handicap gao beginner

Hello.

New to handicap and have not registered with gao yet.

I play when I can at public courses and have no membership at any club. I read the rules on gao.ca. I consider most of my rounds when I can play practice. Because I am generally teamed up with people I do not know, they may or may not follow rules of golf in play.

GOA handicap indicates.

* you should record all rounds if x number of holes are played.

If I play with a group and they pick up my ball to speed up play on a green I generally don't say anything. I want to keep play speed up. These games I would likely not want to record my handicap because rules were broken by other players which I have no control over.

GOA handicap rules sounds like I should record all these games? Makes me think I am breaking potential rules if I don;t record all games.

I want a handicap potentially to compete in tournaments in the future. I want my hadicap to be truthfull. But so many games are not complete, or really just practice for me.

Can I just record the games that were played by rules of golf?

jb

I thought maybe I should rephrase my question.

I want to register for handicap.

My concern is this rule "you should record all rounds if 13 holes are played"

I play public courses and usually teamed up with random people. I have never seen anyone follow rules when it comes to keeping scores(accurate scores) or performing proper drops for lateral hazards for example. I believe most people do this to keep speed of play up.

Examples:
* someone picks up my ball on green (gives me the putt)
* proper drops are hard when people expect you to drop quickly to speed up play.
* I never have seen anyone measure two club lengths, only on TV!

Can I choose not to record a round of 18 if the group does not follow rules?

thanks
mrjb

What the rest of the group does is irrelevant. Follow the rules and record your rounds. Reasonable gimmies are allowed in handicapping but you can always tell your buddies not to pick up for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kilroy

Reasonable gimmies are allowed in handicapping

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Really?

From the Golf Canada Handicap Manual

4-1. Unfinished Holes and Conceded Strokes
A player who starts, but does not complete a hole or is conceded a stroke must
record for handicap purposes the most likely score. The most likely score may not
exceed the player’s Equitable Stroke Control limit, defined in Section 4-3. This
most likely score should be preceded by an “X.” (See Decision 4-1/1.)

Example 2: A and B are playing a match. On a hole on which neither player receives
a handicap stroke, A has holed out in 4; B has a 30-foot putt for a 5. B has lost the
hole, and picks up. B records X-6 on the scorecard because 6 is B’s most likely
score.

Does 4-1 only apply in match play?

There is no mention in the handicap manual that "4-1. Unfinished Holes and Conceded Strokes" applies to match play only. If that is the case then the omission would be rather significant

Thank you for replies.

This was helpful.

But doesn't it say "players A and B are playing in a match".
That by very definition means match play and according to the rules you can only concede putts in match play, there is no such thing as a stroke play gimme within the rules.
I think this rule only applies to match play, in stroke play you have to hole out for handicapping

That is only an example.
A hole may be left unfinished in stroke play because has lost three balls already and doesn't want to waste any more time. As has been pointed out, the clause 4-1 itself makes no distinction.

I suggest it is not specifically mentioned as an example because according to the Rules of Golf (as opposed to the Handicap Rules), the player would be DQd (ie his score would not count).