BPG24 said:
As regards how many true + golfers there are in the world............ "aren't many" can of course mean different things to different people. It's an interesting question to ponder. I suspect the number is probably in the very high 4 digits or low/medium 5 digits but wouldn't like to be too strongly opinioned on any more accurate assessment than that.
I haven't picked those figures completely out of the air but it does obviously include some judgement calls.To give some pointers on this the World Amateur Golf Ranking presently has 1700 players listed as having won points in ranking tournaments in the present year. The young guy in position 1699 has a handicap of +3.2 and I defintely know that he is a rock solid genuine + golfer as I have played a friendly game with him and I know players who have played against him in The European Championships etc. It is highly unlikely there are more than a handful, if any, on that list who are not genuine + golfers. A large number of + golfers, especially those older than say 32/35'ish, do not enter any World Amateur Ranking events, particularly the much older ones and I would take an educated guess that for every player on that list of 1700 there may be at the very least another 4-6 or so who are not on it, possibly more.
By the way, as an aside to this, a gentleman from the Royal and Ancient who I have good reason to believe knows quite a bit about the subject, once told my buddy that if you have any single digit handicap at all you are in the top 3% in ability amongst all golfers in the world. Take a bow guys!
As regards the CONGU handicap system used by a large proportion of the world's golfers it is very different from the USGA system. It is exceptionally difficult for anyone within CONGU who reaches Category 1 (handicap 5 or under) to then lower their handicap further. Without special written permission from The Royal and Ancient they cannot be raised or cut in handicap for scores made in any round at all except returned scores in official club/open competitions rated as qualifiers for handicap purposes. For each stroke by which they beat the "competition standard scratch" score in such events they are cut 0.1. They are allowed to shoot a net score within a buffer of 1 stroke above the competition standard scratch score without being raised in handicap, but if they are outside that buffer they go up 0.1. All "no returns" and dq's result in an increase of 0.1. Scores in any kind of friendly game or non handicap qualifying competition are disregarded for both raises and cuts. All scores are automatically converted to stableford under the CONGU system and this effectively means that any high score made on any hole is rounded down to the lowest number at which the player would have scored zero stableford points....e.g.....a 2 handicapper playing the par 4 'stroke index 1' hole and taking an 8 would effectively result in that 8 only being treated as a 6 for the purposes of handicap adjustments.
On the balance of probability the vast majority of golfers with a + handicap within a CONGU administered handicap system are pretty much nailed on to be genuine + golfers. On the other hand if someone with a CONGU handicap has worked hard at getting to Category 1, doesn't think he can get any better and for vanity purposes now wants to simply keep his let's say 4.3 handicap, all he has to do is then stop playing in official tournaments which qualify for handicap purposes. Equally a prize seeking "bandit" who knows he is rapidly improving via his friendly play can just avoid handicap qualifying tournaments and then pounce on a big prize with his static original handicap which has remained high. Under CONGU, clubs and other handicap administrators can cut the handicap of any of their members who are not Category 1 golfers by one or more complete strokes any time they like under the "general play" rule without any official competition results, provided such a cut isn't going to take the player straight into Category 1.
Hope this ramble is of some interest.
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