Society Handicap Help

istaunton

Hey All


Bit of a dilemy in my Society of which I am the H'cap Sec. Basically when we get new members who dont have a GUI nor have had a handicap from a society before we will ask them what they would usually score. 9 times out of then they dont know as they wouldn't have played enough golf. So in our rules we give these members a Handicap of 24. And after 2 outings if it needs to go up we will adjust but if it should go down we will review that after each round.

Basically looking for a general consensus of what you guys think is a fair Handicap to give to new members and maybe your reasons why. Remembering it is a fun society with 80% of memebers with a handicap of over 20 (infact there is more off 28 then there is under 20).

Thanks Folks

Mr. Larson

I dunno - never really played much society golf... but I would say 22? Better too low than too high. Most people just starting out, regardless how naturally talented will probably struggle to beat 18 for a while until they get their course management, tempo and short game sorted out.

That said, if some lad joined and said he used to play off 7 when he was a teenager about 15 years ago but hasn't played... then you'd obviously adjust that 22 a bit?

Codofwar

Maybe a fair way of doing it would be when a new member joins they are given a set handicap of say 24 but are not allowed to win in their first two comps or so, 2nd place downwards if you fancy. That way if there is someone who is alot better than the 24 given it can be adjusted accordingly and people wouldn't get upset if they won on their first outing with an unfair handicap based on their skill level.
Just a thought.

alxmorgan

Had the same issue myself just recently.
Got given an initial handicap of 20 which I was fine with.
Most people who join in this situation won't be out to win anything to start with anyway.
I have never played to 20 my best was 23 and am usually closer to 30.

Have played 2 competitions now with this and have scored 21 and 24 pts.
Anyway I reckon best thing is to get a feel from the person themselves as to how they are playing/capable of playing and go from there.

spacecoyote

The society I play with starts any new member without a GUI on 18. Had two new members start this year, they both scored poorly in 1st round, were bumped up to 24 on 2nd round, scored better, they'll prob get bumped a little higher next time out and settle there. The way they run the handicaps in our place for golfer of the is for each event:

1st: loses 3 strokes off handicap
2nd: loses 2
3rd: loses 1.

I find it works well as it gets a broader range of people winning as people start losing strokes

Mr. Larson

spacecoyote wrote: »

The society I play with starts any new member without a GUI on 18. Had two new members start this year, they both scored poorly in 1st round, were bumped up to 24 on 2nd round, scored better, they'll prob get bumped a little higher next time out and settle there. The way they run the handicaps in our place for golfer of the is for each event:

1st: loses 3 strokes off handicap
2nd: loses 2
3rd: loses 1.

I find it works well as it gets a broader range of people winning as people start losing strokes

How do the upward adjustments work, as a matter of interest, or can you only go south? If they play bad do they just get arbitrarily 'bumped up'?

istaunton

Well we have a a fairly decent system for going up. (I think any way). If you shoot a score lower than 36 - the buffer for your catagory(lets say u play of 20 then the buffer is 0 - 4, so u have to score less than 32 to get anyting back). You get 0.2 back for each point below up to a max of 1.5.

Also we have a penalty system for the winners on the next round

1st -3
2nd -2
3rd -1

From their total score in the next event. This is more to prevent the same people from winning all the time.

Some good ideas on here so far. I like the CodofWar's idea of new members not being allowed to come first in their first 2 outings

Mr. Larson

istaunton wrote: »

Well we have a a fairly decent system for going up. (I think any way). If you shoot a score lower than 36 - the buffer for your catagory(lets say u play of 20 then the buffer is 0 - 4, so u have to score less than 32 to get anyting back). You get 0.2 back for each point below up to a max of 1.5.

Also we have a penalty system for the winners on the next round

1st -3
2nd -2
3rd -1

From their total score in the next event. This is more to prevent the same people from winning all the time.

Some good ideas on here so far. I like the CodofWar's idea of new members not being allowed to come first in their first 2 outings

That sounds pretty good. Kinda close to the standard CONGU (or whatever you call it) way with the buffer zones etc. Nice one.

Trampas

istaunton wrote: »

Well we have a a fairly decent system for going up. (I think any way). If you shoot a score lower than 36 - the buffer for your catagory(lets say u play of 20 then the buffer is 0 - 4, so u have to score less than 32 to get anyting back). You get 0.2 back for each point below up to a max of 1.5.

Also we have a penalty system for the winners on the next round

1st -3
2nd -2
3rd -1

From their total score in the next event. This is more to prevent the same people from winning all the time.

Some good ideas on here so far. I like the CodofWar's idea of new members not being allowed to come first in their first 2 outings

Until you get people protecting their handicap until captains day arrive.

I was in a society that had this. Came to Tulfarris and two societies I play in had their captains there on the same day.

I played in the one I was a member longest and had 37pts (2nd) and was beaten by 5 shots. I would have won the other if I played in it at the lads couldn't believe I was beaten.

I played very well that day.

The winner would be a person who would let people move their ball if a bush was effecting your shot.

Gave up playing with them shortly after that. How can you beat cheaters.

Mr. Larson

Trampas wrote: »

Until you get people protecting their handicap until captains day arrive.

I was in a society that had this. Came to Tulfarris and two societies I play in had their captains there on the same day.

I played in the one I was a member longest and had 37pts (2nd) and was beaten by 5 shots. I would have won the other if I played in it at the lads couldn't believe I was beaten.

I played very well that day.

The winner would be a person who would let people move their ball if a bush was effecting your shot.

Gave up playing with them shortly after that. How can you beat cheaters.

The system the OP has in place sounds pretty good to me... sure people will take the Michael regardless of what system(s) are in place but even the formal system can't defeat that kind of carry on so, OP, for the purpose of this thread, I think your methods sound pretty good and fair.