Different Handicaps Under Different Conditions/Locations

[den748]

Are there any other golfers here who like to slice and dice their handicaps?  

I got a little bored tonight (or REALLY bored) and created a google sheet with all of my handicaps over the past year plus.  Found some things that are interesting to me but not all that surprising.

First the good:  My handicap is plummeting.  This is something I knew but this is also what kicked off my curiosity.  I have been playing MUCH more golf at my home course, to the point where 15 of my 20 counted rounds are at home.

The good, the bad, and the ugly:  My home handicap is a 7.6, my away number is 10.6, and then my competition handicap is an 11.6.  And the competition one is only that low because of a few competitions at my home course.  

Some other interesting tidbits:

Avg Handicap Counting Score: 79.13

Average Score: 86.7

Take-a-way:  When your friends that don't have a handicap tell you that they have an average score of 90 (for example), their handicap should probably be based on a score of around an 86.  Don't give them too many strokes to your detriment.

Out of all my scores in the past ~18 months I have only been below my current handicap around 7% of the time.   So the takeaway here is that you shouldn't expect to shoot your handicap often.  While we should all know this, I think people get overly upset when they are not at their handicap or feel embarrassed if they play with someone and say their a 7 but then shoot a 90...it happens!  Another take-a-way is that I'm improving!  If you see this number at a high percentage then you're probably trending in the wrong direction.

Anyways, thought maybe people would find this a little bit interesting.  If you want to see the sheet, feel free to go here and make copies if you want to input your own scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qTF_yFM046NESiB35FkJq75t6xCkS894PFyu1ZGH7bQ/edit?usp=sharing

I gotta start working on my competition prep and nerves.  Being that far off my handicap when playing when it matters is no bueno.

For discussion sake, is there a point where I am posting too many home scores?  I get that it shouldn't matter but lets be honest, you get a lot of benefit from playing the same course over and over again.  

 

[ChitownM2]

You're dead on about not giving people without a handicap too many strokes.  Handicap represents a golfer's potential, not how they typically perform.  By definition, you're not going to shoot your handicap very often.  A better question to ask your non-handicap keeping friends is "what is the best score you've shot in the last ______" and fill in the blank with whatever is appropriate based on how much they play.  For my buddies, they don't get out very often so I might ask them what is the best score they've shot in the last 2 years which might represent the best of 10 rounds.  

[THEZIPR23]

1. If you play golf post your score. 
2. Don't play in net events.

 

Nothing surprises me about your score breakdown, seems pretty normal for most golfers who keep a legit handicap. The home away thing is almost 100% true for everyone even plus indexes. I knew a guy who at his home club was almost impossible to beat, he carried somewhere between +4 & +6. At any other golf course he was a 0.