Handicap fairness?

[SubPar]

The screwed up way handicaps are figured... with a 6.4 index I would get 6 strokes at a wide open easy course like Woodley Lakes in Van Nuys CA and only get 9 strokes at Medinah. In what fantasy world would Medinah set up for a major championship only play 3 strokes harder than Woodley?

I'm sure my handicap would be higher if I played courses that tough every week, but I thought the complex index system was supposed to provide an eqiutable balance from one course to another.

[underparnv]

That is exactly why you should try to play as many courses as possible to try to obtain a true handicap index. When you play only one course to obtain your handicap, you will obviously have gained a lot of 'public knowledge' of the course.

Conclusion: Get out and play more courses!

[SubPar]

That is exactly why you should try to play as many courses as possible to try to obtain a true handicap index. When you play only one course to obtain your handicap, you will obviously have gained a lot of 'public knowledge' of the course.

True, but that does not address why many courses appear to be rated harder than they really are. I play about five different courses with slopes between 111 and 126. With a proper index you can expect to shoot to your handicap 25% of the time, so scoring results over time should paint a picture of how accurate the rating is.

Tierra Rejada in Moorpark has water, thick rough, uneven fairways, huge elevation changes and fast multi-level greens. It is sloped at 126 which gives me a handicap of 7. I am thrilled to shot an 85 at Tierra Rejada and have never broken 80 on that course. Woodley Lakes is a 111 slope with virtually no water in play, light rough and flat greens, and my course handicap is 6. About the worst I can shoot there is 84, and I play at or below my handicap at least 50% of the time. There is no way Woodley is only one stroke easier than Tierra Rejada. So despite all the complex formulas in use, a handicap index is not a good indicator if the course is rated incorrectly. For example I shot 38 on the front at Woodley last Sunday and only hit one green in regulation. If I had missed 8 greens at Tierra Rejada I would have been fortunate to card 45 on the front. Based on my experience the process of rating courses is flawed. Tierra Rejada is probably rated a little easier than it should be and Woodley is rated a little harder than it is.

[allin]

My home course one year was very different depending on the weather. Around here in the summer the wind really picks up in the afternoon typically. Since the toughest holes played into the prevailing wind my handicap skyrocketed. When I played in a weekend AM handicap tournament I shot an 86, 14 over. My handicap at the time was 20. I took a bunch of heat from people accusing me of sandbagging. If I had been playing under the same weather conditions as that day normally my handicap would have been no more than 16.

[iacas]

with a 6.4 index I would get 6 strokes at a wide open easy course like Woodley Lakes in Van Nuys CA and only get 9 strokes at Medinah. In what fantasy world would Medinah set up for a major championship only play 3 strokes harder than Woodley?

You're not quite calculating things properly. Medinah set up for a major (78/158) would give you (6.4 * 158/113) = 9 strokes over scratch, yes, but you'd shoot 87 or so given the course rating of 78.

Work it backwards: say you shoot 87. Figure your handicap for that round: (87 - 78) * (113/158) = 6.4. See?