Handicap help

 What I'm after is advice on obtaining a handicap. I have only started playing and haven't joined a club so I'm wanting to know what I need to do to get a handicap, do I need a member of a club to play a few rounds with me, will I need to join a club???

 Any advice would be great!!

you have come to the right place, you can input your scores into the score trakker here to obtain a very useful handicap card, you may have to upgrade your account to a platinum account but i'm sure someone will be along soon to confirm...oh, and welcome

thanks,

My only concerns with it are, (and I'm sure someone will confirm this too!), can I have anyone confirm the score and is the handicap given by the site official?

day to day private courses should accept a golfshake card, st andrews may not but how often will you play there and the like?

Thanks just didn't want to get what I thought was an official handicap to maybe go to a local course to enter a competition only to be told I wasn't 'official', but you're probably right in what you say.......cheers

John the term 'official' is very subjective, official for what ?

Many courses will 'accept' or 'recognise' the Golfshake handicap and members have successfully used at courses in the UK, Europe and around the world without problem.  

The handicap system we use is very similar to the UK CONGU golf handicap system but you can only obtain a CONGU 'official' handicap by joining a club.  Therefore the only time you may run in to a problem with the Golfshake handicap is if you wanted to play in a Open Club competition which will generally stipulate Official Club handicaps only. That said I know of several players who have had their Golfshake handicap accepted by golf clubs to play in Open Club comps. If you are unsure just ask them, the beauty of the Golfshake system is that as well as knowing your handicap, getting a card you can also provide details of your full playing record including scores and handicap.   This is generally more important and what clubs what in knowing you can play to a certain level and understand the rules and etiquette etc.

In regards to St Andrews, several of the older historic courses will already accept the Golfshake handicap and for St Andrew this is something we are looking into at present.  

Regards, Darren. 

Golfshake Dev 

cheers for that info Darren, very helpful

In a nutshell, related to golf handicaps, we provide a simple solution for the 100,000s of non club golfers wanting to know what their playing level is.

For every golfer we provide an online system for tracking your golf scores, analysing your stats and hopefully aiding in improving their game.

Oh, plus societies can track their members scores online and record competitions. 

darren, when i played st andrews the only card i had was the golf shake one as i wasn't a member anywhere, i'm not saying that without it i wouldn't have got on but he never said otherwise

All Golf Clubs are starting to have their Hcp system linked to The EGU (English Golf Union) and all Players who hold an Active Official Hcp can get a unique EGU Number that any other Club using the system can imput and your up to date Hcp appears. Great new inovation.

TheLyth