club championships results, handicaps are BS

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Tball88

New
so, we had our club championship this week. I played horribly, got the pull hooks and it's not easy playing a 7000 yd course out of the left rough all day.

What was amazing was how bad the scores were. The winner shot 73,76,71, so pretty decent, but nobody, and I mean nobody shot to their handicap. The highest Handicap in the group was a 7 and there were 95's, 96's, 97's out there.

I guess a little pressure and not max equivalent scores really changes things. We all quickly realized, we're just not very good.
 
J

Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
This happens a lot in tournaments. Which is why I only post tournament scores for my handicap now. Going out and shooting 68 with your buddies is no where near shooting 68 in any kind of tournament.
 
T

Tball88

New
nope, in Georgia, USA.

It's just amazing seeing really low handicaps just blow up. Couple of years ago we had a 1 handicap shoot a 99. Typically almost all of our tournaments are match play, and the club championship is the only real stroke event all year, and it's usually a trainwreck, except for the guys who have a lot of real tournament experience (ex college or mini-tour players).
 
faux_maestro

faux_maestro

New
Tball88 said:
nope, in Georgia, USA.

It's just amazing seeing really low handicaps just blow up. Couple of years ago we had a 1 handicap shoot a 99. Typically almost all of our tournaments are match play, and the club championship is the only real stroke event all year, and it's usually a trainwreck, except for the guys who have a lot of real tournament experience (ex college or mini-tour players).
Click to expand...

Handicaps are supposed to reflect more of your potential than your true average (handicaps are figured with your 10 best scores of the last 20). Also Jared's point about tournament play is true but a 1 shooting 99 is crazy. Is it a course that can be tricked up with some tucked pins or if Dariusz was in charge of the rough?
 
C

cwdlaw223

New
How about tour players blowing up? Jim Furyk did it yesterday. He looked like an amateur on 18. Happens all of the time. It's part of the reason we don't get bored with the game. Nobody (except maybe old Tiger) can hit it perfect all of the time.
 
faux_maestro

faux_maestro

New
cwdlaw223 said:
How about tour players blowing up? Jim Furyk did it yesterday. He looked like an amateur on 18. Happens all of the time. It's part of the reason we don't get bored with the game. Nobody (except maybe old Tiger) can hit it perfect all of the time.
Click to expand...

Even Tiger didn't hit it perfect all the time, he only gave that one chick a Subway wrap. Oh wait, you were talking golf.....
 
Last edited:
W

wulsy

New
Tball88 said:
so, we had our club championship this week. I played horribly, got the pull hooks and it's not easy playing a 7000 yd course out of the left rough all day.

What was amazing was how bad the scores were. The winner shot 73,76,71, so pretty decent, but nobody, and I mean nobody shot to their handicap. The highest Handicap in the group was a 7 and there were 95's, 96's, 97's out there.

I guess a little pressure and not max equivalent scores really changes things. We all quickly realized, we're just not very good.
Click to expand...

I agree with Tball. HCPs are bullshit and very few people can play this game to anything approaching a TRUE scratch golfer.

It makes me cringe listening to jokers who claim be off 2 and the like. More like 22, bud. ROFL.

Just wanted to post that one for all those who have been missing my positivity lately.;)
 
N

niblick1

New
Failure to shoot anything close to handicap in club championships is very, very common. Of course, then there is the other sort of club championship player - the one who enters, say, in the 6-12 handicap flight every year and posts two low/mid-70's rounds to win by a huge margin.
 
O

OLIVER1

New
wulsy said:
I agree with Tball. HCPs are bullshit and very few people can play this game to anything approaching a TRUE scratch golfer.

It makes me cringe listening to jokers who claim be off 2 and the like. More like 22, bud. ROFL.

Just wanted to post that one for all those who have been missing my positivity lately.;)
Click to expand...

Love it, Wuls. You're like the fifth Sex Pistol. Keep it comin'...
 
J

Jim Kobylinski

Super Moderator
How is, say a 10 handicap, supposed to prepare for a course they play all the time and play off a legitimate 10 that is easier 5-10 shots harder than they EVER play it? Either make tournament play more like everyday play, trick it up only a little, or make the course difficult all the time like tournament play. It just isn't fair to members imo. A basketball rim doesn't get higher or thinner when playing a tournament, baseball diamond doesn't change, hell even a pool table can only get marginally faster depending on when the felt was last changed.
 
J

Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
Good points Jim. At my club there are a few groups that play a legit (play it down, by the rules, etc )lowball 3 times a week. These guys are mid seventies all day in that format but rarely crack 85 in the Club Championship. They really are out of their comfort zone playing their own ball for their own score. However a 1 shooting a 99 reeks of a vanity capper, that people like me make a nice supplemental income off of. :)
 
O

OLIVER1

New
...And with the aforementioned in mind, does anybody have a strong preference for the R&A handicapping system, or the USGA method. That might be an interesting debate...
 
KGlennCole

KGlennCole

New
niblick1 said:
Failure to shoot anything close to handicap in club championships is very, very common. Of course, then there is the other sort of club championship player - the one who enters, say, in the 6-12 handicap flight every year and posts two low/mid-70's rounds to win by a huge margin.
Click to expand...

Got one similar.. player (~18HI) shoots Net 58 in a Tournament and then Net 61.. 14 months later. All sorts of excuses and reasons given by our Tour Director. I was told "it is not statistically impossible." Major hurl onto the keyboard.

Oh, the player posted supposedly played 2 (high) practice rounds before a recent Tournament and then the exact same score for the Tournament.
 
mgranato

mgranato

New
The R&A system, hands down.

I have ZERO love for the USGA, the handicap system just being one reason. And I choose not to participate in it... Fight the Power.
 
P

ParHunter

New
fronesis said:
+1

Only competitions count for handicap. Much harder to sandbag and impossible to produce vanity handicaps.
Click to expand...
There are still ways to be a bandit (as we call sandbaggers) but I guess it is harder.

You only go up 0.1 shots when you play above your handicap. So you have to play quite a few bad competitions to get your handicap higher.
You have to play at least 4 qualifying events a year otherwise your handicap becomes inactive.

There is another way to correct inflated handicaps. The scores of non-qualifying competitions are reviewed and if someone is often below his handicap it can be adjusted.
 
T

Tball88

New
Jim, interesting point on course setup, a couple of things that i think really help make the scores go up are

1. Most guys don't play from the tips all year, they get to a 3-7 handicap from the middle tees and think they can jump to the tips at championship time and it won't make that much of a difference. Big mistake. If you want to play in the championship flight, you better be playing the tips all the time.

2. Course was much tougher. Fairways got tightened up by around 5 yards and rough was grown up another 2 inches. Balls just off the fairway were sinking in deep bermuda rough and you had no idea how it would come out, flyer or a chunker. Most of the year, rough isn't bad at all and a five yard shot off the fairway is no damage. Same for rough around the green, barely miss a green and you were deep and guys didn't know how to handle those shots. usually rough off the green, no big deal.

3. No max equivalent changes not only your score but your mindset. During the year a tucked right pin on a par three and guys will go firing right at it, knowing worse I can get is double. In the tournament guys were shooting at the middle of the green scared to death to go pin chasing. Results, approach shots on average further away, and more three putts.

Add it all up and it gets ugly in a hurry..
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top