Has the Elimination of Solo Rounds Affected Your Handicap?

[CarlSpackler]

Something else. I don’t have an official handicap anymore. Since most of my golf is played solo, I would only post 1 or 2 rounds per week. 

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

A guy at my #2 home course got caught manipulating that rule. 

When playing solo, he would put a second set of stroke numbers below his, scribble in a 2nd signature, and turn his correct score in. 

Not sure what happened to him, and if there was any punishment involved. 

There's an app for that.  The GHIN app.  No signatures needed and your can post just one score.  Though it's still not legal.

P.S.  Did the make-believe guy always lose to your friend?

Edited July 6, 2019 by Double Mocha Man

[David in FL]

18 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

There's an app for that.  The GHIN app.  No signatures needed and your can post just one score.  Though it's still not legal.

Though not as prevalent as it used to be, some clubs still do not allow individuals to enter their own scores, and require that the scorecard along with attesting signatures be submitted.

[Patch]

23 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

There's an app for that.  The GHIN app.  No signatures needed and your can post just one score.  Though it's still not legal.

P.S.  Did the make-believe guy always lose to your friend?

I am not "that guy", and I don't personally know him at all. Just heard about it through the grape vine. 

4 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Though not as prevalent as it used to be, some clubs still do not allow individuals to enter their own scores, and require that the scorecard along with attesting signatures be submitted.

Our course requires score cards to be turned in, with signatures. Way it should be. 

[bkuehn1952]

2 hours ago, Patch said:

Our course requires score cards to be turned in, with signatures. Way it should be. 

Does your club accept "away" scores as long as someone signs the card?  Or does every card require two member signatures?  Are you using the GHIN system or a proprietary system for developing handicaps?

[LightsOut]

My handicap basically stays the same.  I feel like I play better with others, but I prefer to put the wireless earbuds in, crank up the tunes, and enjoy some solitude out there.

[Groucho Valentine]

No. Because i still post solo 9 and 18 hole scores. The rules organizations say we're all supposed to be responsible as golfers for self governing, self penalize, be honorable. Etc..etc.. Then say "Wait, umm no, we don't trust you with the biggest part of all that, which is your score. You're all liar s and cant be trusted with that."  Okay.. 

I mean, were probably talking less than 5% of the rounds I post anyway. But still. They can take that bullshit someplace else.. 🤣

Edited July 10, 2019 by Groucho Valentine

[Double Mocha Man]

13 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

No. Because i still post solo 9 and 18 hole scores. The rules organizations say we're all supposed to be responsible as golfers for self governing, self penalize, be honorable. Etc..etc.. Then say "Wait, umm no, we don't trust you with the biggest part of all that, which is your score. You're all liar s and cant be trusted with that."  Okay.. 

I mean, were probably talking less than 5% of the rounds I post anyway. But still. They can take that bullshit someplace else.. 🤣

Good one!  I'm in agreement.  Nice to hear you're a rebel.

[DaveP043]

On 7/6/2019 at 2:42 PM, David in FL said:

Though not as prevalent as it used to be, some clubs still do not allow individuals to enter their own scores, and require that the scorecard along with attesting signatures be submitted.

This might be the case, but its against the USGA Handicap rules to require scorecards in most cases, see Decision 5-2a/3 of the Handicap Manual.

And for @Groucho Valentine and @Double Mocha Man and all the others who choose to post their solo scores, it rings pretty damn hypocritical when you say "I play by all the rules" and follow it up with "I ignore this rule". Makes me wonder how many other rules you actually ignore. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by DaveP043

[gbogey]

On 7/5/2019 at 5:25 PM, bkuehn1952 said:

@cutchemist42, thanks for reviving this thread.  I don't recall ever posting it.

2+ years in, my unofficial handicap tracker has me at 9.2 and my Trend Index is 9.3.  At least for me, I think I can state that solo rounds have no affect on my index.  Equal opportunity choking, I guess.  😉

I'm in agreement with a twist.  Two years ago I would have said that my solo rounds were generally better rounds and I honestly thought that my handicap would go up.  My handicap has instead stayed the same and recently has improved.  But I think my solo round play is now worse than handicap rounds.  The reason - I think now I rush my solo rounds and I can't rush the others.  Still, whenever my game starts to struggle a solo practice round seems to be the best elixir.

[JGus]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

...and all the others who choose to post their solo scores, it rings pretty damn hypocritical when you say "I play by all the rules" and follow it up with "I ignore this rule". Makes me wonder how many other rules you actually ignore. 

Not sure that I agree with your assumption here, I thought you are allowed to enter solo scores since you can identify they were solo and not counted towards your handicap?

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, JGus said:

Not sure that I agree with your assumption here, I thought you are allowed to enter solo scores since you can identify they were solo and not counted towards your handicap?

That may be an option with some online handicap services, but Ghin does not have that choice, and Ghin is the choice for a large majority of the golf associations in the US.  The way I took those posts was that they chose to enter solo rounds towards their USGA handicaps, and that is counter  to the USGA  rules. 

[JGus]

2 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

That may be an option with some online handicap services, but Ghin does not have that choice, and Ghin is the choice for a large majority of the golf associations in the US.  The way I took those posts was that they chose to enter solo rounds towards their USGA handicaps, and that is counter  to the USGA  rules. 

That makes more sense then, the Maryland State Golf Association (MSGA) allows you to select that it is a solo round, it's included in your scoring results, but not included in your handicap.

[Double Mocha Man]

16 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

That may be an option with some online handicap services, but Ghin does not have that choice, and Ghin is the choice for a large majority of the golf associations in the US.  The way I took those posts was that they chose to enter solo rounds towards their USGA handicaps, and that is counter  to the USGA  rules. 

Dave... I may be a hypocrite in other areas... I'll have to look closer at that, but I don't post my solo rounds.  Though I feel since it's a game of honor (according to GHIN and the USGA) you should be able to do so.

[DaveP043]

14 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Dave... I may be a hypocrite in other areas... I'll have to look closer at that, but I don't post my solo rounds.  Though I feel since it's a game of honor (according to GHIN and the USGA) you should be able to do so.

Sorry, then, to put you in the same boat with those who do choose to post solo rounds.  In my view, and this is only a guess, the move to exclude solo rounds in USGA Handicaps is only the first of a number of changes we'll see in moving towards a truly global handicap system.  Things will change for all of us in the coming year, but they haven't yet tackled the really tough questions of which rounds to count in handicap calculation.  I won't be surprised to see more changes in the future, and one of those could be further restrictions to which rounds to count for those of us under USGA, or more open posting options for those in other parts of the world.

But I agree with the USGA choice.  Handicaps are intended to facilitate fair competition, and competition implies playing with (or against) another player.  So it makes sense to me to count only those rounds played with another player.

[Double Mocha Man]

7 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Sorry, then, to put you in the same boat with those who do choose to post solo rounds.  In my view, and this is only a guess, the move to exclude solo rounds in USGA Handicaps is only the first of a number of changes we'll see in moving towards a truly global handicap system.  Things will change for all of us in the coming year, but they haven't yet tackled the really tough questions of which rounds to count in handicap calculation.  I won't be surprised to see more changes in the future, and one of those could be further restrictions to which rounds to count for those of us under USGA, or more open posting options for those in other parts of the world.

But I agree with the USGA choice.  Handicaps are intended to facilitate fair competition, and competition implies playing with (or against) another player.  So it makes sense to me to count only those rounds played with another player.

Indeed, changes are coming...

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Indeed, changes are coming...

The vast, vast majority of the changes are already known:

 

4 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

And for @Groucho Valentine and @Double Mocha Man and all the others who choose to post their solo scores, it rings pretty damn hypocritical when you say "I play by all the rules" and follow it up with "I ignore this rule". Makes me wonder how many other rules you actually ignore. 

Yup.

1 hour ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Dave... I may be a hypocrite in other areas... I'll have to look closer at that, but I don't post my solo rounds.  Though I feel since it's a game of honor (according to GHIN and the USGA) you should be able to do so.

What if the USGA said that it's not about whether golfers are "honorable" or not? What if they said that the point of a handicap is to play in competitions, which are not played solo, so they only want you to count rounds that more closely mirror playing with someone else at least watching?

[gbogey]

FWIW I agree this whole thing can be hypocritical.  I've had an official GHIN for about 5 years (although through a twist of fate I've only used my handicap twice).  I've personally posted everyone of my scores without anyone reviewing my input.  I used to have a weekly game with two guys who had official GHIN's and although we knew what each of us scored each week, everyone posted their own score into GHIN and none of us were ever checking on the other guys.  So if someone wanted lower or boost their score each week by a stroke they could have although I suspect a gross cheat would have been noticed.

I know that there are clubs out there with strict handicap police policies, but there's a lot of guys who are and will always be subject to honor system.