Doug spent the winter dreaming of that special day when his course would open with its ice-breaker tournament. The harsh memory of mornings spent shoveling the overnight snowfall would melt with that first drive of the new season.
This year, though, thanks to months of anticipation, Doug played far worse than the 18.8 Handicap Index with which he’d finished last season. He picked up on seven holes when his better-ball partner, Roger, played like a champ. On top of that, the group only finished 16 holes before dark. Although the day was not a total loss – Doug and Roger placed third – a scorecard with seven X’s left Doug despondent that he not only held the team back, but could not post the round as the committee expected.
Fortunately, Roger knew better and informed Doug that the USGA Handicap System’s provisions allow any player the opportunity to post a score almost any time he tees it up. That’s especially useful to a player who is out of a hole and picks up to speed up play.
Section 4-1 of the USGA Handicap System states, “A player who starts, but does not complete a hole or is conceded a stroke must record for handicap purposes the most likely score. Per Section 2, Definitions, most likely score consists of the number of strokes already taken plus, in the player’s best judgment, the number of strokes the player would take to complete the hole from that position more than half the time. The most likely score may not exceed the player’s Equitable Stroke Control limit, defined in Section 4-3. This most likely score should be preceded by an ‘X’.”
Section 4 deals with three types of postings:
Incomplete holes – Doug was 15 feet from the hole in two shots at the par-3 fourth when Roger holed out from a bunker for birdie. As he pocketed his ball, Doug determined that he probably would have two-putted at least half of the time, so he replaced that X with an X-4.
Shortened rounds – According to Section 4-2, “If a player does not play a hole or plays it other than under the Rules of Golf (except for preferred lies), his score for that hole for handicap purposes shall be par plus any handicap strokes he is entitled to receive on the hole.” Using the allocation of handicap strokes from the scorecard, his Course Handicap of 21 and each hole’s par meant Doug replaced those last X’s with an X-6 and X-5.
Equitable Stroke Control – All scores for handicap purposes, including tournament scores, are subject to the application of Equitable Stroke Control. This mandatory procedure reduces high hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make handicaps more representative of a player’s potential ability.
A handicap determined from scores to which ESC has not been applied may not be termed a Handicap Index.
ESC is used when a player’s actual or most likely score exceeds a maximum number, based on the table below, for the player’s Course Handicap from the tees played.
Although Doug was not happy with his score of 113, he was able to post it to GHIN. He realized the two-step process was simple – determine his most likely score on a hole, then see if it exceeded his ESC maximum.
If there was a lesson, it was that going into his pocket didn’t necessarily mean posting a big number.
Doug left the course proud of the few holes where he had contributed to the team. He vowed that the next time his play proved less than satisfactory he would still post a proper score.
