Problem is the US is that not enough players play in tournaments, so nobody would have an accurate handicap. The handicap system is NOT the problem, the abuse of the handicap system is the problem. When you think about how a player's handicap (USGA Index) is determined, it is the best 10 scores from the last 20, with ESC to limit abnormally high holes, adjusted for course difficulty (slope and rating) and then multiplied by 0.96 (96%). Based on all of that, a player should only shoot their handicap approximately 25% of the time or so, and break it even less. Factor in that many people don't follow all of the rules all of the time, and 90+% of handicaps SHOULD be slightly lower than they really should be. If someone shoots at or slightly below their handicap in 2 consecutive tournament rounds (higher pressure, all rules enforced), there is a 99.99% likelihood that they are a sandbagger. If someone shoots more than 2-3 strokes lower than their handicap in 2 consecutive tournament rounds, they are 100% a sandbagger.
Tedd -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Don M Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 8:07 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Handicap Yeah, you're right, they can cheat on their scorecards as well. >From the sounds of it, the British system is better. As I understand it, they only use tournament scores. -Don --- On Wed, 8/5/09, Tom Flanagan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Depends upon the way the club/course deals with it. And > most of all, it depends upon whether or not the golfer is a > thief, an unprincipled lout who should be banned from the > game. > > On the other hand, whether the computer is available at > your home course or not, it's pretty easy to write down > wrong numbers on scorecards. At our course, the > computer's available but in 90% of the cases golf shop > staff enters scores from cards that are picked up from the > bar/restaurant. There's no way to verify what's on > the card(s). > > Golf's a game of honor. If a guy's a cheater he > doesn't deserve the time of day from his fellows. I know > damn well I've refused to play with, or make bets with > known baggers. I'll play golf with them but I won't > bet with them. Nor will I allow baggers in any of the > tournaments or matches for which I'm responsible. When a > guy tells me, after having won money in a tournament "I > play better under pressure", I tell him "don't > bother signing up for another event with me, unless you can > play at scratch. > > Near as I can tell, the only way to control baggers is by > self-policing, whether it be a club or individuals. This of > course doesn't apply to "vanity handicappers". > Bring them boys on. > > TFlan > > > Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 18:13:29 -0700 > > From: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Handicap > > To: [email protected] > > > > > > I've belonged to 3 clubs. In each one, members > entered their own scores, and there was never any effort to > police the system. No education was given to the golfers > about score entry either. It was all totally self-service. > If someone wanted to sandbag, they could. The clubs > didn't do any handicapped tourneys, so it never really > came up in a setting where the club could do something about > it. > > > > I think this is fairly common. That's why I think > the handicap system is untrustworthy. > > > > -Don > > > > > > > > --- On Wed, 8/5/09, Ed Reeder > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > -- > > Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. > > Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/ > > Express your personality in color! Preview and > select themes for Hotmail(r). Try > it now. > -- Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/ -- Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/
