I was just wondering whether I may have found a flaw in the current handicapping system.

I have recently just achieved a handicap of +1. My 8 flagged scores total up to -8. So you then divide this by 8 which gives you -1. You then multiply this by 0.93 which takes my handicap from -1 to -0.93. Shouldn’t it work the other way and in fact now be -1.something? Not that I’m complaining. I was just wondering whether this was a flaw, deliberate or something that Golf Australia may have overlooked?

I hope the above makes sense.

imo your handicap should be plus 1
Your exact handicap is – 0.93 which is rounded to -1.0

I guess it’s your reward for being better than scratch. LOL.

It’s well picked up though, you’re handicap should/could be divided by -.93 to give you -1.1 however it’s going to give you the same Playing Handicap anyway.

I first noticed it when my handicap hovering around the -0.5 mark and the multiplier was stopping it from going to +1. It doesn’t concern me but as I mentioned in my op, I was just wondering whether it was a flaw. Golf is hard enough as it is without having to give strokes away. In my first round off +1, the 18th ranked hole was a par 3. I knocked it on and 3 putted it for a miss.

What is flawed is the SS rating given to the Par-3 by your Club. At +1, I doubt that they will take much notice of you. Distance into a green has an accuracy component that Club’s tend to over look when setting SS ratings.

I know what you’re saying. It wasn’t actually my course. The 18th ranked hole at my course is actually a short par 5.

What is flawed is the SS rating given to the Par-3 by your Club. At +1, I doubt that they will take much notice of you. Distance into a green has an accuracy component that Club’s tend to over look when setting SS ratings.

The man who hits at the ball rather than through it has no sense of rhythm.
Secrets of the Master – The Best of Bobby Jones

As Raz has said, the problem is not the system. It is the way your scores have been entered incorrectly into Golflink by the Queanbeyan club. Showing as Par 70, rating 72, yet they are entering your scores as if the rating is only is 70.

When entering into GL, the actual score is entered and GL makes the adjustment to give a ‘Played To’ based on the ACR.

i think you are correct in assessing it as a flaw, however it may have been something golf australia realised upon introduction but decided that it would work towards stopping people from getting too low. They seemed obsessed with that in a past life under the old system

perhaps i am giving GA too much credit

It’s the “too much excellence” factor.

No it’s not a flaw.

When you get good enough to surpass the scratch benchmark then the handicap formula starts working against you. This means you have to play even better golf to sustain a plus handicap.

In a way, this is similar to the original handicapping system where lower markers would gain 0.2 on their handicap, apposed to 0.1, if they played more than 5 shots over their handicap (or something along those lines).

However, In saying that, when we’re talking single figures (either plus or minus) the “excellence factor” doesn’t play that big of a role. It’s more there to bring those 20+ markers in slightly.

Actually the “excellence factor” is now just called the “multiplier” in the GA handicapping system. The multiplier recognises that when a golfer is playing well, and even though their handicap has gone down, they are still more likely to place well in competitions.

The multiplier is more noticeable at high handicap levels and diminishes the further you go towards scratch. It can have an effect of 2-3 strokes for someone playing to a differential of 36, but barely a tenth of a stroke for a scratch player.

By the time you get to a plus handicap the effect is negligible. Some may say the chances of placing consistently well in open competitions, where there are wide handicap differences, diminishes as well. Hence the ‘increasing’ effect of the multiplier on plus handicaps.

Of course in September (or thereabouts) comes DSR (daily scratch rating), and slope at the same time.

I know there multiplier anomaly will still be in place, but fluctuations in daily ratings and slope from course to course would have to be a factor for plus handicap players… I am sure it will be for single digit players.

Of course in September (or thereabouts) comes DSR (daily scratch rating), and slope at the same time.

I know there multiplier anomaly will still be in place, but fluctuations in daily ratings and slope from course to course would have to be a factor for plus handicap players… I am sure it will be for single digit players.

Too much slow play means that golf has a wait problem

I think there is as much chance of that a there is of Collingwood winning the Flag…... ;)

So September it is then!!