Golf Handicap

[Royster1984]

How often should you play to your handicap in non competition rounds??

Reason I am asking is I keep getting a few funny comments about my handicap being to high and as such we normally get on the topic of "how often should you play to your handicap?"

The people I am playing against say you should only play to your handicap on a rare occasion (even in social rounds). Now for me this seems a little harsh as you are playing of easier tees and without the pressure of a comp.

For myself personally I am currently playing off 20 handicap and we normally play stableford in social rounds. Now in stableford on a good round I score 38-42 and a bad round can be 28-32, with the average being around 36-38. So for me my handicap should maybes be around 2-3 shots lower, bringing my average just under par.

As I have only played 4 comps, 3 being last year since I joined the club. I tell the guys don't worry about it, it will sort itself out this month once I play a handful of comps.

[meenman]

How often should you play to your handicap in non competition rounds??

Reason I am asking is I keep getting a few funny comments about my handicap being to high and as such we normally get on the topic of "how often should you play to your handicap?"

The people I am playing against say you should only play to your handicap on a rare occasion (even in social rounds). Now for me this seems a little harsh as you are playing of easier tees and without the pressure of a comp.

For myself personally I am currently playing off 20 handicap and we normally play stableford in social rounds. Now in stableford on a good round I score 38-42 and a bad round can be 28-32, with the average being around 36-38. So for me my handicap should maybes be around 2-3 shots lower, bringing my average just under par.

As I have only played 4 comps, 3 being last year since I joined the club. I tell the guys don't worry about it, it will sort itself out this month once I play a handful of comps.

in theory, about 1 out of 4 times - but i hear that you guys on the wrong side of the pond only count tournament scores, so you could play to it or better 100% of the time since yours does not move like ours does.

[imsys0042]

I guess a couple of things. First, handicap is more your potential than what you actually shoot. I would say that I beat or match it 2 times out of 10. It's going down slowly, but it's very gradual. Second, if you are posting your scores accurately, then there is no problem. I believe most players match their handicap, or better, 25% or less of the time, If you are doing well yours will go down too. I

[Royster1984]

in theory, about 1 out of 4 times - but i hear that you guys on the wrong side of the pond only count tournament scores, so you could play to it or better 100% of the time since yours does not move like ours does.

Yeah we only get cut based on competitions. So I guess like you guys say around 1 in 4/5 rounds is fine.