Equitable Golf Competition
...without use of a percentage, a higher handicapped player might have an advantage
WARNING: If you don’t give a hoot about golf handicaps and the rules thereof, skip today’s post. It can be confusing and mentally tiring! Or get out your calculator or your smart phone with the GHIN app and proceed with reading and understanding! Hah!
When it comes to net stroke play golf competition, the USGA has it correct (who am I to tell the USGA it’s correct or incorrect), giving a nod to lower handicappers than allowing those with inflated-playing-strokes-allocation to run roughshod over the better players. Handicaps are supposed to level the playing field (the golf course in this case), but the USGA’s position is to give the benefit of the doubt to the better players. And the USGA is sticking to it, recommending using 95 percent of a handicap index when computing a competitor’s playing handicap for individual stroke play competition, 85 percent in four-ball, and 100 percent in match play.
The Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) is also sticking to it’s handicapping decisions and tagging along with the USGA when it comes to applying handicaps for Interclub play, a form of match play with a major exception. While the USGA recommends using 100 percent of a handicap in match play events—which is how Interclub is played since every hole is a match unto itself—the CGA uses 85 percent of the player’s 12-month low handicap index for the playing handicap. Confused? Be or don’t be. It’s all good and par for the course.
A few weeks ago, a two-man net better-ball (four-ball is the correct name) tournament was held at Lonnie Poole Golf Course on the NC State University campus in Raleigh. For the unknowing, “net” refers to the individual score minus any strokes awarded based on the player’s playing handicap for the course. Instead of deducting at the end, since this was a two-man “better ball” event, strokes were applied on individual holes where applicable. The winner was the team with the lowest 18-hole net better ball of the twosome. Each player received 85 percent of his playing handicap for either the White or Gray tees, whichever was played.
If this were individual play, with a current handicap index of 8.9, on my home course, from the white tees at LPGC, in net total score, I get to take off six strokes from my 18-hole total. Shoot an 80, my net is 74. One of our regular competitors has a 22.7 index and gets to remove 22 strokes, his playing handicap for the same tees as I, when playing individual net total score.
In the four-ball event, at 85 percent, according to calculations on the USGA GHIN app, my playing handicap remains at six. Since it was a two-man better ball event, the strokes were applied to individual holes, handicap holes 1-6 for me. As for the player with the 22.7 index, his allotment at 85 percent was reduced to 18 shots, one per hole, instead of 22, one for every hole and two for handicap holes 1-4 which would be the 3rd, 9th, 11th and 18th at LPGC. (Hang in there. I’ll make a point of this later in the broadcast.)
Summation of the last paragraph: The lower your handicap index, the fewer strokes you’ll lose at 85 percent. The higher your handicap index, well, you’ll lose more strokes. This is what the USGA wants, bringing the two players closer to each other when it comes to playing handicaps.
In a different twist to stroke play competition, in our regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday $6 ante groups, we don’t count all the strokes made on any hole, though we’re playing more for pride than the money. Our commissioner, in discussion with his competition committee, decrees the highest score for any player on any hole will be double bogey plus any strokes allocated for that hole, a limit applied when posting scores for handicap purposes. This is known as “net double bogey.” If we were playing real tournament golf, every competitor would have to finish the hole and record on the scorecard the actual score and include that high number in the overall total before deducting the playing handicap for the round. A player who “picks up” and doesn’t finish the hole would be disqualified from winning any dollars that round.
Example: With a six-stroke playing handicap, I would score no more than double bogey on handicap holes 7-18 but must take no more or less than triple bogey on handicap holes 1-6, even if I needed three or four attempts to get out of the awful sand bunkers at LPGC. So, I should record the actual score for the $6 wager yet reduce it to double bogey plus my strokes for posting to the GHIN handicap system on which every player should do so immediately after the round. There’s an app for that. If posting hole-by-hole, the system adjusts those high scores to “net double bogey.”
Which—to confuse the matter a bit more—brings us to players with plus (+) handicap indexes who must give shots back to the field when their handicap index reaches a certain low level. For instance, a player with a +0.2 has a white tee course handicap of +3 which means on the 18th, 17th and 16th handicap holes, that player must add a stroke to his score when playing a net handicap game. If he has a par on the 17th hole at LPGC which is the 18th handicap hole, he gets a bogey in the competition, if match play. Or just add three strokes to his gross total for his net score in stroke play.
Taking it a step further and reality to an upcoming Senior Interclub match, there’s an opponent with a +6.2 Handicap Index (he’s really good), which translates to a course and playing handicap of +10 from the white tees at LPGC. At 100 percent, he would have to give his opponent 10 shots more than the opponent’s playing handicap. At 85 percent, which is how the Carolinas Golf Association handicaps Interclub play, his playing handicap is reduced to giving back eight shots.
This concerns our Senior Interclub captain who believes the player with a +6.2 Handicap Index should go from +10 playing handicap at 100 percent to +12 playing handicap at 85 percent instead of down to a +8. This is computed by dividing 10 by .85 instead of multiplying 10 by .85.
On the other side or hand or whatever, a player with a 6.2 handicap index has a playing handicap of four; reduced by 85 percent to three strokes. So, at 100 percent, the 6.2 is a four, and the +6.2 is a 10. That’s 14 shots to the good for the higher handicapper. At 85 percent, the two get closer together with the 6.2 being reduced to three and the +6.2 being reduced to eight strokes, a total of just 11 strokes. This is determined by the USGA GHIN handicap calculator. That’s the same app.
Which leads us to this exchange with USGA to get clarification. I wrote:
I believe the handicap system is flawed when adjusting for a percentage of strokes in competition. A player with a 6.2 index that has a course handicap of four gets only three at 85 percent. On the other hand, a player with a +6.2 must give up 10 shots on the same course but only six at 85 percent. I believe his 10 shots should be divided by .85 not multiplied by .85 and he should now give up 12 strokes. While the handicap system is meant to even the playing field, the current system undercuts the higher handicapper in this example and helps the lower handicapper. Why? HELP!
The response from the USGA didn’t take very long. Cindy, in USGA Customer Support, wrote:
Thank you for your inquiry. The calculator is applying the percentages correctly. When a percentage is applied, the golfer moves closer to zero. This is applied the same whether the player is a 5 or a +5, they both move closer to zero. It is easy to misinterpret as taking away or losing strokes or gaining strokes. That is not the objective of applying a percentage to the Course Handicap. It is about creating an equitable competition across the entire handicap spectrum, and, without use of a percentage, a higher handicapped player might have an advantage. A 50 percentage of 4 and +4 would be 2 and +2 respectively.
So, it’s all about equitable competition when using a percentage of the handicap and not giving an advantage to the players with higher handicaps, putting them in their place, so to speak. That’s all good if you’re the lower handicapper but to the higher handicapper, it doesn’t seem fair. Oh, well. Did someone say that golf and all the rules thereof are fair or even meant to be? Remember the saying: All is fair in love and war (which means there are no rules in love and war) but not in the Rules of Golf (which means there are rules in golf).
I think the USGA has it right when it comes to the percentage rules of handicapping, moving the higher and lower handicappers closer together. What about you? Comments are welcome in the comment section below.
NOTE: In the USGA’s Rules of Handicapping, there is Appendix C: Handicap Allowances (click the link and then on the right side of the page, under Appendices, click on Appendix C. You should find a table that spells out percentages of handicaps to be used for various formats of play such as with individual stroke play (95 percent); four-ball stroke play (85 percent); and individual match play (100 percent).
Equitable Golf Competition
I trust the USGA to be fair in their competition rules. But some do affect the enjoyment of the game for the casual golfer. If competition is the goal, the more rules the better. When just playing the course against personal goals, some flexibility is needed in enforcement of some of them. Our proximity competition favors better golfers so use of full handicaps and net doubles are a small consolation to those who are not as accurate