If you play golf at "scratch"?

Question

Does this mean you play around the course at par every time???

Answer 1

No, Not every round will be at par.....but your overall average will be at par.

Answer 2

This means you shoot even par on an average difficultly course about 1 in every 4-5 rounds.  Remember, handicap is based on potential, not average.  A golfer will only play to his handicap 1 out of every 4 to 5 rounds.

Answer 3

Scratch just means that you average a zero handicap.  This does NOT mean you play par everytime.  Usually people who are scratch golfers play their home course under par 95% of the time and play the courses they dont know right around one or two over par.  People just call it scratch because you dont get any strokes in amature tourny's you just get a hyphen.

Answer 4

Scratch refers to your handicap.

Handicap is calculated based on the best ten rounds out of the last twenty. It's also adjusted for course difficulty, or "slope".

So a scratch golfer will play at par about half the time on an average course.

The USGA tells us that less than 1% of golfers who keep a handicap are even single digit handicappers. Legitimate scratch golfers are very rare indeed.

Answer 5

It means you have a Handicap of Zero.  Ie, you are so good you dont need a handicap.

Answer 6

Scratch simply means that the golfer has a handicap of zero. If you want to understand more about handicaps, check out the links below. The Golf Foundations link has a handicap calculator based on the USGA rules for calculating handicaps. You can play around with it to find out what your handicap might be.

Handicaps are used to help players play to their potential during competition. It uses the players best scores from recent rounds, taking into consideration the difficulty of the courses played. You need a minimum of 5 rounds to create an official handicap. Official handicaps can only be mantained by certified clubs or organizations.

Answer 7

What it means is that the best half of your scores will average at the course rating, which is around par.

So a scratch golfer can expect to shoot par about 1/4 of the time.

I am a +3, but that just means that about 2 or 3 times a year, I will shoot 4 or 5 shots better than the course rating at a tough course.  (Usually a 69 at a course with a course rating of 74-75.

Tiger Woods is a +10, but he doesn't average 62.

I have included links to a couple of sites that may help you, including the way that the USGA calculates handicaps.