Salt Lake Telegram | 1934-02-20 | Page 14 | Backseat Driving

T llac Driving r Handicap Setup Unwise ty LI FRANK K BAKER Utah's women golfers probably will make a change In their handicap system this summer There Is considerable dissatisfaction with the present setup 4 In which the handicap figures are are arrived at on the thc basis of the players player's five best cards of the season I believe e the women would make an improvement by patterning their handicap system after aUer the regulations regulation already proved successful by the masculine golfers here The men figure their handicaps period I cally on sets set of 20 games an arrangement which alters the handicap t to tofit tofit fit a fluctuating brand of ot gol golf o The present system Is because the handicaps handicap are not truly representative To be fair the handicapper should take consideration of a pla players player's cr's poor games ames as well as the good ones For example a woman who ordinarily shoots boob around round 90 may have c a 3 rare day and nd come In with a brilliant 82 I 2 Maybe she sank sanka a couple of approaches and made three or four tour unusually Ion long putts What happens if she hc has three or four rounds like that during durin the basis baals of her most the se season on She Is unfairly handicapped on brilliant scores when In reality her avera average e game Jame Is eight to ten strokes higher Handicaps were Intended to be founded on a golfers golfer's average game The theory is to give everybody an equal chance in iIi club competition Under the present system though the good player whose handicap is figured on those occasional streaks of great playing has no more chance against the high handicap player than the poor player would have against her in a scratch match N No Protection Offered Player Whose Game Slumps Moreover the women's association offers no relief to the player whose game slumps later in the season Once established her handicap remains at that figure until the next season when it cannot be raised more than two strokes Nothing could be more discouraging t to big turnouts In the club tournaments Imagine a golfer whose game was ex excellent In the early part of the season She rates a meager handicap Then her game loses Its Us luster and she falls far short of ot her ber rating She figures she has no chance at all and arid stays stas out of the late se season n activities By readjusting the handicaps on succeeding groups of ot 20 games her penalty strokes can be altered to 00 more fairly balance her changing brand of ot play No doubt some of my readers are wondering what measures measures measures meas meas- ures should be taken to guard against an individual purposely playing poor golf golt in order to boo boost t the handicap Here again I l think the feminine golfers should take their cue from what the men are doing No doubt the polIcy policy pol pol- icy of figuring handicaps on the five best scores was adopted as such sueh a precaution The men have bave a better arrangement They allow only two strokes over par on each hole In other words a golfer might be having behaving an excellent day and purposely take a 9 or 10 on the last hole in order to keep the handicap high The handicap committee would not attempt to determine whether that bad hole was accidental or arranged It would arbitrarily ily lIy ly give the player two strokes over par and figure the handicap handicap handi handi- cap ap from that total Perhaps the women may feel that 20 games are too many to re reo re- re quire In that case I would suggest they set either 10 or 15 games as asa a a. basis Either limit would be better than the present arrangement t because because be be- cause it would handicap the golfers golfer's average play