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The Golf Handicap System

The handicap basically allows people of verymust be made for the balancing and other
different golfing ability to compete withfactors, when wondering why a hole played
each other. Other sports do have a handicapmuch easier (or harder!) than its stroke
system, but nowhere does it work asindex would indicate. One thing you can
effectively  as  in  the  game  of  golf.guarantee the stroke index 1 hole has been
given  that  status  for  a very good reason!
Lets take an example of a 9 handicap player
meeting a 16 handicapper in a MatchplayQualifying  competitions
singles match. They would take the difference
between their handicaps 7 and apply the (aThese are normally club competitions which
three quarter) of difference principle ifqualify for handicap adjustment purposes.
their club uses this rather than the fullThese is a complex area and not for these
difference (equals 5.25) rounded to thepages! Purely as an example, a competition
nearest full number (Equals 5). The 16may be declared non qualifying if it is
handicap player would get an extra strokeplayed when many temporary greens are in use,
over his opponent at the first 5 stroke indexaffecting  the  overall length of the course.
numbered  holes  on  the  course.
Standard  Scratch  Score  (SSS)
Handicaps are administered by the Golf Clubs
themselves, according to rules laid down byThis is a fixed number agreed by the Club
their  responsible  national  union.with the ruling bodies. This is the score it
would be expected a scratch golfer would go
Officially, there is no other way, despiteround in. This can differ from the course par
the claims of a number of bodies to beingby anything up to plus3 to minus 3 of the
able to award official handicaps (exceptcourse par. It is this number which is used
where low handicaps are administered by afor handicap adjustment, rather than the par
regional  body  rather  than  a  club)of  the  course.
Most golf clubs have a committee (council)Competition  Scratch  Score
member responsible for this. A players
handicap can be varied upwards or downwardsThis is arrived at as a result of
as a result of his/her performance incalculations on the day of a competition,
qualifying competition. The committee alsotaking into account the degree of difficulty
has the right under the rules of golf (rule(climactic conditions) size of field and
19b) to make merit adjustments to a membersgenerally how the different handicap
handicap.categories performed. If this is different to
the  SSS,  it  replaces  it  for  that  day
Handicaps fall into 4 categories for men and
6  for  ladies,  as  follows:Qualifying  score
Category  Handicap  rangeAny score, including a no return returned in
a  qualifying  competition
1  0 5
Net  differential
2  6 12
Is the difference plus or minus between the
3  13 20nett score returned by a player in a
qualifying competition and the competition
4  21 28scratch  score
5  29 40Buffer  Zone
6  41 45Adjustments. Changes to handicaps are made in
accordance with a set of rules administered
Clubs often have names rather than categoryby the national regional authority. For
numbers for the different levels, rangingsimplicitys sake, a players handicap may
from the Gold/silver etc to the Tigers andincrease or decrease by a tenth of a point
Rabbits  and  the  like.for every full shot that player is above or
below the CSS multiplied by the number of
Stroke  Indextheir category. So a 10 handicap player
(category 2) coming in 3 below the CSS would
All golf clubs are required to publish aexpect to see his handicap reduced by 3
HANDICAP STROKE TABLE, indicating the ordermultiplied  by  0.2  shots  equals  0.6.
of holes at which handicap strokes are to be
given or received. This always appears on theThere is a so called buffer zone which
course scorecard under the heading strokeprevents handicaps increasing quite so
index. This is a list of numbers from 1 to 18directly. Again, the category number is used,
where handicap strokes are taken. The lowerbut this time as a whole number, and this is
numbers indicate a higher degree ofapplied before any adjustments are made. So a
difficulty, hence a person receiving, forscore of 3 over CSS for our 10 handicapper
example, 9 strokes, either in a handicap(category 2) would result in an increase in
competition or from a playing opponent, wouldhandicap  of  just  0.1.
receive an extra stroke at each of the holes
with  a  Stroke  Index from 1 to 9 inclusive.Exact  v  Playing  handicap
The degree of difficulty is a relative term,It will be immediately apparent that there is
as the Club Committee is requested to observeno point moving handicaps up and down by the
a number of recommendations when setting theodd decimal place if there is no record kept
stroke index such as balancing the numbersof other than round numbers. Every player has
between the two nines of an 18 hole course.an exact handicap as well as a playing one.
This is especially noticeable if you visit aThe playing one is simply the rounded whole
course which has 3 or more nines which can benumber of the exact one. Thus 8.4 equals 8,
played in different combinations allowance8.



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