Ted's Corner: What Your Handicap Means

After reading Dave's column on the Internet Handicap I began to recall all the arguments I hear through a busy summer season regarding handicaps.

"What handicap are you lying, I mean, playing to today?" Terms like sandbagger, thief, Jessie James or the infamous "How can you say that with a straight face?". Well, there are some statistics on handicaps and what a player will shoot.

According to the USGA's Handicap Research Team, "the average player is expected to play to his course handicap or better only about 25 percent of the time, average three strokes higher than his course handicap, and have a best score in 20 which is only two strokes better than his course handicap."

The Handicap Index reflects a golfers potential not an average of his scores. It is based upon his best scores posted for a given number of rounds. Its the average of a golfers best rounds.

OK, so you happen to be a 14 handicapper and you shoot a net 64. What are the odds? 1138:1. The higher the handicap the lower the odds that you will shoot a low net score. If you were a 24 handicapper and you shot an -8 under your handicap the odds would be 383.1. But suppose a 14 handicapper shoots a net 64 one week and follows that with another 64 in the same year. The odds 14,912 to 1. It could happen......In future issues I will give you the probabilities for all handicaps and scores. I suggest keeping it in your bag! Have a great round of golf...

Ted