Golf handicap questions

The Game Room
1

  1. I was reading where St Andrews requires a certain handicap to play there and a card must be presented. Who issues and certifies that card?

  2. When looking at the layout for local courses I see different length courses listed by starting from different tee locations, like the Red course, the Gold course, etc. I am assuming the pros would play the longest course? What course could you play to count towards that handicap card?

2

  1. I assume some form of official handicap certification from the USGA (assuming you’re from the USA) would suffice.

  2. Any set of tees on a course in the USA with a USGA certified “course rating” and “slope” can be used towards calculating your handicap (well, your “handicap index” - long story about that).

3

You want to read about handicaps from the USGA website. It informs about how to establish and maintain a handicap - it applies worldwide. The basics: you enter your date, course played, the tees used, and your score - best is hole-by-hole and the app (GHIN) does the dirty work of limiting your complete disaster holes to merely bad, calculating your adjusted score, and generating your handicap index. You need at least four scores entered to establish. Nine hole rounds count. If you get rained out or darkness falls after a dozen or so holes, the app fills out the remaing scores based on your established handicap. You can print a handicap card or just show it on your phone to the starter. Many casual tournaments also use a USGA handicap for play.

4

Almost all courses worldwide have course ratings and slope (think degree of difficulty) for each tee box used. Your handicap for that course is based on your current handicap index adjusted by what tees you’re using. As an example, my index is 9.6 (pretty good for a geezer). If I play with my usual gang of idiots, we all go to the senior tees to be social and razz each other. The GHIN adjusts my handicap to around 4 typically to even out my skill advantage. (Those shameless hackers are getting 18 handicap strokes or more). I might shoot 77 from the shorter tees, they’re shooting mid 80s but with 20 strokes handicap difference, they’re stealing my money!

You sound like a newer golfer. Spend less $$ hitting balls or playing; take lessons (multiple) or you won’t learn or improve. When I was a scratch golfer (zero, actually +0.9), I still took them. Every pro on tour takes lessons. Do it.

5

LOL! I don’t golf. Just like to watch it.