Expected to play to handicap 1 in 10 rounds

I've heard this so many times, but when you do the sums it doesn't really work out.

Is it just a throwaway saying, or is there some CONGU authority saying as such?

If you have 9 rounds outside the buffer zone and then one round to handicap (assuming a constant CSS), your handicap will increase by 0.9 every 10 rounds which doesn't really make sense.

On a related note, I think there's a lot more people out there with handicaps that are too high rather than too low.

(You can tell I'm working out the consequences of my hefty cut this week, can't you!).

I expect to play to my handicap about 3 rounds out of 10, better than it maybe twice and then either make the buffer or go up 0.1 the rest of those rounds.

I'd say that is fairly realistic for a low handicap golfer.

So, where does this 1 in rounds thing come from, then?

Or am I alone in being exposed to this myth?

Not sure if it's a myth or not, but it's fairly commonly heard

The way I heard it was you should only play to your handicap 3 or 4 times a year (which probably boils down to a similar number)

I have heard it said quite a few times, that a player will only play to his handicap a small % of the times he plays - D4S 30% which seems to back this up.

I however usually play to it 8 times out of 10. My average stableford score is 41. BUT, BUT as I've mentioned on here before I cannot play to it when in a club QC at our place.

I did however state on here a couple of days ago, that I would be handing in some supplementary cards from general play, as I and my playing partners feel I should be cut.

I think it is a myth, yes.

The fact that your handicap only goes up 0.1 each time you fail to buffer or better means that it takes 10 rounds to get a stroke added to your handicap.

If you score better than your handicap, the amount your handicap is reduced can be much more than 0.1, depending on how good your score was and what your handicap was.

This means that most people are always playing off a handicap which is APPROXIMATELY right. In practice, the way your handicap is reduced means that your handicap is likely to be slightly lower than your average standard.

There are so many factors which affect your golf - weather conditions, course set up. mood on the day, hangovers etc etc that your scoring can be wildly different from your handicap.

I expect to play to it every time, but in reality its probably more like 1 in 2 rounds

interesting - perhaps we ought to do a study of 606ers comp results this year to establish the truth - here are my stats for this season:

scores under handicap: 6
scores level handicap: 4
scores within buffer zone: 10
scores over buffer zone: 11

also, pretty much bang on 30% for rounds level or better than handicap.

I have heard the rumour/myth/fact that it is 1 time in 10 but also that it should be about 30% of your rounds for the entire year.

In all honesty I expect to play to mine or better everytime I tee it up. The reality of it is when I look back over my rounds for the year, i've done just that or better on 80% of the occaisions i've played. However the last couple of weeks has seen a decline so I expect over the year for that to reduce to somewhere in the region of 50-60% of the time, but then again not had as many rounds as usual this year.

Assuming your handicap is supposed to reflect your realistic potential, if someone's shooting to handicap 80% of the time, I would suggest their handicap is too high.

Mercurio wrote:Assuming your handicap is supposed to reflect your realistic potential, if someone's shooting to handicap 80% of the time, I would suggest their handicap is too high.

So what sort of cut would you expect based on an 80% hit rate Merc, this sort of debate genuinely interests me as I too think there are to many inaccurate handicaps in the game

Hmmm I've just checked my record for qualifiers this year. The records only go back to the start of the membership year (where we changed recording systems) and since May I've played 18 qualifiers and hit buffer zone 4 times, bettering the buffer zone only one. I also had one better than BZ round shortly before the change of systems to it seems to average out at 20% buffer zone and 10% better

I'm not sure, Mav, but these are the handicap movements for the last 12 rounds of someone who is a 3 handicapper at our place (latest round first):

3.0 (current)
3.1
3.0
2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1

You can see that apart from one round when he shot under handicap, for all other rounds he was outside the buffer zone. I don't know if this should be the norm for a 2/3 handicapper, but it's what I'm used to seeing.

I think there is a problem with the distribution of new handicaps. Its too easy to put in 3 high rounds and get a handicap, then spend a year pillaging your local club comps. There have been two examples of this at our club this year. Between them, 2 or 3 wins each, and a host of runners-up spots and top 5s. The prizes are good at our place so I wouldn't be surprised if they'd bagged in excess of £400 each.
The old clause 19 used to work well in this situation. Any player scoring 4 under handicap or better would automatically get an additional 1.0 cut on top of the standard reduction. Now this only happens by handicap committee discretion, usually at the end of the season – by which time the damage is done, and the timing inappropriate.

Mercurio wrote:I'm not sure, Mav, but these are the handicap movements for the last 12 rounds of someone who is a 3 handicapper at our place (latest round first):

3.0 (current)
3.1
3.0
2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1

You can see that apart from one round when he shot under handicap, for all other rounds he was outside the buffer zone. I don't know if this should be the norm for a 2/3 handicapper, but it's what I'm used to seeing.

Interesting, this is mine for my last 10 competive rounds.

+0.2
+0.3
+0.2
+0.1
0
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2

So taking bounce games out of the equation that means I've played under my handicap 50%. Buffered 40% of the time and over it 10% of the time.

I think it's hard to call, because if someone has a falsely high handicap then the rule 19 clause should still be brought to action. But when your at the lower end it's harder to call because they are more likely to hit the buffer zone.

(note the + figures are not playing increases they are the exact handicap)

The statistics regarding handicap expectations arise from a detailed study carried out by the USGA. In summary, they suggest that you should play to your handicap 1 in 4 or 5 times (ie between 20 & 25% of he time).
I am aware that the USGA handicap system differs from CONGU but the principles are broadly the same. The use of the buffer system, which of course varies depending upon which category your handicap falls into, deals with narrowwly missing your handicap.
ban_bam - your handicap committee is not doing the job properly. There is provision to make general play adjustments at any time. Indeed at my club we watch new handicaps very closely.

Bam-bam our club did the most stupid thing ever when this happened. We had a bunch of new members who were all members at another club, who left to join us. Over the next 3 months one of these new guys walked away with everything, but instead of redoing their handicaps in a timely manner, the commitee in their wisdom decided to toughen the course. They ruled that all QC's would be played off the championship tees (Ave of 43 yards further back) and not the white tees.

This obviously affected the majority of members and ever since then, we've allowed suplemetary cards to be used at any time. Obviously the handicap sec is switched on and spots anyone trying to engineer a higher h/c. The championship tees remain in place however as the course had to be remeasured and sanctioned by the union etc. One of the reasons why my h/c is higher than it should be, because I only play 2 or 3 QC's per season at this club

Rule at our club is if the new member is moving to us from another club, they are required to provide proof by way of certificate to join, this is then used provide them their playing handicap. Further to this they are not allowed to win any competitions until they have played in 3 competitions. This rule was put into place to prevent the above happening.

It has turned a lot of people away from joining as they cannot simply rock up and take the spoils with a dodgy handicap. Then to new members with no previous handicap the same rule regarding not winning for first 3 comps counts and then after this rule 19 is used to give an accurate playing handicap works well at our place

ive played 23 counting singles rounds this year.....
scores under handicap: 6
scores level/in buffer: 11
scores over buffer zone: 6

and ive been cut 1.1 strokes despite my symmetry.

Can't say I have ever heard of this, but I may keep a record from now on.

Might also be interesting to keep a tally of total stableford points, then divide it by the number of rounds played. What do you think a good average over the year would be for a single figure golfer? Maybe 32-34, or is that too high?

Yeah I think playing to handicap 1 in 10 is a bit extreme, beating it perhaps is another story. I've had 33 counting scores this year.

22 +0.1s (ouch!!)
3 cuts
8 on handicap or in buffer
And I've managed to come down 0.4

Last year (2010) I didn't play as many medals 25 and only had 3 +0.1s and a LOT of buffers to go with 5 smallish cuts.

As an improving golfer maybe expect a cut 1 in 5 as a plateau golfer maybe a cut in in 10

Just checked my results on the club website for this year, seems I've not quite got my figures correct.

This year I have gone up 0.1 11 times, been in the buffer 7 times and been cut 3 times (total of 21 competition rounds). So, not played to my handicap as many times as I thought in competition although in fairness, 6 of those rounds were on away courses in opens.

But my handicap is actually 0.6 lower than at the start of the year

15.1 – Handicap at the start of year

+1.6 – 16 rounds at home course outside buffer zone

0.0 – 6 rounds at home course inside buffer zone

-1.2 – Cut for round at Prince's

-2.1 – Cut for round at Mannings Heath

+0.1 – Add back for rounds at Saunton
-------
13.5 – Current handicap
-------

The really depressing stat from the above is that I have not been cut for a round at my home course this year

[straw-clutching] Whilst that doesn’t reflect too good on me, I think it also evidences that my home course is a tough track [/straw-clutching].

13 +0.1's

10 in the buffer zone

5 under my handicap

This year I've gone from 5.2 to 5.4

Thus thread has really caught my attention today and based on this years stats I seem to have done to well but its not been a complete season.

So have looked at last years results (I'm sad I keep a record of scores etc)

Last year then started with a handicap exact of 1.6 and played 24 qualifying rounds.

The stats:
11 rounds at buffer - to handicap
7 rounds just outside buffer so that's 7 x 0.1 increases.
6 rounds under handicap

Finished the year with a playing handicap of 0.2. Which without doing the exact math means 25% rounds under handicap, 45% at handicap and 30% over handicap. That seems a far more realistic equation compared to this year and one I think reflects an accurate playing handicap.

last 20 competitions-

11 0.1s
3 buffer zone
3 small cuts

started this period at 6.2, current 5.9

so that is 55% outside handicap, 22.5% buffer 22.5% cut

jeffkenna wrote:last 20 competitions-

11 0.1s
3 buffer zone
3 small cuts

started this period at 6.2, current 5.9

so that is 55% outside handicap, 22.5% buffer 22.5% cut

before i get ridiculed for my bad math (justified in thos case if i do!) that was supposed to be 19 comps this year, 11 * .1, 4 buffer zone and 4 small cut. Added up and typed all too hastily, my apologies

this summer played 7 medals- cut once(.6)- buffered 4 , over 2.

but didnt come close to my handicap in terms of medal.(would have been fine stableford)

so still cut .4

9.0 to 8.6