Comment: Handicapping

We realise that handicapping is always going to be the most contentious issue surrounding any golf event, whether that be the Holden Scramble, your local Saturday Medal round, or even in something as social as Sevens Golf. Let's face it, we're not playing for sheep stations, but at the same time we understand some of you have some concerns...

Firstly, we are aware of some issues regarding initial handicaps being incorrectly entered at the beginning of the season, and we are confident that this has been addressed going into the future. Sevens Golf relies heavily on clubs to ensure that data is correctly entered into the site, as we have no way of knowing whether a person's handicap is correctly entered or not (as we do not personally know the ability of each player). Of course if a player raises a concern with us directly, we investigate if there has been an error made.

Unfortunately, mistakes can and will occur due to human error, and we apologise if that was the case. We will correct anyone's handicap that was incorrectly entered at the start of last season, most of the time this was picked up and corrected as soon as it happened, but some have gone through the season without Sevens Golf being alerted, and those can be corrected before the next season begins. We have already taken steps in the latest upgrade of the website to make this unlikely to be an issue going forward.

If you believe your initial handicap was not correctly entered, or it reverted to 0 or a minus figure, and should not have been, let us know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so we can investigate and get it corrected.

Secondly, we will be giving each club the advice to use the Sevens Golf Initial Handicapping system on each of the first three (3) scores entered by a new player. We feel that this will give us a fairer starting point for each new player and this is in line with 18-hole handicapping requirements.

Thirdly, and the most contentious point, is the actual calculation method itself. The emails of enquiries about the handicapping system have dried up of late, but we are still getting feedback from our club administrators that some of you are not happy with the method being used.

As you should be aware, if you are a golf club member, GolfLINK will be changing to a similar handicapping calculation as what Sevens Golf has been using over the past season.

We will not be using the Slope system as all play is at your own course, and there is no need to have a system in place for Sevens handicaps to 'travel'. We simply handicap to a par score of 18 points.

The Facts:

1. Most queries stem from the fact that another player has had a good score, such as 26 points. Unfortunately, sometimes other people play well and above average, and you struggle. That's not a fault of the handicapping system, but probably a good opportunity to have a lesson and get back on track.

2. Second most common query is that the handicaps are too low and the system should be less severe.

The system is biased towards a players best 1 or 2 scores early on as there is not enough of a sample size to determine how 'good' the player actually is. When there are more scores returned, the system takes more of those scores as a percentage (up to 50%), to give us an indication on the players actual scoring ability.

Handicaps under this system are all calculated from a par score of 18 points. Once you have 20 scores in the system, it averages your best 10 to give you a handicap. If we made it less severe on one person, we have to make it less severe on all players. All that would effectively do is raise everyone's stableford scores. There would be no relative difference in terms of your ranking in the field, or your team match result, only that they would all be higher.

We took the liberty this week of checking out the Ball Comp cut-off scores for a sample of 8 clubs and found some very interesting stats:

Clubs that reward 25% of the field each week with a ball in the ball comp had an average weekly cut-off of 18.4 points.

Clubs that rewarded less than our reccommended 25% averaged a weekly cut-off of 19.5 points.

So, 25% of the field each week is scoring 18.4 points or better....Does that sound like the handicaps are too low?

We think it sounds spot on!

Every other week you win a ball for playing to your handicap, not better than it, but to it.

You must also consider the relative ease of playing 9-hole golf to 18-hole when trying to compare the two handicaps. The 9-hole game is much easier to score in, and so your handicap will reflect that by being lower, sometimes much lower, depending on how volatile your scores are across each nine.

How many of us play a good 9 then a bad 9 when playing an 18-hole round?

Consider the below example:

Barry Dawson playing off 14 handicap and plays Sevens Golf in conjunction with an 18 hole comp 5 days in a row and shoots the following scores:

Front 9                  Back 9                   18 hole Score
21                           15                           36
14                           22                           36
13                           23                           36
19                           17                           36
16                           20                           36

Now over that period Barry's 18 hole handicap shouldn’t have moved.

BUT, in Sevens Golf, Barry has played 10 rounds + his initial 14 handicap makes 11 eligible scores with the following differentials:

Score                     Differential
Initial H’cp                +14
21                           +11
15                           +17
14                           +18
22                           +10
13                           +19
23                           +9
19                           +13
17                           +15
16                           +16
20                           +12

We are assuming that the scores are all in the same week and Barry played off 14 handicap for all the games.

11 eligible scores = Lowest 4 differentials

Lowest 4 are:

+10

+11

+12 = +42

Divided by 4 = 10.5 rounded to 11.

So while Barry has shot 36 pts over 18 holes 5 times in a row, his Sevens Handicap has reduced to 11 because he had demonstrated that he had the ability to shoot a low enough 9 hole score to justify the adjustment.

I'll bet that if you go back and have a look at your actual 9-holes scores, you will find that your handicap is justified. After all, if you are an average player you are shooting 18 or better 1 in every 4 rounds. If not, your handicap will drift out or in depending on form.

Your handicap will NEVER be lower than what you have been able to demonstrate that you can shoot.

Your handicap is NOT your average score from all games.

3. The last query we typically receive is about why players don't get shots back every week like they used to with the old system.

This is pretty much explained in the point above, but one of the reasons we got away from the old reward based system was that it was far too easy for players to add strokes to their handicap in the weeks leading up to the finals. We also felt that changing to an internationally recognised handicapping system was more secure in terms of integrity, and needed for the event to gain widespread acceptance around Australia.

In closing, there are always going to be exceptional performances on both sides, good and bad, on any given day, by any given person on the golf course. As golfers, we need to accept that this is going to occur, whether that be in the first round or the Grand Final, congratulate those people that have played well, and look forward to the day when you have your good round. If that good round is a fading memory, you should talk to your local golf professional about having some lessons so that day becomes a reality, sooner. Please don't blame your run of bad scores on your handicap, it has nothing to do with how well you play, it's just a number!

If you have any comments about handicapping, or even if you would like to send us a testimonial for posting on our website, we would certainly welcome your feedback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Regards,

Bryan Trembath

Sevens Golf