In our previous post I introduced what I believe are the 4 principles behind the Handicap System.
1. Measuring player’s potential
2. Comparing Apples to Apples
3. Removing noise
4. Trusting each other
We already talked about “Measuring Player’s Potential Ability”. Today we will discuss “Comparing Apples to Apples”.
Comparing Apples to Apples “The best scores are determined by the difficulty of the course”
An 81 at Pebble Beach is got to be worth more than a 79 at your home course (unless your home course is Torrey Pines)
Most readers would agree with the Handicap System in giving more value to scores that were hit on more difficult golf courses. In this section I want to show (1) how is calculated and (2) the main principles behind it.
I promise not to go into too much detail, however is important to understand a couple of important tools that the Handicap System uses to determine how valuable a score is:
– Handicap Differential: Is the final value of a score after having accounted for the difficulty of the course.
– Course rating and Slope rating: These are numbers that reflect the difficulty of the course. Approved USGA delegates visit courses and measure the difficulty of each hole based on length of the hole, hazards and others.
– Course Handicap: This is the adjusted Handicap Index of a player for a specific golf course. This adjusted index is determined based on the Course and Slope rating
– ESC (Equitable Stroke Control): This is the maximum strokes per hole used allowed based on the player’s course handicap. You can see main guidelines for ESC below.
Now that we have discussed these basic tools let’s see how they are used. On the image below you can observe Henry’s Handicap Differentials (calculated using Course and Slope ratings, Course Handicap and ESC guidelines). You can compare these Handicap Differentials values with the graph after that shows the scores for the same rounds of golf played by Henry.
Henry’s most valuable score was at Plantation Preserve on 12/11/12. He shot an 84, but considering the Course Handicap from the blue teebox of 73.20 and the Slope Rating of 138, his Hdcp Differential was of 11.4
Now consider Henry’s best gross score of 83, shot at Caracas Country Club from the White tees on 5/28/12. Based on a Course rating of 69.1 and a Slope Rating of 121, his Hdcp Differential was 13.0.
This example is pretty relevant to show the importance of course difficulty and in determining which scores are more valuable to show a player’s potential ability. So remember:
• Courses have different difficulties and scores should be valued differently
• Each tee box in the same course is considered a different course and scores should be valued differently
You can get more details on the specifics of the calculation in one of our previous posts at http://www.thegrint.com/range/2012/08/how-is-your-handicap-index-calculated/
In our next post we will discuss the remaining 2 principles of removing noise and trusting each other.
Enjoy your golf
