Here is a little piece of info regarding Handicaps. As Sam is soon to have an official handicap, Mic has asked me to calculate his. Simon I have also done yours (how generous). The basic premise is to look at all scores on each hole and score the hole no worse than a double bogey. This is basically how the officials do it.
<<JAM Hcaps.xls>>
Enclosed is Simon's & Mic's handicap. Mine is 15.2, I tip Sam will get somewhere between17&19. Finally some concrete basis to handicap the JAM.
PS: I propose that both Gibbons & Mackie have a half vote at the PRAM, a pittance of punishment for the sacrilegious disregard afforded the JAM these past months.
Next...
A simple Explanation to handicapping from the Australian Golf union.
Like most Hackers, you probably play golf with a few regular mates. You count all your strokes (if someone is watching), and the winner is the person who completes 18 holes with the lowest score. Who needs a handicap to do that?
You're happy, but you're missing one of the unique features of our game. A handicap allows for a fairly even contest between a mug and an expert, and it allows each of them to really enjoy the struggle. If you want to take your golf further and play in club competitions (the JAM), or even in charity days, you'll need an official Australian handicap.
How's a handicap calculated?
Let's try to make this simple. Say the course is a Par 72. Your AVERAGE score is 90. So your handicap must be 18 - right? WRONG. To get your initial handicap, five cards are required. The handicapper will
look at these cards and REDUCE your score on any hole where you took more than 2 over par (all those 7's on the par threes etc). The handicapper also has the discretion to give extra weight to any good scores amongst the five cards. So your initial handicap may be lower than you thought.
How does my handicap change?
Once you've got a handicap, a number of complex factors are used to adjust it. You don't need to know all these details, but they've evolved to make the whole system fair on a national basis. (If your IQ is less than genius class skip to next section now). First of all there's the Calculated Course Rating (CCR). This was introduced a few years ago to account for different degrees of difficulty at different courses across Australia. In essence, the effective "Par" of the course is adjusted based on the scores returned by all players on the particular day. This means that if you usually play at a very easy course where most players get low scores, you won't be disadvantaged when you compete at a tough track.
Once the CCR is calculated, your score is compared with it. Let's say the CCR comes out at 72, and you shot 90, a difference of 18. If your handicap was 18, no change is required. If you shot 5 strokes better (85) your handicap would go down by 5 x 0.3 = 1.5 to 16.5. (Note: the 0.3 factor applies for handicaps of 13-19. Other factors apply at other handicaps. You can read all about this, and about CCR, in the Australian Golfer's Handbook. But why bother?) So, if you shot 5 strokes worse (95) your handicap would go up by 1.5 right? WRONG. Handicaps only go up by 0.1 no matter how badly you play AND there's a "buffer zone" so if you only play a little bit worse than your handicap it may not go up at all.
This is all very complex, but you don't need to know the rules or do the maths. Just be sure the handicapper gets your card and he/she will do it all. In fact, the AGU is about to introduce a world first swipe card system which will link all handicaps to a central computer, so you'll be able to play in Darwin one day and Hobart the next with your correctly adjusted handicap - just what you always wanted!
The useful thing to recognise is that on average, you won't be able to play to your handicap. Because of the 0.1 limit and the buffer zone which stop your handicap going up by much, but the easy freefall which lets it go down, most of us struggle to match our handicap more than about one game in ten or so. (All over Australia, frustrated Hackers can now stop trashing their clubs and slashing their wrists).