Automatic Handicap (Golfshot)

[MiniBlueDragon]

Hi all.

I've been recording my rounds of golf in the Golfshot application on my iPhone to keep track of my progress. I noticed that there's an "automatic handicap" option which takes into account your scorecards and then provides you with an estimate as to your handicap.

Logically the order of the most correct estimate of handicap would be:

1. Full length 18 hole courses.
2. Full length 9 hole courses.
3. Par 27 9 hole courses.

Unfortunately the pay and play course I use most is a 9 hole par 27 course so I have more of those scorecards than others in the app.

I'd rather not remove all my scorecards from the app (as mentioned I'm tracking my progress) but I'd like to get to a reasonable estimate of my handicap if possible so does anyone know of a reasonable way to estimate or does it not matter which course type I play?

Thanks.

[zeg]

If you want an estimate of your true handicap, you have to somehow prevent it from using those par 27 rounds.  There is no accurate way to figure out your handicap from a course like that (assuming that it's under the minimum length limit for an ordinary handicap, which is usually true for a par 27).  For regulation courses, it should be able to compute it accurately.  For 9 hole courses, computing your 18-hole handicap is defined by the handicap rules (you combine consecutive 9-hole rounds into 18-hole rounds and then compute as normal).  So if you're just using regulation length courses and it's computing correctly, you can know your true handicap.

If you play lots of 9 hole rounds, your handicap is somewhat likely to be a bit better than if you played 18-hole rounds just because you have less fatigue factor, but a handicap computed from them is legitimate.

Note that the USGA has been threatening some software producers who use their formula with (mostly bogus, imo) trademark claims, so a lot of packages are now careful to avoid saying the compute a USGA handicap.  Many of them do use the correct formula, though.  Not sure about Golfshot, but that might be why they say they "estimate" it.

So anyway, if there's a way to exclude rounds, that's your best bet.  Otherwise, I'd just let it track what it tracks and if your handicap estimate gets lower, you're doing better...

[darkhunter139]

Golfshot actually has the option to calculated a USGA handicap.

I know you can delete rounds if you want to but you have to do it on the app, not the site.

Is there any online handicap calculators? I will throw my info in there and see if the one golfshot is using is correct.

[zeg]

Might be easier just to throw the numbers into a spreadsheet with the formula, but you can quickly enter your scores into oobgolf.com and it will give you a properly calculated (but unofficial) handicap index.

[darkhunter139]

Just did that and it matched the handicap golfshot reported so I guess it uses the USGA formula.

I can't see anyway to make it ignore a round unless you delete it entirely though.

[Stretch]

Not sure I understand the problem? As long as Golfshot has an accurate scorecard for each course you play, it's going to give you as accurate a differential on the par 27 rounds as the par 36 rounds and the handicap calculation is not going to be affected. Obviously the resulting handicap is going to somewhat overweight your performance on par 3 holes, but I don't think that invalidates it as a general measure of your ability and progress.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I think you can set the handicap type which for me is CONGU. The local par 27 is 1354 yards long. That course makes up the bulk of the scorecards in Golfshot, however I've also started playing a 2617 yard par 35 9 hole course which hopefully will balance it more. I know it should be more or less good enough as an estimate for now, I just figured I'd see if there's a more accurate one until I'm playing full length courses more often. :) Also as Stretch said, I can still measure my own progress as a golfer, even if the actual figure isn't accurate.