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Handicap question?

peskypole46

By peskypole46
in Golf Talk

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peskypole46 Member

peskypole46

Posted
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I have no idea what the best way to calculate handicap is so I was hoping someone could help me out as I am curious to get a rough idea of what my handicap is. I just entered all of my scores for the last couple years into an excel spreadsheet. I have 61 rounds where I only played 9 holes. My average for those rounds was a 56.6. I have 20 rounds where I played the full 18 holes. My average for those rounds is a 106. All of these rounds are on the same course.

The scorecard has 67.2/115 listed on it. I am assuming this is the slope rating? Can the 9 hole rounds count towards handicap or just the 18 hole rounds? Is there anymore information needed to find my handicap or is this all I need?


dhanson Dedicated Member

dhanson

Posted
Posted

i use oobgolf for statistics and handicap (though it's not an official handicap). you can enter scores for 9 holes on there, but i'm not sure how it works in terms of your handicap (i've never entered a score for 9 holes before).


funkyfred72 Established Member

funkyfred72

Posted
Posted



There are a lot of websites out there that let you calculate your handicap for free.  You just have to put in your score, the course rating and slope and it will calculate your handicap for you.  If you are a member at a course they will have a computer there that you can put your scores in (usually included in membership price, at least where I play they do).  Some courses will let non-members use their handicap system for a fee (around $30-$35 at my course).  But the websites where you can do it for free, is not your official handicap, even though they use the same formula.  They are not recognized by the USGA as official, meaning you cannot use the handicap for tournaments.

Originally Posted by peskypole46

I have no idea what the best way to calculate handicap is so I was hoping someone could help me out as I am curious to get a rough idea of what my handicap is. I just entered all of my scores for the last couple years into an excel spreadsheet. I have 61 rounds where I only played 9 holes. My average for those rounds was a 56.6. I have 20 rounds where I played the full 18 holes. My average for those rounds is a 106. All of these rounds are on the same course.

The scorecard has 67.2/115 listed on it. I am assuming this is the slope rating? Can the 9 hole rounds count towards handicap or just the 18 hole rounds? Is there anymore information needed to find my handicap or is this all I need?




ThominOH Well Established Member

ThominOH

Posted
Posted

I would say it depends on the use of the handicap score you are gathering.. If you are only using it for personal reasons, then what you are doing is just fine.. I would do the same..  A lot of casual leagues and fun events use more unofficial means, such as what you're doing while tossing in the 80% ruling..  Then you get more detail with that by limiting you holes to nothing more then a double bogey (USGA system), then toss in your index and slope stuff to get a more accurate number..

Good luck


turtleback Super Member

turtleback

Posted
Posted


Originally Posted by peskypole46

I have no idea what the best way to calculate handicap is so I was hoping someone could help me out as I am curious to get a rough idea of what my handicap is. I just entered all of my scores for the last couple years into an excel spreadsheet. I have 61 rounds where I only played 9 holes. My average for those rounds was a 56.6. I have 20 rounds where I played the full 18 holes. My average for those rounds is a 106. All of these rounds are on the same course.

The scorecard has 67.2/115 listed on it. I am assuming this is the slope rating? Can the 9 hole rounds count towards handicap or just the 18 hole rounds? Is there anymore information needed to find my handicap or is this all I need?


In order to use the 9 hole scores for handicap purposes you have to group them into 18 hole scores.  If you are grouping a front nine and a back nine then you can go ahead and use the

course's rating and slope.  If you are grouping 2 front nines then you need to know the rating and slope for each 9.  You will double the 9-hole course rating for the front and use the slope for the front.  Similarly if you are grouping 2 back nines.  You should be able to get this information from the course.  Or you can get it from the USGA Course Rating and Slope Database.

http://ncrdb.usga.org/NCRDB/

Once you have your 18 hole scores, ratings and slopes you proceed as follows:

1)  Only use your most recent 20 (18-hole) scores

2) For each score compute the differential as (score-rating)*(113/slope) rounded to the nearest tenth.

3) Now pick out the 10 lowest differentials.  Add them, divide by 10 and multiply the result by .96.  Truncate the result to one decimal place.  This is your handicap index.

There is a lot of information about computing handicaps and dealing with 9 hole scores in the USGA Handicap Manual.

http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Handicap-System-Manual/Handicap-Manual/

But then again, what the hell do I know?

Rich - in name only

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dhanson Dedicated Member

dhanson

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted by turtleback

In order to use the 9 hole scores for handicap purposes you have to group them into 18 hole scores.  If you are grouping a front nine and a back nine then you can go ahead and use the

course's rating and slope.  If you are grouping 2 front nines then you need to know the rating and slope for each 9.  You will double the 9-hole course rating for the front and use the slope for the front.  Similarly if you are grouping 2 back nines.  You should be able to get this information from the course.  Or you can get it from the USGA Course Rating and Slope Database.

can you do this? i didn't think you could group two rounds that were played at different times under different conditions.


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iacas Hall of Fame Member

iacas

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Originally Posted by dhanson

can you do this? i didn't think you could group two rounds that were played at different times under different conditions.


If you're using any sort of GHIN or USGA official handicap network or whatever, it should do combine nine-hole scores automatically for you.

But yeah. You combine nine hole rounds, even if they're played in different weather or times of the day or different courses or four months apart.

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peskypole46 Member

peskypole46

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Quote:

Once you have your 18 hole scores, ratings and slopes you proceed as follows:

1)  Only use your most recent 20 (18-hole) scores

2) For each score compute the differential as (score-rating)*(113/slope) rounded to the nearest tenth.

3) Now pick out the 10 lowest differentials.  Add them, divide by 10 and multiply the result by .96.  Truncate the result to one decimal place.  This is your handicap index.

Ok, so I did all this and came up with 32.2 for my handicap index. Is there a maximum handicap or does it just keep going up indefinitely? Thanks everyone for all the help so far.


zeg Great Member

zeg

Posted
Posted

max is 36.4

In the bag:
FT-iQ 10° driver, FT 21° neutral 3H
T-Zoid Forged 15° 3W, MX-23 4-PW
Harmonized 52° GW, Tom Watson 56° SW, X-Forged Vintage 60° LW
White Hot XG #1 Putter, 33"


goblue107501 Great Member

goblue107501

Posted
Posted
http://golf.about.com/cs/handicapping/a/howcalculated.htm This will break it down for you if you want to simply do it on your own. I keep my own handicap on Excel. Once you have the rules and formula it is pretty easy to do.

I will judge my rounds much more by the quality of my best shots than the acceptability of my worse ones.


Note: This thread is 5370 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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