DO HIGH HANDICAPERS HAVE MORE FUN?

[Garland Bayley]

All I know is that I play 8 Mondays a year with a senior group. When my partner and I are paired with other high handicapers, we yack it up and have a good time. Sometimes we talk during each others swings and then realize and apologize and the response is no matter, don't worry about it. When we are paired with low handicappers we are shushed and given stern looks and are made to feel we don't take the "game" seriously enough.

[Ken Moum]

However I will say this, if my handicap was above a 25...I wouldn't play the game.

It's easy to say that, especially when you are a single digit. But if you start at 30, 25 doesn't look so bad. My favorite playing partner these days is a 25, and he gets more joy out of playing than 90% of the single-digit guys I've spent most of my life playing with.

It looks miserable when people are topping it off the tee, missing greens, slicing it out of bounds. Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?

Looks can be deceiving, no one does stuff that consistently makes them miserable. But the the higher handicap player I know also realize that golf is hard, and they believe the next shot is going to be a good one. The folks who never hit any good ones soon do quit the game.

To top it all off, "hackers" do not have more fun, when they play bad they can be just as miserable as anyone on or off the course.

Of course they can. But my 45 years of playing the game pretty seriously has convinced me that there's nothing as miserable to be around as 4-8 handicapper who's off his game. And a fair number of them aren't much fun to be around even when they are playing well.

But, like most generalizations there are lots exceptions.

[ed_getka]

Ed,

I remember you not having fun on #16 at The Downs....your handicap was irrelevant.

 

Ah, you are mistaken sir, I was having a good time, I was at Crystal Downs. I wasn't having fun on #16 because I was too much of an idiot to aim far enough right to get out of the rough. Self-flagellation was what you were witnessing.

[ed_getka]

Anthony-

No it's not! You have to be mentally nuts to spend 5 hours shooting 130. If you are that bad I would put your iron covers back on and go home!

Pat,
  Just out of curiosity what is your handicap and how old are you?

Ed-

I'm 25 and a 2.6

That explains it.

[Peter Nomm]

A better player will hit more shots well than a lesser player on average.  Especially when trying to work one to fit the demands of the hole. 

Golf is always fun, but pulling off a shot you intended to hit is the bonus material that makes it more fun.  And a better player can do this more.

[Jon Heise]

I have more fun now (~8-10 hcp) than when I was even more of a hack (15ish).  I hated topping the ball, slicing it off the planet, chunking short irons...  "I just spent $100 to shoot a 100, wtf?"  Miserable.  And that was common then.  Now that I rarely hit the total horse-crap shots and can at least advance the ball on every shot, golf is more enjoyable.  I'm still able to shoot 96, but I like being able to taste the 70's a dozen or so times a year.

[Steve Lang]

   like most.. probably more when they're playing match play and alternate shot..

its the adventure that's fun

the flight of the ball against the sky

the rub of the green

and don't forget, beating the low capper,,, though real men don't ask for strokes

[Jed Peters]

If I'm in competition, and I don't play well--I don't have any fun. In fact, I can be downright MISERABLE to be around.

If I'm not competing and just banging the ball around, enjoying company, having a good time, I'm enjoying the course, the scenery, the company, sometimes the walk even...but I'm not enjoying the actual GAME as much.

Of course, if I play well, I'm a treat after the round (but my best rounds are where I'm not mr. social guy--that is if I'm in a tourney).

And I'm the typical 4-8 handicapper, think I should be better than I am, etc.

[JESII]

A better player will hit more shots well than a lesser player on average.  Especially when trying to work one to fit the demands of the hole. 

Golf is always fun, but pulling off a shot you intended to hit is the bonus material that makes it more fun.  And a better player can do this more.

Even though the higher handicapper actually hits more shots?

[JESII]

 
  So do we have more fun playing poor golf than the low-scratch guys have at playing poor golf?

 

Probably, yes...but ask a 20 who was once a 5 if he had any fun shooting 105.

[John Burzynski]

Anthony-

In the 1000+ rounds I watched as a caddy growing up, I saw a big range in ability. However I will say this, if my handicap was above a 25...I wouldn't play the game. It looks miserable when people are topping it off the tee, missing greens, slicing it out of bounds. Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?

To top it all off, "hackers" do not have more fun, when they play bad they can be just as miserable as anyone on or off the course.

I really hope that this comment was in jest.

At its fundamental core, golf is still a GAME.   I think that we all take golf too seriously sometimes.   

The vast majority of people on your local course are out for a few hours of fun, relaxation and enjoyment.  Sure, 5% or 10% or whatever % of golfers are there for the serious competition grind it out on the course experience, but the vast majority of course revenues are made up of golfers with maybe some beer in tow, or hackers or high handicappers or whatever label you want to lay on them who never break 100 or 90 in their lives, all out to get away from it all for a couple of hours, probably with their buddies.   Without this large demographic golfing group courses would close or be very very expensive to play.

I love golf as much as the next guy, but as someone who rarely breaks 85, and plays in the low 90's routinely, I can't profess to having any less fun than the next guy, or probably any more fun, either.  I curse to myself on a flubbed shot as much as anyone else, but your outlook on course is much like your outlook in life...if you are confident that the next shot will be your life's best, no matter how bad the last shot was, you will enjoy the game.  It is a game about optimism as much as anything else.  NOBODY plays this game perfectly all or even some of the time. 

[jeffwarne]

Anthony-

In the 1000+ rounds I watched as a caddy growing up, I saw a big range in ability. However I will say this, if my handicap was above a 25...I wouldn't play the game. It looks miserable when people are topping it off the tee, missing greens, slicing it out of bounds. Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?

To top it all off, "hackers" do not have more fun, when they play bad they can be just as miserable as anyone on or off the course.

I really hope that this comment was in jest.

At its fundamental core, golf is still a GAME.   I think that we all take golf too seriously sometimes.   

The vast majority of people on your local course are out for a few hours of fun, relaxation and enjoyment.  Sure, 5% or 10% or whatever % of golfers are there for the serious competition grind it out on the course experience, but the vast majority of course revenues are made up of golfers with maybe some beer in tow, or hackers or high handicappers or whatever label you want to lay on them who never break 100 or 90 in their lives, all out to get away from it all for a couple of hours, probably with their buddies.   Without this large demographic golfing group courses would close or be very very expensive to play.

I love golf as much as the next guy, but as someone who rarely breaks 85, and plays in the low 90's routinely, I can't profess to having any less fun than the next guy, or probably any more fun, either.  I curse to myself on a flubbed shot as much as anyone else, but your outlook on course is much like your outlook in life...if you are confident that the next shot will be your life's best, no matter how bad the last shot was, you will enjoy the game.  It is a game about optimism as much as anything else.  NOBODY plays this game perfectly all or even some of the time. 

John,
Of course Pat is right. It does look miserable.
If you're the one carrying the bag

Golfers are people-there are just as many fun games with 25's as there are with 3's. and just as many jerks at 25 as 3.
The trick is to keep the rounds with such to one or less.

[Bruce Katona]

I'm one of those tweener golfers.....the handicap index says 10.3, so I am by the definition above a higher handicap player....do I enjoy the game more now , than when it was lower, probably; because I play much less often and want to enjoy the times I get to play each year.....could the 85 be 81 with a few better chips ofr making putts, sure.....could the 82 be 78, yep, but did my playing partners/guests have fun....that's more important than my personal score.

[Guy Nicholson]

I've played with club-tossing hotheads at all skill levels. But I've never heard a mid- or high-handicapper say he has to bet to enjoy golf. I've heard several low-handicappers say this, and it makes me sad for them. It makes golf an extension of the real world, rather than a diversion from it.

[Agman]

According to A.A. Milne, they certainly do. The writer more associated with Pooh Corner than Amen Corner was an avid hacker, and explored this very idea delightfully in a short essay called "The Charm of Golf," in his 1919 collection "Not That It Matters."

js

[Joe Hancock]

I've played with club-tossing hotheads at all skill levels. But I've never heard a mid- or high-handicapper say he has to bet to enjoy golf. I've heard several low-handicappers say this, and it makes me sad for them. It makes golf an extension of the real world, rather than a diversion from it.

There are some of us who's real world is golf. As a superintendent of 20+ years and now a design associate/ shaper/ butt boy, I would rather go fishing to get away from the real world. That rarely happens, though.

So, while I appreciate your sentiment, it is a matter of perspective.

....$5 says you won't agree with me.....

Joe

[Craig Sweet]

I think we all feel we suck at this game...regardless of handicap. And I think the high handicapper either quits the game or at some point figures out that he is getting no better and finds another reason (other than score) to continue to play....

[Rich Goodale]

Fun people have more fun playing golf than people who are not fun.

The former might curse and moan about the outrageous slings and arrows of misfortune which define golf, but they will be laughing on the next tee and first to buy you a drink when you get to the clubhouse.  The latter will carry silent grudges against the course (or even you) long after they have put themselves into the shite, and will slither away after the round rather than enjoy some conversation at the 19th hole.

In my experience there is no correlation between fun people and good golfers or vice versa.

[Peter Pallotta]

Good one, Rich.

Like: Golf's not trying to humiliate fun people, it's trying to identify them.

Also, unless I missed it, not one mention of whether or not higher handicappers appreciate and interface with the architecture.

Peter

[Rich Goodale]

Like: Golf's not trying to humiliate fun people, it's trying to identify them.

Good one, too, Peter!

[Kalen Braley]

I think they key to whether one is miserable or not all depends on which part of the curve they're on at that given point of thier golfing life.

I'd bet dollars to dounts that a guy having a bad day who is a 4 but was a 8 last year will have a much more cheery disposition than a guy who is a 20 but used to be a 14 a year ago.  As one who used to be a 12 just a year and a half ago,  I get plenty frustrated when I stink it up with a high 90s round.

[Garland Bayley]

...As one who used to be a 12 just a year and a half ago...

Kalen,

I didn't know you could establish a handicap at the putt-putt course.
 

[Anthony Gray]

  I have never seen a low handicaper after holeing a long birdie putt on the last run around the green with his shirt off.

  Anthony

[Tim Gavrich]

I'm a scratch player, and I don't see why I could enjoy the game less than less-skilled players.  The notion that one generally enjoys the game less as one becomes a better player makes no sense to me at all.  While it's true that better players may be more focused on shooting low scores, it would appear rather presumptuous to assume that that difference makes the game less fun for lower handicappers.

Furthermore, most architectural features are much more accessible by better players anyway.  Take the side slope on a typical Redan green, for example.  How many times out of 50 will a 25-handicapper be able to hit his ball to the right spot in order to sling it back toward the hole?  Not many.  A scratch player, however, can take advantage of that feature far more often, leading to the "fun" that that feature is meant to foster.  So actually, if anything, better players may have MORE fun with the architecture.  Having fun with the game itself deals with the camaraderie inherent in the game, and I think that that camaraderie exists regardless of handicap.

[George Pazin]

Anthony-

In the 1000+ rounds I watched as a caddy growing up, I saw a big range in ability. However I will say this, if my handicap was above a 25...I wouldn't play the game. It looks miserable when people are topping it off the tee, missing greens, slicing it out of bounds. Why would anyone want to do that to themselves?

To top it all off, "hackers" do not have more fun, when they play bad they can be just as miserable as anyone on or off the course.

Your numbers are a bit off. 25s don't shoot 130. You're mistaking beginners for 25s.
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I've seen miserable excellent golfers, happy excellent golfers, ecstatic lousy golfers and miserable lousy golfers. It's the golfer, not the number.