How do you know your handicap is correct

[paininthenuts]

I haven't been playing long, and have a handicap of 22. I suspect I am nearer 20 in reality, but not sure. I have heard various theories, but nobody can can give me the official line. Some say you should only play to your handicap a few times a year, some say that your handicap should be your average score, and others say you should hit it once in 4 games. Is there an official answer to this question ?

[Jeremie Boop]

I've heard it's more 1 in 5 or about 20% of the time. This seems pretty accurate for me at least. I don't feel like I'm a lower handicap than I am, but I've had people question how my handicap is as high as it is, until they see me have a really bad hole that is.

[paininthenuts]

2 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I've heard it's more 1 in 5 or about 20% of the time. This seems pretty accurate for me at least. I don't feel like I'm a lower handicap than I am, but I've had people question how my handicap is as high as it is, until they see me have a really bad hole that is.

Yep, that's golf. I probably play to or exceed my handicap every other game, which makes me think it should be a bit lower.That said, I always play rubbish in comps

[iacas]

You're in the UK. For now it's different.

[DaveP043]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

You're in the UK. For now it's different.

I agree with this, I know the system is different in the UK.  From everything I've read, your handicap is based much more on your competition scores, while in the USGA system non-competition scores have significant weight.  As you say your competition scores are rubbish compared to your "casual" scores, it makes sense that your handicap would be higher than what your casual scores might indicate.  If you REALLY want to read about how your handicap is calculated, you can access the CONGU Handicap Manual here:

http://www.congu.com/online_version.htm

[billchao]

I know my handicap is correct because it's official.

[chilepepper]

I play by the rules.....post my scores.....Ghin does the rest

Edited August 5, 2016 by chilepepper

[No Mulligans]

It's just math, it's correct if you play by the rules.

[Pendragon]

4 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

It's just math, it's correct if you play by the rules.

Absolutely...it's simple math, not much mystery involved. Post what you shoot, with ESC if applicable, and GHIN takes care of the calculation. 

[Golfingdad]

11 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

I haven't been playing long, and have a handicap of 22. I suspect I am nearer 20 in reality, but not sure. I have heard various theories, but nobody can can give me the official line. Some say you should only play to your handicap a few times a year, some say that your handicap should be your average score, and others say you should hit it once in 4 games. Is there an official answer to this question ?

Obviously, as has already been said, it's different in the UK, but here in the US, the "official" answer to the question of "how often should you play to your handicap?" is basically about a quarter of the time.  Being super simplistic about it, since it's the average of the 10 best of your last 20 scores, that would loosely mean that there are 5 scores out of the last 20 that are better than your average. 5/20 equals 1/4. :)

Obviously it's slightly more complicated than that and there is a big caveat in there for people who are improving (you'll beat it more often until you stop improving) or getting worse (you'll beat it less often), but that's the gist of it.

[Hookman]

Since I'm not a member of a golf club currently I use the Golf Digest Tracker which seems to emulate the USGA formula. I think people tend to shoot higher than their handicap in competition for a few different reasons. 

1. Obviously there's more pressure put on the player trying to compete against a tournament field versus a casual round of golf with friends.

2. When you're playing in a non-competitive round players tend to be more loose with the rules i.e. mulligan off the first tee, dealing with lost balls/shots out of bounds, and taking drops. 

3. Courses tend to be set up more challenging with thicker rough and tougher pin placement during tournament play.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

Obviously, as has already been said, it's different in the UK, but here in the US, the "official" answer to the question of "how often should you play to your handicap?" is basically about a quarter of the time.  Being super simplistic about it, since it's the average of the 10 best of your last 20 scores, that would loosely mean that there are 5 scores out of the last 20 that are better than your average. 5/20 equals 1/4. :)

It ends up being closer to 4/20 because of the 0.96 multiplier.