Scoring in a tourney that uses handicaps....

[SiberianDVM]

like the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Suppose an amateur with a handicap of 18 scored a hole in 1 on a par 3. What would the scorecard record? A net ZERO?

Suppose an amateur with a handicap of 36 (yes, I know the Pebble Beach Pro-Am supposedly only takes up to a max of 18, but anyone who saw Chris Berman swing knows that ain't so) scored a hole in 1 on a par 3. Would the scorecard record a MINUS ONE?

[cypressperch]

be getting two strokes on every hole. You could score a -1 with an ace.

If a person truly has a 36 handicap, this is no problem.

I have just about stopped playing with this one group that goes by handicap in all of its competitions. The winning scores are commonly in the fifties. They have guys turning in high scores all the time, but in an event, they seem to do a lot better. I felt I was paying this one guy's car note. My handicap is a five, and I have to play well to get to even par. Make that really, really well. So I end up with a sixty-seven and lose by nine or ten strokes.

Handicaps can be very accurate measures of one's ability. This will be the case when one is trying their best on ever single shot from start to finish and plays according to the rules. This type of honest effort is what characterizes a real golfer. Harvey Pinnick had this in mind when he made the comment, "If you like golf, you are my friend." Cheaters do not make very good friends, do they?

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Irish]

I'm not aware of any competition where the handicap is applied to your score, sure you'd have a 1 nett -1 is you got a ace playing off 36. but more likely you'd just get 6 stableford points or +1 against par or whatever the comp is...the handicap in a stroke play is always deducted after the full 18 and not on a 2 per hole basis anyway...