Handicap question

[Buckeyebowman]

Here's the thing. My buddy and I have decided that we're not going to re-up in the league we played in last year. We may not play in a league at all this year. Well, unless we can find a traveling league that has room for us both. We don't like getting stuck in a rut playing the same course over and over. We like to play as many different courses as we can.

So, if we play without a league, how are we to establish a handicap? I tried researching this the other day. I went to the USGA website, GHIN, and finally the OGA (Ohio Golf Association). To say they weren't much help is putting it mildly!

On either the USGA or the GHIN site I scanned for "affiliates" or "associates" or whatever they call them. You can simply fill in the city, and state fields to see who's in your area. For Youngstown, Ohio there were three results, Youngstown CC (veddy, veddy, exclusive), and two outfits that I have never heard of! They are certainly not golf courses. So, I tried Warren, Ohio, the next largest city in the area. Again, three results. Trumbull CC (private), Avalon Lakes (semi-private), and another outfit I never heard of!

I don't know what the future holds, but if there's a TST outing in this area later this year I'd like to be there! Also, I'd like to enter the "Greatest Golfer in the Valley" competition this year. It's sponsored by the Youngstown newspaper and has grown more popular every year. I'm 64, so would be in the 60-70 age bracket. It used to be that they only wanted some idea of your handicap for pairing purposes. The tourney has grown to the point that there are now handicap brackets within that age group!

So, what do I do? What's the procedure? And why is this so damned difficult?

[chilepepper]

I can't speak for Ohio but in SoCal the SCGA can put you in Eclubs where you can maintain a handicap. IIRC there might have been a requirement to play a couple times a year with members of the Eclub. You may want to call or email OGA to verify this. A phone gps app Ive used " the  grint" also has a handicapping  feature that I believe used the Eclub system. Not sure if it was considered official or not I've used GHIN/SCGA

Edited March 17, 2017 by chilepepper

[Club Rat]

8 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

OGA (Ohio Golf Association

The USGA has an online handicap posting/lookup service called GHIN, but, again, you can't join GHIN as an individual; you must go through an authorized golf club.

Try searching here in your area - Local Ghin Search

Or simply call public courses in your area to see if they offer membership.

My area is handled by the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association, I would think there would be an Amateur Association in your area,

[sjduffers]

An Associate Club is a club (ie a group of people) without an assigned golf course. So they go around the area and play tournaments at those locations, usually on the weekend.  They are structured like a an actual club (at a golf course) with a president, treasurer, handicap chairman, tournament director, etc...  So that's what those 2 two you never heard off are.

Associate Clubs can have some fancy and sometimes self-deprecating names too; they are typically formed by groups of people who have another social connection, be it work, church, social cause, ad-hoc, whatever, and most of them are opened to new members, even if those new members are not exactly of the same composition as the original crew.  Just ask them who they are and if you could play as a guest a time or two to decide if you'd be a fit.

[RandallT]

I used these guys for a while:

http://www.ushandicap.com/Default.asp

They are NOT GHIN. You join a "Club without Real Estate" in your area. I stopped doing it, when I figured out that the "club" was really a joke.

Nobody met- ever- even though the bylaws specifically said everyone was required to a couple times per year. The bylaws were posted, but nobody paid them any mind. The whole thing was a farce to me. I thought I was opting in to something somewhat formal where I would be a part of some group of people who knew what they were doing with handicaps, as I was just learning the game again. Nope - it was really just a way for solo golfers to quietly post scores online and track stats. There was no verification process whatsoever, and nobody ever reached out to me, despite my trying. Not even my club president (or any officer) returned a single email of mine.

But it's legal, for what that's worth. I could've printed my handicap card and used it to join a competition. But never did.

[bkuehn1952]

As a starting point, maybe contact the Northern Ohio Golf Association:

http://noga.org/handicap-system/

A call or email might allow them to steer you in the right direction.  I can't speak for Ohio, but in many states, public courses allow one to sign up for handicap services for about $25 a year.  It typically can all be done online.

 

[boogielicious]

@Buckeyebowman,

What I did was get my GHIN card through a course I play the most that lets you post on-line. Many courses do that now.. If you and your buddy play a course more than others, choose that one. You can also shop around the courses you play for the least expensive one. In my area they range between $30 and $50.

They give you a GHIN number when you sign up. Then when you play you can go to your states GHIN site to enter scores. Below is the Ohio site.

http://www.ohiogolf.org/home.asp

http://www.ohiogolf.org/html/ghin_score_posting.asp

 

[jsgolfer]

9 hours ago, chilepepper said:

I can't speak for Ohio but in SoCal the SCGA can put you in Eclubs where you can maintain a handicap. IIRC there might have been a requirement to play a couple times a year with members of the Eclub. You may want to call or email OGA to verify this. A phone gps app Ive used " the  grint" also has a handicapping  feature that I believe used the Eclub system. Not sure if it was considered official or not I've used GHIN/SCGA

Virginia has the same deal, I've played with several people in tournaments that are part of an ECLUB.  

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

@Buckeyebowman,

What I did was get my GHIN card through a course I play the most that lets you post on-line. Many courses do that now.. If you and your buddy play a course more than others, choose that one. You can also shop around the courses you play for the least expensive one. In my area they range between $30 and $50.

They give you a GHIN number when you sign up. Then when you play you can go to your states GHIN site to enter scores. Below is the Ohio site.

http://www.ohiogolf.org/home.asp

http://www.ohiogolf.org/html/ghin_score_posting.asp

 

Good info here ^^^

A lot of state golf associations allow you to simply signup for an eclub through their website.  I looked at Ohio, and it appears as if you cannot do that in Ohio.  If true, that means you have to do exactly what @boogielicious says, and actually go to a course and sign up through them.  It bears repeating, you MUST confirm that they allow online posting of scores.  It's up to the individual course, and not all do.  You DO NOT want to have to drag your butt to the course to enter your scores every time you play somewhere else!

Once you get your GHIN number, download the free USGA GHIN app to your smart phone.  You can enter your scores immediately after playing, see you buddy's handicaps, and automatically calculate course handicaps for you and your group.  Good stuff.

 

[Buckeyebowman]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. It seems I have some more research to do. And bkuehn 1952, thanks for the tip about NOGA, I hadn't considered them. And is 1952 your birth year? If so, we could be the same age!

Yesterday was very frustrating! The USGA and GHIN were very stingy with info. I found myself thinking, "Only 3 courses with handicap services in this whole area? That can't be right! And all of them are private?!" I figured something wasn't right about that. So I'll just have to call and ask around.

Last year started out the same way. I was saving scorecards, dated and attested, to see what I could do, but we wound up joining that league so handicaps were handled by the league secretary.

Again, thank you.

[Club Rat]

1 hour ago, Buckeyebowman said:

@bkuehn1952 and @Buckeyebowman is 1952 your birth year?

I'm a part of the same vintage....   

[bkuehn1952]

2 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

And is 1952 your birth year?

Yes.  We are getting closer to shooting our age (for 9!).

[Buckeyebowman]

On 3/17/2017 at 10:20 PM, bkuehn1952 said:

Yes.  We are getting closer to shooting our age (for 9!).

Thankfully I'm not quite there yet! And I suspect, neither are you!

To follow up, I used the link you posted to NOGA just to see what info they had. As it turns out there are tons of courses in my area that provide handicap services! The closest is Mill Creek Park which is only 5-6 miles away.

It's still confusing why the USGA and GHIN sites had such a paucity of information, but who cares now? I'll check it out and see what they charge.

[DaveP043]

16 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

It's still confusing why the USGA and GHIN sites had such a paucity of information, but who cares now? I'll check it out and see what they charge.

I think you just made your search a little too specific when you were at the USGA website.  I searched for all courses in OH, and compared that the the list from www.noga.com.  I didn't look at every course, but the first 10 at Northern Ohio GA were also listed by the USGA.

GHIN is a separate service offered by the USGA to its member clubs and organizations, but those clubs and organizations aren't required to use it.  They can choose to use any other computational service, or to develop their own.  On the GHIN site, they show the associations that they have contracts with (including Northern Ohio GA), but they don't show all the individual clubs that are members of the associations.  

Anyway, I'm glad you found the information you need.  Good luck this season, lets all hope it starts soon!

[Buckeyebowman]

And here I thought I was being unspecific enough by confining my search to "city" and "state". Never thought to try it the way you did.

And it looks like the weather is finally going to start to improve around here. We had that brief window in February where we actually got to play three rounds, which is a major miracle! There's a string of 50+ degree days in the forecast, but I'm going to go fishing! With all the rain and snow we've had in the last month the courses will be even swampier than they were! I'd like to actually see a ball bounce!

[dennyjones]

Not trying to stir up any trouble but you could always head north get a membership in Michigan and play in Ohio as a visitor....just sayin'...

Golf Association of Michigan

[JonMA1]

I'm a real dumbass when it comes to this subject so this might be a stupid suggestion, but this site provides a compliant USGA handicap card as long as you belong to a licensed club. I didn't even look for a club, they just assigned me to one.

https://thegrint.com/index

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by JonMA1

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, dennyjones said:

Not trying to stir up any trouble but you could always head north get a membership in Michigan and play in Ohio as a visitor....just sayin'...

Golf Association of Michigan

Are you trying to start a border war! 

Good point. A few of my friends get their HC from our league course in NH. It doesn't matter where your residence is.