I was having a discussion with mate of similar ability to me. I noticed that his handicp is 8 points lower than mine. However when ever we play it is touch and go who wins.
I said that I would rather play on harder course than have a lower handicap on a track which is far simpler or less punishing when you mis the fairways or greens.
EG. I know that if I miss a fairway, then the ball will be lost of have to chip out, but on his course if you miss the fairway by 10 metres you still get a shot at the green most times

what do you guys think ? Would you rather play off a low mark, or feel that you play on a tough course where your handicap will hold up on most courses.

I was under the impression that the handicap should be calculated off the ACR, so it should reflect your ability on a course that you’re familiar with.

That said, I’d prefer to play on a tougher course.

I play on a course that has a par of 72 with an ACR of 75. It is rated the 13th toughest golf course in Australia. The good thing about this being my home club, I find that most other courses are easier and the enjoyment level is better.

I also play on a tough course and think my golf has improved out of sight because of it. I hear the members around here saying that my course is so tough you can take 4 – 5 shots off your handicap when you play a regular public course and still shoot under. I’m off 12 now but when I played division 4 pennants earlier in the year I was off 18. Playing guy’s off 12 and beating them, they were pissed off.

I was under the impression that the handicap should be calculated off the ACR, so it should reflect your ability on a course that you’re familiar with.

That said, I’d prefer to play on a tougher course.

I think the ACR is a good indicator but how accurate is it ?

On the weekend the wind was blowing so granted teh conditions were tough but looking at the results I saw a fair number of 7-12 handicappers bring home scores in the high 90’s and a few at 100-103.

The ACR I think only generally varies between 3 or so +/- (ie 69-75) for say a par 72 course or can it be much more ?

I’m hoping that constantly playing on a harder course will make me a better player, which means when I do venture away from home I should in most cases be able able to beat my handicap and hopefully clean up the cash, rather than having a low cap and playing on a harder course and being + 8 or so.

A bit off topic but is there anywhere that lists the ARC for each of the Australian courses?

Is on the card most times

I understand that, I mean is there somewhere I can look online to compare ARC’s for the courses?

Most good webs site have cards on site with ACR for comparing

I think a harder course will give you a better indication of what your handicap should be. Having a low handicap on a relatively easy course may give an inflated assessment of your golfing ability. This generally leads to when playing a harder layout, of “I had a shocker’ rather than “The course beat me, I haven’t got the game for that standard just yet”

I was under the impression that the handicap should be calculated off the ACR, so it should reflect your ability on a course that you’re familiar with.

That said, I’d prefer to play on a tougher course.

I think the ACR is a good indicator but how accurate is it ?

On the weekend the wind was blowing so granted teh conditions were tough but looking at the results I saw a fair number of 7-12 handicappers bring home scores in the high 90’s and a few at 100-103.

The ACR I think only generally varies between 3 or so /- (ie 69-75) for say a par 72 course or can it be much more ?

I’m hoping that constantly playing on a harder course will make me a better player, which means when I do venture away from home I should in most cases be able able to beat my handicap and hopefully clean up the cash, rather than having a low cap and playing on a harder course and being 8 or so.

Divot

Environmental factors are ignored for ACR (which assumes ideal conditions – good summary at http://www.golfvic.org.au/d...)

The CCR would pick that up though.

My course is short too, but tight. Longer courses around here seem to have wider fairways and less protection around greens (don’t succeed in taking advantage – get too excited about it I think!)

There are hard short courses, just as there are easy long courses.
The difficulty factor I believe comes about from the layout of the course more than what par it is. Agreed that environmental factors can have an implication on some days, but I doubt that would happen everytime you played the course.

Playing a par 66 that generally makes you play golf to the best of your ability because of the layout can and probably comparative to playing a difficult Par 72.

However, if you are constantly playing an easy Par 72 and stroking along on 10-12 hcp, you could still find yourself kicking tin cans and annointing everyone in your group with utterences of The Lords name when playing a difficult Par 66. Why, because you probably have not got the game for the vagueries and carefully designed problems the short, difficult course can present, or vice versa.

because you probably have not got the game for the vagueries and carefully designed problems the short, difficult course can present, or vice versa.

Och, aye tha’ noo!

See the wee beestie in the picture.

Only 165m, front half of green not visible from tee, steep swales left and right with fluffy lies, 8m wide and plays in a stiff cross breeze in the afternoon. Miss this one right and getting on in 3 is good credit.

It is a fallacy that a tougher course results in higher handicaps.

if you have a lower handicap say <10 a and high play like acr regularily course on>

If you play the lower ACR course, like a -3 you will have a slightly higher handicap, as the hackers will drag the CCR down, because the obviously struggle less.

Back to the original question…. give me a tougher course anytime. The tougher the better !!

I prefer the tougher course as golf is about the challenge, not who the wank factor of having the lowest handicap just for comments sake.