Bisques or full handicap....

[Bob_Huntley]

In the heart of darkest Africa, when having a flutter with a better player, we had a quaint custom of allocating Bisques instead of Strokes. If the handicaps were say, 4 versus a 10, the dfiference was  6 shots and would be taken as shown on the card. With the Bisque however, one would take less than the full handicap but take the strokes on holes you designate before teeing off.

In just about any match play event one never got the full difference in handicaps and generally got 3/4 or 7/8 of the difference.

Bisque:  A handicap stroke given to an opponents who may nominate what hole to take it on. The hole must be determined prior to the match.

No matter what, the low handicapper invariably came out the winner.

Bob

 

[Bill_McBride]

In the heart of darkest Africa, when having a flutter with a better player, we had a quaint custom of allocating Bisques instead of Strokes. If the handicaps were say, 4 versus a 10, the dfiference was  6 shots and would be taken as shown on the card. With the Bisque however, one would take less than the full handicap but take the strokes on holes you designate before teeing off.

In just about any match play event one never got the full difference in handicaps and generally got 3/4 or 7/8 of the difference.

Bisque:  A handicap stroke given to an opponents who may nominate what hole to take it on. The hole must be determined prior to the match.

No matter what, the low handicapper invariably came out the winner.

Bob

 

Did you ever play the flying press?

That's when your opponent (obviously in a rather friendly rivalry) hits his tee shot apparently into oblivion and you holler "Press" while his ball is in the air.

I say "apparently" because I once lost one of these in a match at the Club de Golf de Guadalajara after a few margaritas!

[Anthony Gray]

  I plyed a friendy match play/better ball round with two R&A members on TOC a couple years ago. WE played to 75% of our handicap and it ended on the 18th hole. This I thought was a fair way to play.

  Anthony

[Bob_Huntley]

In the heart of darkest Africa, when having a flutter with a better player, we had a quaint custom of allocating Bisques instead of Strokes. If the handicaps were say, 4 versus a 10, the dfiference was  6 shots and would be taken as shown on the card. With the Bisque however, one would take less than the full handicap but take the strokes on holes you designate before teeing off.

In just about any match play event one never got the full difference in handicaps and generally got 3/4 or 7/8 of the difference.

Bisque:  A handicap stroke given to an opponents who may nominate what hole to take it on. The hole must be determined prior to the match.

No matter what, the low handicapper invariably came out the winner.

Bob

 

Did you ever play the flying press?

That's when your opponent (obviously in a rather friendly rivalry) hits his tee shot apparently into oblivion and you holler "Press" while his ball is in the air.

I say "apparently" because I once lost one of these in a match at the Club de Golf de Guadalajara after a few margaritas!

Bill,

In Dallas they call it "Hammer "" and you can press when the shot is in mid-air. It can get rather expensive.

Bob

[Bill_McBride]

In the heart of darkest Africa, when having a flutter with a better player, we had a quaint custom of allocating Bisques instead of Strokes. If the handicaps were say, 4 versus a 10, the dfiference was  6 shots and would be taken as shown on the card. With the Bisque however, one would take less than the full handicap but take the strokes on holes you designate before teeing off.

In just about any match play event one never got the full difference in handicaps and generally got 3/4 or 7/8 of the difference.

Bisque:  A handicap stroke given to an opponents who may nominate what hole to take it on. The hole must be determined prior to the match.

No matter what, the low handicapper invariably came out the winner.

Bob

 

Did you ever play the flying press?

That's when your opponent (obviously in a rather friendly rivalry) hits his tee shot apparently into oblivion and you holler "Press" while his ball is in the air.

I say "apparently" because I once lost one of these in a match at the Club de Golf de Guadalajara after a few margaritas!

Bill,

In Dallas they call it "Hammer "" and you can press when the shot is in mid-air. It can get rather expensive.

Bob

From what I've heard, playing with you can always "get rather expensive."   

[TEPaul]

Bob:

The way I have heard the "bisque" was or could be used in golf handicapping was that it was a handicap stroke (or strokes as in multiple bisques) that a player could elect to use when it occured to him it would be appropriate to use it not on specific holes determined prior to a match but on holes he elected to use the bisque when he thought the time (and hole) was appropriate to use it.

Of course with a number of other odd golf words from the traditions of golf I do wonder what the etymology of the word was.

[Bill_McBride]

Bob:

The way I have heard the "bisque" was or could be used in golf handicapping was that it was a handicap stroke (or strokes as in multiple bisques) that a player could elect to use when it occured to him it would be appropriate to use it not on specific holes determined prior to a match but on holes he elected to use the bisque when he thought the time (and hole) was appropriate to use it.

Of course with a number of other odd golf words from the traditions of golf I do wonder what the etymology of the word was.

I actually thought "bisque" referred to that great soup with either lobster or crab!

[Rich Goodale]

Tom

I remember giving and getting "bisques" playing social tennis.  It's a sporting way of evening up competitions and is also used in croquet as well as golf.  Gotta love them grenouilles....

I also used to play a fair amount of golf with some Ulstermen who, whenever thoroughly losing a match would suggest that we play "Shot to Save" the rest of the way in.  I still don't have a clue what it meant except that it was inevitable that I would be paying them a pound after the match was over.

Rich

[Chris Flamion]

I like the "bisque" idea...

Despite all of my normal group having handicaps we all know how many strokes everyone gets relative to each other so that the majority of the time we are going into 16 with everyone still having a chance to win or at least draw.  I see no surprise that with my high handicap and my friends low i get 5 a side(should get 7 but i refuse) and we are within 1 hole of each other more times than not(that is the handicap thread in a nutshell)

[TEPaul]

Rich:

I've seen a lot of things like that in my life and times. Years ago at my club there were a number of guys who would ask for what they called "The Blue Plate Special" generally on the last hole. If they were down it was an added bet starting them a half stroke up on the last hole.

I was a pretty nice guy in those matches but if I was winning I generally declined that bet under Warren Buffet's adage (which I did not know at the time) to never invest in something you do not fully understand. Or at least that's the excuse I always used to decline the bet! I have learned in my life that if you can foster the impression amongst some people that you are fairly stupid it can and often does work massively to your advantage!   

Years ago I used to play some pretty high caliber backgammon and occasionally I would run into these yahoos who would try to play me double or nothing. Only problem is they kept asking for it over and over and over again. So I just played dumb and said something like I wouldn't agree to that or if I did only one time.

I might have even tried Pres. Bush's malapropism of----"You can fool me once, but if you try to fool me again, uh, fool me twice, uh, uh, fool me, uh....well, shame on you." 

[Ken Moum]

There is apparently more than one definition of bisque, but the one I have seen is that the player getting them gets to choose his holes at any time--even after the hole is complete.

As it currently stands, the GHIN system does favor the better player in match play, and IMHO, all of the these alternate forms of play as less than full handicap are creations of better players trying to weasel out of the deal.

As my handicap has dropped lately from 12 to 8, I am wary of becoming one of the guys I have complained about.

Ken Moum

[Adam Clayman]

Dave,

 Seems like when there's a 4X bet going, the player wants to have a nice predictable outcome to their stroke.

Could this type of gaming increase the desire for lush soft conditions?


Bob,
 The way you describe the Bisque adds an interesting twist to the game. Allowing the thinking player who is aware of more things to use his head from the start. I know if I were in one, I'd be inclined to look at hole locations prior to the round and account for the wind's speed and direction in picking which holes.

For the Caddie Cup qualifier the years low handicap was used. It worked very well, IMO, as does 70 or 80 percent.

[Bob_Huntley]

Tom and Adam,

At Nchanga we did change to the 'take the Bisque at any hole and at any time during the match.' It made much more sense to try to keep it as long as possible so you wipe out your opponent on the closing holes, alas, it seldom ended that way.

Bob

[Garland Bayley]

...
As it currently stands, the GHIN system does favor the better player in match play, and IMHO, all of the these alternate forms of play as less than full handicap are creations of better players trying to weasel out of the deal.
...

Exactly!

...
No matter what, the low handicapper invariably came out the winner.

Bob

 

As you can see, Bob clearly implies that it is not a true handicapping system, but yet another way for the better player to subject others to humiliation without inflicting any humiliation on themselves. I wish low handicappers weren't so weak willed!

[Adrian_Stiff]

There is apparently more than one definition of bisque, but the one I have seen is that the player getting them gets to choose his holes at any time--even after the hole is complete.

As it currently stands, the GHIN system does favor the better player in match play, and IMHO, all of the these alternate forms of play as less than full handicap are creations of better players trying to weasel out of the deal.

As my handicap has dropped lately from 12 to 8, I am wary of becoming one of the guys I have complained about.

Ken Moum

KMoum is correct in his definition of a bisque and they can be taken at any stage or in any amount up until the tee shot is played at the next hole. The bisque is rarely used these days, but it is a great leveller amongst friends, I have heard groups that play together consistently and whilst the handicap difference never changes, if Player A wins one week, player B will get a Bisque the week after and if Player A  still wins, the next week Player B will get 2 Bisques...this carries on until the game is consitenly level and the match is fair and the bisques allowances switch backwards or forwards. The bisque in general terms is a floating stroke allowance against another player, the value of an unused bisque or bisques gets stronger as the round goes on, provided you are still ahead in the match ofcourse.. Shame its rare.