From: tope@enea.se (Tommy Petersson)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf
Subject: Handicap...slope...the Works!
Date: 27 Jul 92 15:54:13 GMT
Reply-To: tope@enea.se (Tommy Petersson)
Organization: Enea Data AB, Sweden
Uucp-Path: mcvax!kth!sunic!enea.se!tope

I have just returned from a 6-week holiday in California, where I played
some golf. I got help with information on the courses from several people
and promised to post what I thought about the courses. This will be done in
a few days.

Handicap is calculated differently in Sweden and USA, and it also seems
to be more important to us... Handicap calculation is based on a system
similar to Stabelford. I illustrate it with an example:

The player has handicap 25. He gets 2 extra strokes on holes with hcp 1-7,
one extra stroke on the other holes. This could be said to be his "personal
par", and if he hit this many strokes on every hole he would ge 2 points
on each, to a total of 36 points. Less than 34 points is bad, and may
raise your handicap (not mandatory if not in competition play). More than
36 points is good, and always lowers your handicap. I illustrate the
amount of points by playing 9 holes:

Hole    Par    Hcp    Extra strokes    Score    Points    Remark
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1       4      3          2             6        2       Normal result
 2       3     17          1             4        2       Normal...
 3       4      7          2             5        3       One extra point
 4       5     11          1             7        1       "Personal bogey"
 5       4      5          2             9        0       No minus points
 6       4      1          2             3        5       No max points
 7       5      9          1             5        3
 8       3     15          1             4        2       Normal again
 9       4     13          1             7        0       No points

This nine holes gave the 25-handicapper 18 points, which is "on par" for
him. If he would have had a score of 19 strokes on hole 5 or 9 it wouldn't
had mattered, you can't have less than 0 points. This system is friendly to
high-handicappers.

I will not go into how the new handicap is calculated if you get more than
36 points, but (albeit slowly) come to my question(s):

Before the 25-handicapper gets his 25 strokes, he looks at the SSS (standard
score) for the course and compares it to the par. My home course has a par
of 72 and an SSS of 72.0, nothing is done. An easy course may have par 71
and an SSS of 69.2. To reflect this, 2 strokes is subtracted from the 25 hcp
and only 23 strokes are distributed. A Championship course may have par 72
and SSS 74.1, adding 2 strokes. SSS can be different for the different tees
on the course, like Slope ratings in USA.

I now wonder, how should I calculate my handicap when I have played on
American courses? I asked the starters and other officials on several
courses but got different (or no) answers. I have the slope ratings for
all courses I played. Is it possible to find a "median" slope rating, and
say that a certain interval should deduct one stroke, next interval two
strokes...?

What does the Course rating mean, anyway?

How do you calculate handicap the American way?

-- 
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 Tommy Petersson              tope@enea.se              Enea Data AB, Sweden
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