The great handicap debate

Nobody can play to their handicaps. Or at least not unless they are playing at their home course. Otherwise, short of holing out a couple of times with a five iron, it's scores of between 28 and 34 points all round.

And that's before we even start thinking about strokeplay formats.This, to me, indicates that the handicap system is unduly flattering. I don't really think the point of handicaps is to make us all think we're better than we are. Rather, they should tell it like it is.

But take the case of your average 24 handicapper. He struggles to amass 30 points all year round until it comes to the August Stableford when the sun is out, the greens are true and the fairways running.He makes a couple of birdies and a bunch of pars, for once avoiding is usual disaster holes, and runs up 46 points.

For this he gets pulled three shots.The rest of the year is spent earning 0.1s back until he eventually peaks at 24. The next month it's someone else's turn. And the one after that somebody else's still.The result? Grunts and whispers about bandits.But these people ignore the rest of the field on any given day, who are getting their customary 31 points.

So what would I do about it? Well, I'd like to see a system where a group of travelling club players could go to another course and atleast a third of them would get, say, 35 points or more.

I don't see a handicap as indicating your best-possible round, more your average one. I'm convinced this would be fairer when it came to matchplay as well.But who would go for a system which would involve almost everyone's handicap rising by at least a couple of shots?

It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas for all those ego-filled golfers no longer able to claim their Tiger or single-figure status.

So what, I say. Let's do it. And let everyone play off a handicap they have a chance of matching on more or less any given day of the year.

By Dan Murphy, editor