2 (par 70). The first has a probability of 888:1 and the latter 89:1. That's if I'm reading the charts correctly, of course. And I'm still not sure how 73/75 became 75/78. Handicapping has recently become somewhat interesting to me. And Rafi.

[underparnv]

How did 73 and 75 jump to 75 and 78?

75 - 78 is what I shot the other weekend...sorry about that.

It is 73-75 that I shot this past weekend. My home course is a par 72. Do you think the USGA needs to modify the way they calculate handicaps? I swear to you that all of my posted scores are honest scores. I play everything where it lay, I take all penalties that I have earned ( ) and never take any gimmies. I really don't know how else you can get a more true handicap...care to enlighten? Thanks! underparnv

[iacas]

Do you think the USGA needs to modify the way they calculate handicaps? I swear to you that all of my posted scores are honest scores. I play everything where it lay, I take all penalties that I have earned (

No, I believe you. Plus, as you said, you got hot. I shot a 71 earlier this year (which would have been a 69 with my normal putter), the odds of which were pretty low.

I'm just interested in handicaps - measuring potential, how they're calculated, differentials between players, etc. As I've said on the forum, I always seem to be matched against an 18-handicapper who shoots a 42 or a 40 in my Tuesday league. Rafi can attest to that too. I've lost some faith in the handicap system this year.

[underparnv]

No, I believe you. Plus, as you said, you got hot. I shot a 71 earlier this year (which would have been a 69 with my normal putter), the odds of which were pretty low.

Hey iacas,

I really don't think it's the system that is letting us down...it is the people that go out and rate the courses. I think what it is mostly is that when they go out to rate a course, they rate it at the most difficult setting (tees all the way back...pins in the most difficult of locations...etc). Then, when you play the course day in and day out, you aren't going to be playing those difficult pins and tees but 33% of the time...at most...

[chingali]

There is also another possible reason why my scores tend to be lower than normal during club championship times and it is also the case with others in whichever club I am a member of. Practice.

For eleven months of the year I play two or three times a week, every Saturday in our club competition, once midweek on my own or with a family member or friend and if it happens to be interclub (we call it pennants) season I'll also have another game on a Sunday. So normally I'm a twice or at most three times a week golfer and I would hit a bag of balls maybe once a month and half a bag warming up before I play on a Saturday or play in an interclub match.

However come club championship time and all I can think of is winning the thing, nothing less. A month before the event I will begin hitting balls for a few hours every morning, I will play four or five times a week and I will spend a few hours every afternoon working on my short game. At the moment where I am living I have a field behind us big enough to hit wedges, so on top of the four hours practice every day and the four or five rounds a week I will jump over the back fence two or three times a day and hit wedges for twenty minutes each time.

So all up during club championship month, I am practicing four or five hours a day as well as playing four or five times a week. That's why I play better than my normal handicap suggests during club championship time! And I'm not the only one, lots of the better players who I expect to be a chance of winning also play and practice a lot more.

Once the championships are over, I'll go back to being a normal few times a week golfer, however much I miss the "grind" of practicing all of the time and I really do miss it, my family and work commitments are more impotant for the rest of the year.

Now if I can only manage to retire early...

[iacas]

I really don't think it's the system that is letting us down...it is the people that go out and rate the courses. I think what it is mostly is that when they go out to rate a course, they rate it at the most difficult setting (tees all the way back...pins in the most difficult of locations...etc). Then, when you play the course day in and day out, you aren't going to be playing those difficult pins and tees but 33% of the time...at most...

But if that were the case, you'd have a lower handicap, not a higher one. I play a course that somehow gets me a 3.5 index, though I honestly believe I'm closer to a 4.5. It's the easiest 71.2/136 course I've ever seen... but then again, I've played it a lot.

A 77 on a 155-slope course beats a 77 on a 100-slope course. The first guy would have a lower handicap (assuming same course rating/par).

So all up during club championship month, I am practicing four or five hours a day as well as playing four or five times a week. That's why I play better than my normal handicap suggests during club championship time!

Playing 4-5x per week you'd get to 20 scores pretty quickly, and since they're in your "practice period" they'd likely be lower than normal, dropping your handicap to about where it'd be for the tournament. No?

[Roy McAvoy]

I embarrased myself. 82 83 84. Well, I wasnt really embarrased, I just know I can play much better. Theres always next year.