Discretionary Cut?

brianiebrian

Hi there,
Just looking for some advice. I've been playing casually for years (my best ever round prior to this year was an 89) but finally handed in my three cards this summer. Prior to handing in my cards, I upgraded my clubs but struggled mightily to do anything with them for quite a while. As a result I handed in three terrible cards. I mentioned before handing in the first card that I thought I was a 17 or 18 handicap, but in the end was given 20.5.

Since then I have got the hang of the clubs and everything has started clicking to the point where I'm suddenly shooting below 90 routinely (my best was 86, but two balls landed in water on that round, so could easily have been better). I've played in four comps and won 2 of them (2 wins in 3 weeks), and have been cut to 17.8. I don't particularly care about winning prizes and am more interested in improving as a player and getting the handicap down as low as possible. I'm a bit concerned that I could win the next competition as well if my form continues and don't want to get a reputation or whatever among the other members.

Thus I come to my questions. First of all, can my handicap only be changed by the handicap committee at the end of the year or could they decide to cut me sooner? Secondly, should I ask them to, or should I just keep playing as best I can, enjoy my success while it lasts, and let the handicap sort itself out over the course of time?

Apologies for the wall of text!

e.r

If you break the competition standard scratch css. By 4 twice in a certain time you automatically loose an extra shot I think.

So your handicap will look after itself, regarding looking like a bandit it was the same with myself, but once you plateau you'll will find it hard to keep winning.

spacecoyote

I haven't included the table here, but the below is direct from the CONGU Handbook:

EXCEPTIONAL SCORING REDUCTION (ESR)
It is accepted within the UHS that a player may on occasion return a low nett Qualifying Score.
Such a score will automatically attract a handicap reduction within the UHS, relative to the
player’s Handicap Category.
However, if a player returns more frequent low scores than would be expected for their
Handicap Category this probably indicates a significant change of golfing ability. This can
occur, for example, if a beginner or junior golfer is rapidly improving, if a player’s circumstances
have changed allowing him/her to play more competitive golf or if an initial handicap allotment
has been made based on limited information available on a new Member’s golfing ability and
requires realignment. The ESR mechanism makes a further reduction in the player’s handicap,
based on both the level of the scores returned and their frequency, in accordance with the
Exceptional Scoring Reduction Table below.
When a player returns a Qualifying Score with a Nett Differential of -4, or below, in a calendar
year this triggers the ESR algorithm, setting an initial marker. An ESR calculation will be
initiated the next time a Nett Differential of -4 or lower is returned by the player. The average
Nett Differential of the two scores is then compared to the number of rounds in the sequence to
establish an ESR. For this reason reductions of less than one stroke may be recommended as,
when combined with the decrease applied by the system, the overall reduction will always be
more than one stroke.
The case for applying an ESR increases as the average of the two Nett Differentials becomes
lower and the number of scores in the sequence reduces.
23.10 At the discretion of the Union, Handicap Committees must, following submission of two
low Qualifying Scores (Nett Differential of -4 or better), by a Member, within a calendar
year apply an Exceptional Scoring Reduction which. will further decrease a player’s
handicap, over and above any handicap decreases already applied by the UHS.

23.11 The Exceptional Scoring Reduction does not apply to Category 1 players.
23.12 An ESR will be restricted where it would reduce a Category 2 player into Category 1.
Handicap reductions in such situations will only be able to reduce a player’s handicap to
5.5.
23.13 Each chronological pair of ESRs in each calendar year is considered independently of the
next or previous pair of ESRs; there is no compounding of scores.
23.14 An ESR is triggered within a Nine-Hole Qualifying Competition by a score of 22 points or
more for the nine holes played i.e a score of 40 points once the neutral 18 points have
been added.
23.15 Although calculated automatically by the ISV software, such adjustments are not ones
that can be anticipated by players. Accordingly, Handicap Committees must advise
players when such a reduction has been applied and the handicap adjustment only
comes into effect when the player has been so advised.
C O N G U ® U N I F I E D H A N D I C A P P I N G S Y S T E M
53
Application of the Exceptional Scoring Reduction Table
Example 1:
 A player with an Exact Handicap of 18.6 returns a sequence of Nett Differentials -4, 8, 7, 5, 11, 3,
-7, ending after the last score with a CONGU® UHS calculated Exact Handicap of 15.7, Playing
Handicap 16;
 The first -4 Nett Differential returned triggers the ESR process;
 The -7 Nett Differential initiates an ESR calculation;
 The number of rounds in the sequence is 7;
 The average Nett Differential of the two Exceptional Scores returned is -5.5;
 From the above Exceptional Scoring Reduction Table an ESR of 0.5 stroke is applied further
reducing the player’s CONGU® Exact Handicap to 15.2, Playing Handicap 15.
Example 2:
 A player of Exact Handicap 7.6 has the same Nett Differentials as in Example 1 above and his
CONGU® UHS calculated Exact Handicap at the end of the sequence was 5.9;
 The ESR process makes a further reduction of 0.5 stroke to that applied automatically;
 However as this would reduce the player’s handicap to 5.4 the ESR process would adjust to give
a 0.4 stroke reduction taking the player to the lower limit of Category 2, i.e. a revised CONGU®
Handicap of 5.5.
23/5 Adjusting Newly Allocated Playing Handicaps
Q. Handicap Committees are advised to monitor the early returns of players with newly allocated
handicaps. In what circumstance should the Handicap Committee take action?
A. Assigning handicaps to new members is one of the most important functions of a Handicap
Committee. Following the inputting of the score details from the requisite number of cards, the
computer program calculates a handicap. This should be regarded as a recommendation that
should be reviewed with reference to factors such as time of year, prevailing weather conditions,
previous playing history, and the most recent past handicap held, where applicable, before a
handicap is allotted.

In allocating and reviewing a new handicap the Handicap Committee has to be seen to be fair not
only to the player but also the rest of the membership. If initial handicaps allocated to new members
are too liberal the new members enjoy an unfair competitive advantage.
In the examples cited above, the Handicap Committee would be justified in applying a General Play
Adjustment after the return of early scores to adjust the respective handicaps to a level more
reflective of playing ability.

Senna

If you have just been given the handicap and you then win 2 comps in 3 weeks, the handicap secretary should be reviewing your handicap, its his job to worry about handicaps, not yours.
So go out and play the best you can and if you win, great.

Golf365

Currently when getting your handicap you have to put in 3 cards & you are then allocated a handicap based on those 3 cards.
What would the implications be if when applying for handicap that you would be given a maximum handicap of 18 but your next 10 competition cards would be analysed by the handicap secretary and then a more accurate handicap would be given ?
When playing off 18 your handicap would be adjusted according to your competition results.

The OP was given a handicap of 21 when he felt that he should be off 17/18 and his results in competitions proved he was right.

from_atozinc

and of you aware of any free online tool you can use to enter dummy scores on a dummy course for 3 rounds, just to see what is spits out as your handicap?