Changes to Handicap System for 2016 Released

[Rulesman]

8 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

  From what I've read, they now allow a limited number of non-competition scores to be used for handicap, 

They have to be declared and registered formally before play and must have an approved marker. Whatever the score, they must be returned.

The rest of Europe has a similar system

[CCC]

On 4/19/2016 at 6:24 PM, Golfingdad said:

Show up to a public course - ANY public course - around here as a single, or even as a twosome, with OR without a tee time, >3.5-4 hours before sunset, and it's nearly a 100% guarantee that you're playing with some strangers.  And it's frequently still true if you show up as a threesome that you'll get a walk-on single joining you.

And as others have above - if your goal is to play in tournaments, then it can only help your game to get practice playing with lots of different people.

I guess I need to be more sociable. I'm pretty much of a loner these days. I prefer to play by myself. Me against the course. No one to distract me.

I've got a lot of practice rounds ahead of me, before I dare to play with others. This game is the most embarrassing game ever. You really have to have the will to plod on.... Whatever bad happens.

And have the will to keep trying to get better. Otherwise, you stop playing this magnificent game.

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by CCC
I wanted to be more verbose. :)

[Fourputt]

7 hours ago, CCC said:

I guess I need to be more sociable. I'm pretty much of a loner these days. I prefer to play by myself. Me against the course. No one to distract me.

I've got a lot of practice rounds ahead of me, before I dare to play with others. This game is the most embarrassing game ever. You really have to have the will to plod on.... Whatever bad happens.

And have the will to keep trying to get better. Otherwise, you stop playing this magnificent game.

 

Which is part of reasoning behind the requirement.  When you play a competition, you will be playing with others and having to deal with those distractions, therefore it only makes sense to play with others when establishing a handicap.  If you never play in competitions, then there is no reason to maintain an "official" handicap.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Fourputt said:

Which is part of reasoning behind the requirement.  When you play a competition, you will be playing with others and having to deal with those distractions, therefore it only makes sense to play with others when establishing a handicap.  If you never play in competitions, then there is no reason to maintain an "official" handicap.

And if you want to keep track of your handicap for unofficial purposes (to track your progress or something), it's really easy to do.

[Joe from MD]

I've got a bone to pick with the USGA about the new handicap system.  I 've had a handicap on and off since the 1970 s and never had a problem until recently.  Three years ago I got my handicap through Golf Magazine and everything was going along just fine until this year because the golf club that is in the area I live in is a virtual club, without property.  Now the Golf gods at the USGA did an audit of my club and found that 40 percent of the members are non- compliant, therefore any score that you post on their site will not be used for handicap purposes. The key to our problem is that you have to play with members that live as far away as 50 miles to post an official score. I've had scores attested by members of the USGA at the course I play at which is 5 minutes from my home  , and they will not accept those scores. Tell me they are going to fix this problem.

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, Joe from MD said:

I've got a bone to pick with the USGA about the new handicap system.  I 've had a handicap on and off since the 1970 s and never had a problem until recently.  Three years ago I got my handicap through Golf Magazine and everything was going along just fine until this year because the golf club that is in the area I live in is a virtual club, without property.  Now the Golf gods at the USGA did an audit of my club and found that 40 percent of the members are non- compliant, therefore any score that you post on their site will not be used for handicap purposes. The key to our problem is that you have to play with members that live as far away as 50 miles to post an official score. I've had scores attested by members of the USGA at the course I play at which is 5 minutes from my home  , and they will not accept those scores. Tell me they are going to fix this problem.

I'm not sure this is a problem with the new changes, but rather with the way your "virtual" club operated up til now.  The USGA does do random audits at times, as well as "for cause" audits, and it looks like you got caught in one of those.   Have you spoken with anyone at your virtual club?  Even a virtual club is required to have a handicap committee, and that would be my first contact.  It may be a good idea to look into joining a handicap program at a public facility near you.  That would make it easier to satisfy the requirement that:

Quote

Members of a golf club must have a reasonable and regular opportunity to play golf with each other. They must be able to return scores personally, and these scores must be readily available for inspection by others, including, but not limited to, fellow members and the club's Handicap Committee.

I'd be willing to bet that's the requirement that isn't being satisfied by your current virtual club. That's from the definition of a "golf club" from the USGA Handicap Manual.  You can learn more here:

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/Handicapping/handicap-manual.html#!rule-14370

[Joe from MD]

We have conversed on the on this, and my feelings on the situation are that I don't think I should have drive down the road,  play with people I don't know ( not that I'm a snob or standoffish), and pay more that I can afford to play . I guess I'll have to establish a new handicap,  or, transfer my scores to the course where I usually play. Actually I contacted the USGA with that question but got no response. 

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, Joe from MD said:

We have conversed on the on this, and my feelings on the situation are that I don't think I should have drive down the road,  play with people I don't know ( not that I'm a snob or standoffish), and pay more that I can afford to play . I guess I'll have to establish a new handicap,  or, transfer my scores to the course where I usually play. Actually I contacted the USGA with that question but got no response. 

I'll just post this link for you, the USGA list of clubs in MD that are licensed to administer a USGA handicap system.

http://www.usga.org/HDCPClubLic/search.asp

Just search for the state.  Many are obviously either public courses or "clubs without property".  Hopefully you can find something that's reasonably close and fits your budget.  If you've had a USGA handicap, your past scores should be transferred to a new club.  In Ghin this is simple, you just transfer your Ghin number to the new club.  I don't know how it works in MD, and apparently MD State Golf Association doesn't use Ghin.

[iacas]

http://www.golfdigest.com/story/changing-course-the-usgas-mike-davis-shifts-with-the-game-and-the-culture

HANDICAP INTEGRITY
‘People wonder why we’re no longer allowing rounds by a player playing by himself to count for handicap purposes. As we’re embarking on this world handicapping system, one of the things inherent in The Rules of Golf is player integrity. It’s all about that. But if you look at handicapping on a worldwide basis, the United States and Canada were the only two places where a player could submit scores playing only by himself. As we went into this, we realized that the credibility of somebody’s handicap was really important, and in fairness, there are places in the United States and probably in Canada where we found that all of someone’s rounds alone got questioned, and we thought, Well, that’s not good. But this really came down to the way golf is played in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America. By the way, a person can still play alone with a caddie or a marker and have that round count. But this really came down to uniformity.”

[JGus]

I'm still confused about this change, not because I don't understand it, but how it is enforced.  When I enter a round into the Maryland State Golf Association, either through my course or online, if I do not select a witness or whatever it is referred to, that round is still added to my last 20 and used in calculating my handicap.

I personally don't like the change as some of my rounds are by myself and I would like them to count, but not here to argue that, just seems odd that official state handicap systems are still not enforcing it or made changes to the system to automatically make the change.

[DaveP043]

4 minutes ago, JGus said:

I'm still confused about this change, not because I don't understand it, but how it is enforced.  When I enter a round into the Maryland State Golf Association, either through my course or online, if I do not select a witness or whatever it is referred to, that round is still added to my last 20 and used in calculating my handicap.

I personally don't like the change as some of my rounds are by myself and I would like them to count, but not here to argue that, just seems odd that official state handicap systems are still not enforcing it or made changes to the system to automatically make the change.

The MSGA, much like any other regional Golf Association, depends on the integrity of the player, trusting him (or her) to post accurately and appropriately.  As long as you can enter your scores for yourself, you can't enforce this rule at the data entry stage.  The only way of enforcing this is through a handicap committee at a club.  This change won't stop anyone from posting solo scores, or from "adjusting" scores up or down to fit their own particular goal.  That's why the idea of "peer review" is important, and why the handicap committee is there. complete speculation here, but its completely possible that the final unified and combined handicap rules could actually require an attested scorecard to be turned in.  This step would be in essence turning back the clock for those of us under the USGA system, but might be part of the compromises that have to be made to get a true worldwide handicap system.

[JGus]

3 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

The MSGA, much like any other regional Golf Association, depends on the integrity of the player, trusting him (or her) to post accurately and appropriately.  As long as you can enter your scores for yourself, you can't enforce this rule at the data entry stage.  The only way of enforcing this is through a handicap committee at a club.  This change won't stop anyone from posting solo scores, or from "adjusting" scores up or down to fit their own particular goal.  That's why the idea of "peer review" is important, and why the handicap committee is there. complete speculation here, but its completely possible that the final unified and combined handicap rules could actually require an attested scorecard to be turned in.  This step would be in essence turning back the clock for those of us under the USGA system, but might be part of the compromises that have to be made to get a true worldwide handicap system.

Good points Dave, and I would actually be surprised if my course has a committee.  I've been there for probably 7 years now and I don't think I have ever heard anything about it or who is on it.

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, JGus said:

Good points Dave, and I would actually be surprised if my course has a committee.  I've been there for probably 7 years now and I don't think I have ever heard anything about it or who is on it.

They're required to, but sometimes they just submit names and don't actually do much of anything.

[cutchemist42]

Reading an old thread....just wondering for guys who mostly play alone and adhered to the rule.....do you notice more variance with your HI?

Does anyone skirt the rule and still post??

[NJpatbee]

On 12/11/2017 at 11:23 PM, cutchemist42 said:

Reading an old thread....just wondering for guys who mostly play alone and adhered to the rule.....do you notice more variance with your HI?

Does anyone skirt the rule and still post??

I do not post solo rounds and for 2016 I still had 14 rounds I could post out of 25.  In 2016 I did not play as many rounds and had only 6 out of 15 that I could post.  I did have a rough 5 or 6 rounds in 2017 where I had a bad case of hitting my irons fat and was able to enter only 1 of the scores.  I did have a good last couple of rounds that I was able to enter but I still have a majority of my most recent 20 scores from 2016.  My handicap is .3 higher than the end of last season but it would have been a bit higher if my solo rounds played according to the Rules of Golf counted.  No big deal but I do wish the handicap rule was not changed.  

[JonMA1]

On 12/11/2017 at 11:23 PM, cutchemist42 said:

Reading an old thread....just wondering for guys who mostly play alone and adhered to the rule.....do you notice more variance with your HI?

Does anyone skirt the rule and still post??

In 2016, I kept an unofficial HC by recording my solo rounds but tried to make a point of being up front about it whenever it seems appropriate.

In 2017, I was fortunate enough to find a playing partner and posted those rounds while remaining compliant by not recording any of the solo rounds. (Throughout the season, I committed a couple rules violations on rounds I'd entered, but nothing that would affect my index one way or the other.)

At some point late in the season I said "screw it". Went back to playing a lot of solo rounds and stopped recording the eligible ones.

There was little to no variance between the eligible rounds and those played solo.