How do I Use My Handicap?
Handicap Ranking by Hole – Getting your pops
When looking at total net score – the calculation is simply subtracting your course handicap from your gross score. For example, if you have a course handicap of 24 and you scored 99, your net score would be 99 – 24 = 75.
Some forms of days play competition look at an allocation of strokes by hole. Most scorecards have a rating of the holes from 1-18. Generally the front nine uses odd numbers 1,3,5,7… and the back nine uses even numbers 2,3,4,6…. Most people think of the #1 ranked hole as the hardest hole but that’s not necessarily the case. What it really calculates is the difference between what a higher handicapper and lower handicapper will score. For example, at Cross Creek I think we would all agree that # 10 is harder than # 12 but # 12 is ranked as 4th and # 10 as 8th. According to statistics the lower handicapper will beat the higher handicapper more often on # 12 than on # 10 so that’s where the stroke would be given in competition. I like to think of it as on # 10 the lower handicapper is just as likely to get in trouble as the higher handicapper but on # 12 the lower handicapper generally has an easier time hitting the ball up the hill than the higher handicapper.
To allocate the handicap strokes (assigning your pops) you start with hole ranked #1 and add one stroke at a time until you reach the total handicap, wrapping around to the #1 ranked hole to add additional strokes if your handicap is greater than 18. Some people put in the number of strokes and some put dots to represent the strokes (the pops) you get on a hole.
Someone with a handicap of 16 would get pops on holes ranked 1-16 (all holes except # 7 and # 17 which are ranked 1 and 2)). Someone with a handicap of 30 would get one stroke of every hole and then, because that only gave her 18, she would get an additional stroke on holes ranked 1-12 to get her total 30.
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
h/c 1 7 13 15 3 5 17 11 9 8 14 4 10 16 6 12 18 2
Ex 16 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Ex 30 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2
Handicap Ranking by Hole – Getting your pops
When looking at total net score – the calculation is simply subtracting your course handicap from your gross score. For example, if you have a course handicap of 24 and you scored 99, your net score would be 99 – 24 = 75.
Some forms of days play competition look at an allocation of strokes by hole. Most scorecards have a rating of the holes from 1-18. Generally the front nine uses odd numbers 1,3,5,7… and the back nine uses even numbers 2,3,4,6…. Most people think of the #1 ranked hole as the hardest hole but that’s not necessarily the case. What it really calculates is the difference between what a higher handicapper and lower handicapper will score. For example, at Cross Creek I think we would all agree that # 10 is harder than # 12 but # 12 is ranked as 4th and # 10 as 8th. According to statistics the lower handicapper will beat the higher handicapper more often on # 12 than on # 10 so that’s where the stroke would be given in competition. I like to think of it as on # 10 the lower handicapper is just as likely to get in trouble as the higher handicapper but on # 12 the lower handicapper generally has an easier time hitting the ball up the hill than the higher handicapper.
To allocate the handicap strokes (assigning your pops) you start with hole ranked #1 and add one stroke at a time until you reach the total handicap, wrapping around to the #1 ranked hole to add additional strokes if your handicap is greater than 18. Some people put in the number of strokes and some put dots to represent the strokes (the pops) you get on a hole.
Someone with a handicap of 16 would get pops on holes ranked 1-16 (all holes except # 7 and # 17 which are ranked 1 and 2)). Someone with a handicap of 30 would get one stroke of every hole and then, because that only gave her 18, she would get an additional stroke on holes ranked 1-12 to get her total 30.
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
h/c 1 7 13 15 3 5 17 11 9 8 14 4 10 16 6 12 18 2
Ex 16 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Ex 30 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2