handicapping holes for match play

[tigger12]

I have been reading online that the major criteria for ranking is not scoring deviation to par. As a matter of fact the spreading out of strokes is far more important than how tough the holes actually are.
Rules such as 3 hole grouping with a total handicap total of approx 27.
Do not put a top 6 hole in the first or last 3 holes.
Balancing strokes throughout the two nines with no two consecutive holes being in the top 6.
Does anyone have an outline that has worked for them?
Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[jlaidley]

Not sure what your question is. The rank of holes for handicapping is (almost) always on the scorecard. A player or organizer shouldn't have to or get to determine this.

The required approach for match play is to subtract the lowest handicap from the higher handicap. The higher handicap player then uses that as their "net" handicap and applies the strokes as directed by the scorecard.

So if Player A was an 8 and player B was an 18, B would get 10 strokes (18-8). So on the holes ranked 1-10 B's net score would be reduced by one.

[leftee]

I never understood the concept. How could you get any satisfaction out of beating someone when they had to give you ten strokes in order for you to do it?

[jlaidley]

Handicapping is pretty unique to golf. It allows players of different skill levels to see who plays better compared to their normal skill level on a given day. The great thing is that it means anyone can have a fair competition against anyone else.

Better players usually like to compete on gross score, but that may just be because they can.

Having said that, what possible satisfaction could a 5 handicap get from beating a 15 handicap straight-up?

[nokids]

I never understood the concept. How could you get any satisfaction out of beating someone when they had to give you ten strokes in order for you to do it?

If Tiger gave me 10 shots and I won, I'd be kinda satisfied

[tigger12]

My question is how to best handicap a course? What is the best way to handicap all 18 holes? Can a course change the handicap rating or is it set by somebody? What methodology do course use to do this?
I used to think it was just toughest hole was number one. Tough meaning largest deviation from par.
So, does anyone have a set of guidelines on how they set up the ratings on their course?

[jlaidley]

Still not exactly sure what you mean when you say "handicap a course".

GAO establishes teh course rating and slope.
http://www.gao.ca/index.php/ci_id/1822/la_id/1

And since they refer to the USGA Course Rating Guide:
http://www.usga.org/handicapping/cou...ourse-Ratings/.

Rating is what an scratch golfer would shoot. Slope is how fast scores go up from the course rating for non-scratch golfers. A quick example of what slope means is that a 300 yard par 4 with a 240 yard forced carry off the tee would be be easy for a scratch player but very difficult for a bogey golfer. So this would have a high slope (of course courses have slope ratings not holes).

The handicap ranking of the holes (numbered 1-18) do represent the difficulty in a certain sense but it is really answering the question: "what hole is a player most likely to need a handicap stroke". That is the #1 handicap hole. Then it goes on from there. Typically rankings will alternate front and back 9 so there are an equal number of strokes on each 9 (1 more on the front for an odd numbered handicap).

Here are some guidelines for this process:
http://www.ncga.org/2007/06/18/strok...on-guidelines/
http://www.scga.org/assets/handicapc...Allocation.pdf
http://www.awga.org/detail.asp?id=55

[leftee]

Handicapping is pretty unique to golf. It allows players of different skill levels to see who plays better compared to their normal skill level on a given day. The great thing is that it means anyone can have a fair competition against anyone else.

Better players usually like to compete on gross score, but that may just be because they can.

Having said that, what possible satisfaction could a 5 handicap get from beating a 15 handicap straight-up?

The 5 handicap might not get any satisfaction out of it, but at least it would be real. It's no big deal. I just find the idea of it to be pretty silly.

[adam]

I think of it as mostly for gambling purposes . . no 15 handicap will play a 5 handicap straight up for any amount of money because the 15 will lose about 99% of the time.

As far as selecting which holes to give the strokes on the most important criteria is the stroke differential between a par and bogey golfer. Other things are taken into consideration like evenly spacing the strokes given to try and make a match fair (ex. not giving 3 strokes on the last 3 holes of the course because most higher handicaps wouldn't get the match to that point).

Either way it is just to give everyone a way of competing fairly with golfers of all skill levels. If you beat your little brother every time at 1-1 in the driveway and you want to make it fair you spot him a couple points. How many? Hopefully just the right amount to make your wins and losses even.

[jlaidley]

The 5 handicap might not get any satisfaction out of it, but at least it would be real. It's no big deal. I just find the idea of it to be pretty silly.

Your comments are off-topic and kinda trollish, so I am going to refrain from replying. If you want to discuss the merits or silliness of handicapping start a new thread up.

[leftee]

Your comments are off-topic and kinda trollish, so I am going to refrain from replying. If you want to discuss the merits or silliness of handicapping start a new thread up.

Fair enough. My apologies to tigger12 for the threadjack.

[BC MIST]

My question is how to best handicap a course? What is the best way to handicap all 18 holes? Can a course change the handicap rating or is it set by somebody? What methodology do course use to do this?
I used to think it was just toughest hole was number one. Tough meaning largest deviation from par.
So, does anyone have a set of guidelines on how they set up the ratings on their course?

It is a myth that holes should be handicapped based on how "tough" they are. Rather, they should be handicapped based on where the higher handicapped golfer needs for a stroke(s). "Difficulty in making par on a hole (how tough it is) is not an effective indicator of a need for a stroke." RCGA Handicap Manual

To handicap holes, obtain hundreds of scores from members/players, average the scores of the low handicapped players, ("scratch" players) do the same for those in the 20 handicap range, and then subtract the differences. The hole with the greatest difference is your Number 1 handicap hole and go on from there assigning odd numbers to the front nine and even to the back. This, they call, the Comparison Method.

Generally, your low handicapped holes will be your longest holes, the par 5's, as there is a greater probability for the "bogey" golfer to screw up, than when playing a shorter hole, particularly par 3's.

The actual course rating, which is an expression of how difficult the course is, is the sum of ratings of the actual difficulty of individual holes ratings, based 90% on distance and 10% on all other obstacle factors, narrowness of fairways, bunkering, water hazards, etc.. This is done by trained Golf Canada ratings people, through your provincial or local organization. The course does NOT set its own rating. The overall course rating should have little to do with the handicapping of holes for match play purposes.

Slope is not a measure of how difficult a course is overall, but how difficult it is for higher handicapped golfers and is a simple mathematical calculation. (Course rating for a bogey golfer minus course rating a for a scratch golfer, times 5.381)

An excellent source of information about this is found here: www.popeofslope.com

[jbgolf67]

Can't really add much as adam and BC Mist pretty well covered it. The only thing I would add is if you are looking to complete a handicap review of your course, you Handicap system may be able to help depending on if your members are entering their scores hole by hole. I know the RCGA Network will help you complete the comparison. If you do not currently have the hole by hole data, I would suggest that you ask your members to help out and start entering their scores hole by hole until you have an adequate number of scores to complete the comparison.

In terms of distribution of the handicap holes, it has already been touched upon, but the order should shift back and forth between front and back nines and if possible try to have the lower handicapped holes positioned in the middle of the nines.