How do I establish an official Handicap?

Question

I want to start playing in tournaments and need a handicap for Net tournaments. How do I go about establishing an official one?

Answer 1

Go to your local course, it costs like 40 bucks to get registered with the USGA and then you go play 18 holes straight up with no mulligans or 2nd shots.  It takes maybe 3 or 4 complete rounds to set up your handicap.

Answer 2

You have a couple different options.

1) Go to your local course and sign up for a handicap.  It will cost approximately US$20-$40, depending on the course and where you're located.  Ask the course if they're a member of GHIN, which is a nationwide network.  No big deal if they're not, but GHIN is pretty well recognized.  The course will typically have a computer for you to post your scores; some setups will allow you to post scores from your home computer.

2) There are some online websites that are approved for official USGA handicaps.  Golfserv is probably the most common.  If my memory serves me, they charge around $15.00 per year.  

If you're playing in a specific tournament or series of events, check with the tournament(s) in question to see if they accept handicaps from online sites, and if they do, which one(s) do they accept.  Better to ask now than be DQ'd later.

Some suggestions:

-If you're serious about playing tournaments, your rounds should replicate tournaments.  So count everything.  No foot wedges, rolling it over in the fairway, improving your lie, no "okay, that's good" from 15 feet, no mulligans, do-overs, etc.

-This seems silly, but know your score on each hole, and allow for penalty strokes.  Learn to think in terms of "okay, my tee shot went into the hazard for one...penalty stroke and drop for two...I'm hitting my third..."

-Learn the rules.  You can buy the Rules of Golf for a dollar or two.  At a minimum, learn about hazards (the difference between white, yellow, and red stakes), and when you can and can't touch your ball.  

-When you post tournament scores, post them as such (the computer will ask if this is a tournament round or not).  If you don't post via computer, note on the card that this is a tournament round.

-Use Equitable Stroke Control; basically, it's the max you can record on a given hole (it's based on your handicap).

-Without trying to open Pandora's Box, keep all of your scorecards.  Record the date on all of them.

-I usually keep my own scorecard as I note if I hit the fairway off the tee, if I hit the Green in regulation, number of putts, and my own shorthand for "other" (penalty strokes, hazard, etc.).  This is a good way to track your progress plus can help you identify any trends as well as strengths/weaknesses.

Good luck!

Answer 3

For like... Special Olympics?  I dunno... shoot yourself in the knees?

Answer 4

Handicap index's have to be established through some sort of a credible medium.  Most likely a local public course.  I know the course I used to play had a computer that you would put your scores into after each round and it didn't matter if you played at your home course or not.  You need to have five rounds for any calculations to be done.  If you want to know how your index is calculated there's a whole article about it at www.scorebettergolf.com

Answer 5

Yeah, just talk to your local course about getting registered with the USGA. It's not a difficult process at all.

Answer 6

Inquire at the pro shop of the course you frequent most. they should have a program for establishing a handicap.If not, contact your local state golf assn for info.