USGA Handicap Tracking System is Broken
There’s nothing wrong with the way the USGA calculates handicap, there is everything wrong with the way they’ve implemented the tracking system. It’s old, outdated, and makes it easy for folks to cheat. Yes, cheat. What golf club or league doesn’t have a sandbagger – the guy who claims a 12 and plays to an 8?
Most clubs have a computer in the locker room where members post their own scores. Their score means just their total score, one figure. Every golfer is supposed to know the required deductions for their level of play and calculate these in advance. Ask any golfer in your group what these are and 9 times out of 10 I guarantee no one really knows. And there’s no oversight. No one really checks the scoring history and if they did, how would they know what’s right and what’s not.
There’s a way out of this mess if the USGA opens its mind and does the right thing. And golf will be better for it. More tomorrow.
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Comments
The USGA is broken. they spend their time trying to sell hats and shirts and not doing anything to correct handicap disparities. I have tried for over 4 months to get them involved correcting cheating/sandbaggin in the World am tournament. They agree with what I say and the info I emailed but have either no interest or no authority to make committees follow USGA rules. 2009 winner of the world am a 16.8 hdc shot round that could only be estimated at ONE in 24,000 odds, yet only had hdc reduced 3 strokes. Tracking hdc does not do anything,lack of verification and rules hurt all.
Handicap cheating seems to be everywhere these days. It used to be that the local club handicap committee was responsible for policing its members, but those days have gone by. New detailed scoring systems can use algorithms but don’t work unless they are required. I used to play in an industrial league when I had a real day job. At the end of the year there was a championship for teams from all the leagues. Each year the same team would win with a ridiculously low net, each member having shot a ‘season’ best score at the very same time. Yeah right!
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