Handicaps BJG

Handicaps were/are probably one of BJG's weakest areas, but you must remember that BJG started as kind of a silly joke.  Who knew I would still play golf 15 years later and BJG would be around for 11 years?

BJG started as just family and friends playing a lot of golf.   We had some decent golfers, and we had some not-so-good golfers. The more we played, the more serious we got.  I created a schedule with funny event names, made rules for fair play, handed out trophies and, eventually, we tried to create handicaps to level the playing field.

Of course, the easy way would have been to get a GHIN, but no one thought of themselves as real golfers, and we were never going to play in a golf competition that required one.  Besides, at the time I was looking at GHINs, they were about $30 a year.  Now they are $55 a year.

The first time we used handicaps was for the Winter Classic Championship (WCC).  I would track your scores all year long, and your handicap for the WCC would be based on your lowest score of the year.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Later on, we tried to base the handicaps on your average score from the year before.  We even tried to set handicaps by feel.  One year, we had good golfers with plus handicaps and bad golfers with minus handicaps.  Another year, we gave bad golfers their actual handicap without having a maximum number. You can guess how that turned out.  The bad golfers kicked our ass every week.

After that, I found Fringe Golf and started keeping scores in 2022, but I have included all BJG scores since 2020.

I think Fringe Golf works for what it is, and it is the “official” handicap system for BJG.  I put the scores in, and it tells me the handicaps.

In 2024, we brought in 8 new Golfers, all having GHINs, where they input their scores for every round played, unlike BJG, where I only input BJG scores every 2 weeks. 

The problem, If that is what you want to call it, is that by taking the best 10 scores out of 20 rounds, you are talking about over 2 years' worth of BJG scores.  That means handicaps don’t change much, but when they do…  they are big changes.

I have probably been a 25 handicap my whole golf life, or at least close to that.  In 2022, I had won 4 BJG events and had an average score of 97, but then the wheels came off.  In 2023, I had an average score of 105. In 2024, I had an average score of 107 (before the WCC).  I took lessons in 2023 & 2024.  I played a lot of practice rounds in 2024, but something wasn’t working, and my handicap wasn’t changing.  Probably because each year, I would have one great round.

At the 2024 BJG Rider Cup, I finally found my driver swing, which. as you know, can make all the difference in the world.  

Unfortunately, that was the exact timing of our handicap system changing from 10 best rounds out of 20 rounds to the best 4 rounds out of 8 rounds, which would put us closer in line with the BJG season, AND my handicap finally caught up with my terrible play of two years. 

For the WCC, I would move to a 28 handicap (I would have been a 27 handicap by the regular standards), and my golf game improved 10-fold.  I guess that was just bad luck for the other three golfers who showed up for the WCC, but that is what the computer gave me for a handicap.

I know that it is easier for a bad golfer to have a good game than a good golfer to have a great game. But we have to have a rule.  Hopefully, the 4 / 10 handicap rule will keep the handicaps more realistic for 2025.  I just hope they don’t change EVERY week.

While I am talking about handicaps, I was thinking about Course Handicaps which would be based on the slope rating of each golf course.

So I GOOGLED slope ratings for Golf Courses, and this is what AI gave me.

A golf course's slope rating is a numerical value that indicates how difficult the course is for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer.  

• What it means

  The slope rating is a mathematical calculation that predicts how much a bogey golfer's score will increase compared to a scratch golfer's score on a more difficult course. 

  
  

• How it's calculated

  The slope rating is calculated by subtracting the course rating from the bogey rating, and then multiplying by 5.381 for men and 4.240 for women. 

  
  

• What it looks like

  The slope rating is a number between 55 and 155, with 113 being the standard. A higher slope rating means the course is more difficult for a bogey golfer. 

  
  

• Why it's important

  The slope rating is used to convert a golfer's handicap index into a course handicap. If a golfer only uses their handicap index and doesn't adjust for the slope, they might end up losing. 

  
  

• Where to find it

  You can find a course's slope rating on the scorecard, or you can look it up in the USGA's National Course Rating Database online.  

  
  

The slope rating was invented in 1979 by Dean Knuth, a former Navy commander. It takes into account many factors, including:

• The course's effective playing length 

• The expected score for a scratch golfer (0 handicap) 

• The expected score for a bogey golfer (handicap index of 18) 

• The difficulty of the greens 

• Forced carries 

Based on that, I put together Course Handicaps for some of our Golf Courses and some current Handicap Index. I found it to be very interesting information.

			HANDICAPS
Golf Course	Slope	8	15	25	36
Airways	103	-1	-1	-2	-3
Pine Knoll	105	-1	-1	-2	-3
East Mountain CC	114	0	0	0	0
Franconia	116	0	0	1	1
Agawam	116	0	0	1	1
Pine Ridge CC	117	0	1	1	1
Edgewood	118	0	1	1	2
Cold Springs	120	0	1	2	2
Southampton CC	120	0	1	2	2
Veterans	121	1	1	2	3
Keney Park	121	1	1	2	3
St Anne CC	122	1	1	2	3
Chicopee CC	123	1	1	2	3
Rolling Meadows	124	1	1	2	4
Berkshire Hills CC	127	1	2	3	4
Mill Valley	127	1	2	3	4
Ellinwood CC	131	1	2	4	5

As you can see, I wasn't a "bad" golfer, I just didn't have the right course handicap.

Did you also notice the Golf Course where we were all using just our Handicap Index? Yes, that is correct, East Mountain Golf Course.

Anyway, this is something we can consider and talk about before the 2025 BJG season.

Just 88 more days until the start of the 2025 BJG season.

Respectfully,

Broken Joe

Commissioner