Has the Elimination of Solo Rounds Affected Your Handicap?

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Its a silly rule to me, because its a police action with no way to police it. 

There is a way to police it.

You.

Your honesty.

Your integrity.

It's lacking or non-existent on this front. And on the "honors wagers" front, too, as we know.

Beyond that, your handicap committee could police it. Any member at your course or club could ask for your scores to be looked into. Etc.

[Hardspoon]

No effect for me. I haven't played a solo round all year (every time I've played alone, I've been paired up).

[Groucho Valentine]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

There is a way to police it.

You.

Your honesty.

Your integrity.

It's lacking or non-existent on this front. And on the "honors wagers" front, too, as we know.

Beyond that, your handicap committee could police it. Any member at your course or club could ask for your scores to be looked into. Etc.

I left my caring about moral judgments from the internet in the toliet the with the rest of the crap this morning.

Its a utterly irrelevant rule that that informs players nothing in regards to playing the game. It prevents absolutely nothing. I can well enough lie about my index after playing with people all the time. 

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

I left my caring about moral judgments from the internet in the toliet the with the rest of the crap this morning.

Its a utterly irrelevant rule that that informs players nothing in regards to playing the game. It prevents absolutely nothing. I can well enough lie about my index after playing with people all the time. 

That's your opinion, and the rules leave no room for opinion on this.

It's a rule of a sport you choose to play. One that places the burden of integrity on its players.

You fail.

[Groucho Valentine]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

That's your opinion, and the rules leave no room for opinion on this.

It's a rule of a sport you choose to play. One that places the burden of integrity on its players.

You fail.

 No, friend. I win. Winners drink tigers blood and bypass idiotic rules for profit. I can teach you. 

My opinion is reality in this case. I know tons of people that ignore the new rule on posting their scores. If players are the arbiter in the honesty of their handicaps, they dont need a dumb ass rule demanding it. Its hypocritical nonsense.

[iacas]

23 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

No, friend. I win. Winners drink tigers blood and bypass idiotic rules for profit. I can teach you. 

My opinion is reality in this case. I know tons of people that ignore the new rule on posting their scores. If players are the arbiter in the honesty of their handicaps, they dont need a dumb ass rule demanding it. Its hypocritical nonsense.

Your opinion is not reality. You're lying to yourself to cover for your nonexistent sense of integrity.

You also don't seem to know the definition of the word hypocritical. The rule is not about being an arbiter for an honest handicap… which by definition you do not if you post solo rounds.

You're a cheat. And clearly you care what people think of you.

You're a cheat just the same way someone else who doesn't like stroke and distance, so he drops where he thinks his ball was lost is a cheat.

You don't get to decide which rules you'll follow and which you won't. The only true answer is follow all, ignore none.

[David in FL]

32 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

 No, friend. I win. Winners drink tigers blood and bypass idiotic rules for profit. I can teach you. 

My opinion is reality in this case. I know tons of people that ignore the new rule on posting their scores. If players are the arbiter in the honesty of their handicaps, they dont need a dumb ass rule demanding it. Its hypocritical nonsense.

I know a lot of golfers who roll it out of a divot too.  That makes them a cheat, it doesn't invalidate the rule...

[cipher]

Dumb rule or not, if I ever do play again it makes no sense to have an "official" handicap when I almost never would play with other people.  The USGA and the WSGA has got to be sweating bullets over my $50 by now.  

[GolfLug]

43 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

 No, friend. I win. Winners drink tigers blood and bypass idiotic rules for profit. I can teach you. 

My opinion is reality in this case. I know tons of people that ignore the new rule on posting their scores. If players are the arbiter in the honesty of their handicaps, they dont need a dumb ass rule demanding it. Its hypocritical nonsense.

IMO, here's what I believe you are missing (or choosing to ignore): As long as there is a witness there is a chance that the score can be verified if someone wants to make the effort to do so (i.e. going ALL THE WAY to each witness to verify). I agree the effort can in some case be significant but it CAN be done.

In case of solo rounds that venue of verification doesn't exist right? It is just completely open ended. What is wrong in making the effort to close it?

Why is black your only choice if it is not absolutely bleach white?

P.S. Tiger's blood?? lol!

  

[GolfLug]

17 minutes ago, cipher said:

Dumb rule or not, if I ever do play again it makes no sense to have an "official" handicap when I almost never would play with other people.  The USGA and the WSGA has got to be sweating bullets over my $50 by now.  

You have your handicap from the rounds you played before the rule came into effect and your injury right (can't place which came first)? It is official still as far as I know regardless of how representative it is of your current game.

And yes, I would agree as far as not needing a HCP. You are not playing with other folks in competition anyway, but can post the score anytime you play with someone (I am still holding out hope on an Erin Hills round with you in the future..:-))  

 

[mcanadiens]

I was a bit resistant to the rule initially, but I'm ok with it now. 

More than anything, it just changed my perception of what a handicap is really for. The whole idea had been to try to drop the HI as quickly as possible, having it serve as some kind of measure of improvement. There are obviously other ways to do that. Instead the number is just something to use in the context of competitions. That's a pretty limited sort of thing for me anyway. Counting the TST outing, I participated in three events that actually used it.

For that matter, I actually won more money and store credit in my club competitions than the fee. Who knows what would have happened if I posted all those solo rounds, so it worked out for me.

 

[Psyber]

I keep my handicap on a mobile app so I still post my solo rounds. My only real purpose for it is to track improvement so it would be silly for me not to.

[Groucho Valentine]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

Your opinion is not reality. You're lying to yourself to cover for your nonexistent sense of integrity.

You also don't seem to know the definition of the word hypocritical. The rule is not about being an arbiter for an honest handicap… which by definition you do not if you post solo rounds.

You're a cheat. And clearly you care what people think of you.

You're a cheat just the same way someone else who doesn't like stroke and distance, so he drops where he thinks his ball was lost is a cheat.

You don't get to decide which rules you'll follow and which you won't. The only true answer is follow all, ignore none.

Holy crap my sanctimonious self righteous bullshit meter is off the charts! Thanks dad! 

But ill continue to do what I see fit and ignore that irrelevant rule. And I'm right in doing so. 

 

 

 

[David in FL]

21 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Holy crap my sanctimonious self righteous bullshit meter is off the charts! Thanks dad! 

But ill continue to do what I see fit and ignore that irrelevant rule. And I'm right in doing so. 

 

 

 

You can certainly do what you want.  And honestly, I don't think many of us really care if you ignore rules that you just don't like.  Knock yourself out.

But you're not right in doing so.

[Hardspoon]

18 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

But ill continue to do what I see fit and ignore that irrelevant rule. And I'm right in doing so. 

I know a few people who feel the same way, but this is a very weird train of thought to me.

The very concept of a "handicap index" as anything other than an arbitrary number is defined by the Manual. If you choose to ignore any part of that, no matter how irrelevant you think it is, that number is meaningless.

As defined right now, for better or worse, the index is a measure of your playing ability (potential, really) when you are playing with other golfers. If you, like a lot of people, think that the bolded part is a stupid distinction, then use your own modified system to track progress.

But don't pretend it's the same thing.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Groucho Valentine said:

And I'm right in doing so.

Keep telling yourself that bullshit, dude.

It's not sanctimony, either. I don't care, and this has nothing to do with morals.

You're just wrong. Pretty simple.

My handicap hasn't changed at all. When I'm by myself… I practice, I don't play for a score.

[Missouri Swede]

1 hour ago, Hardspoon said:

As defined right now, for better or worse, the index is a measure of your playing ability (potential, really) when you are playing with other golfers.

Not quite.  The USGA says "as long as someone accompanies the player," and gives "a friend riding along in a cart" as a example.  It doesn't need to be a golfer.

[Groucho Valentine]

On October 13, 2016 at 10:30 PM, Hardspoon said:

I know a few people who feel the same way, but this is a very weird train of thought to me.

The very concept of a "handicap index" as anything other than an arbitrary number is defined by the Manual. If you choose to ignore any part of that, no matter how irrelevant you think it is, that number is meaningless.

As defined right now, for better or worse, the index is a measure of your playing ability (potential, really) when you are playing with other golfers. If you, like a lot of people, think that the bolded part is a stupid distinction, then use your own modified system to track progress.

But don't pretend it's the same thing.

Its not a playing rule, its an administrative one. Meant to serve god knows who. Maybe some bitter guy who got pissed that some dude sandbagged his handicap and won the C flight at his club championship. My index is more or less meaningless to me. I only compete in gross tournaments. Over half of the golf i play a year are tournament rounds, anyway.