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How did my Handicap go up after a great round?

I wanted to share an interesting scenario that was presented to me over the weekend.

One of our members sent in a support email questioning the validity of his Handicap, claiming that it was wrong. You see, he shot a great round over the weekend: ESC = 83, Slope = 137, Rating = 73.9

This equates to a Differential = 7.5

In fact, this was one of his best rounds in his last 20.

So, how could his Handicap trend up?

Well, it was one of his best rounds in the last 20 played, but not better than his 21st round.

Round #21 had a Differential = 6.4

The Handicap formula uses the lowest 10 Differentials out of your last 20 eligible rounds.

When this player posted his last round, the 6.4 fell out of the last 20, and his average of the top 10 differentials went up from 8.27 to 8.38, raising his Handicap trend from a 7.9 to an 8.0.

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Comments (15)
	firecapt60 7/10/2011 5:55:01 PM Nice, I just had this happen to me also. Good info to know.
	HIGH_LANDER 1/6/2011 10:18:50 AM Good 2 know,Interesting Post
	Pete-L 1/4/2011 2:12:39 PM I was asked the same question last year from a club member, and this was exact scenario where his lowest dropped as the 21st round posted. Good to post this to remind people.
	Duckhunter 1/4/2011 11:45:02 AM What score did it drop?
	LindseyM 1/4/2011 10:00:04 AM Interesting how that works
	dday39 1/4/2011 9:11:04 AM it's hard to believe that people think it's so complicated. a little bit of reading or internet search can usually answer these questions Show 1 Replies
	PeteG512 1/4/2011 8:55:29 AM Thanks for the explanation
	Mark Simmons 1/4/2011 12:23:16 AM Yep, it's happened to me. Similar, but more complex to follow scenarios can happen with multiple rounds between handicap calculations that can yield a higher handicap even if you didn't have a lower round that dropped off. For simplicity, let's say a 14 handicap sees his handicap go up after playing only 2 new rounds. One round isn't good enough to figure into his handicap. The other is the round of his life--a differential of 6.0. How can that happen? Well if the two rounds that rolled off the last 20 had a differential of say 8.0 and 8.1, now another score in addition to the round of his life must be added. That means a score that previously was not included in this golfer's handicap will be included this time, the previously 11th best score out of 20. If that score has a differential of 10.1 or greater this golfer's handicap goes down.
	72Wannabe 1/3/2011 8:22:50 PM happened to me too last summer...
	bradley894 1/3/2011 7:09:42 PM great post!
	mickchild 1/3/2011 6:18:10 PM Interesting post. Good to know. Thanks for the posting.
	cogolfer1 1/3/2011 4:52:38 PM I've never had anything like this happen before. None the less, I just play and post and see what my handicap does. I know very little about how/why a handicap goes up or down.
	DavidHagen 1/3/2011 1:33:13 PM Good point. A lot of people forget or don't know that scores drop off. Thanks for enlightening and reminding us.
	Jimidog 1/3/2011 1:16:53 PM A similar scenario happened to me. I fell two points after a great round. This explains it. Thanks!

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