The History of "Hand in Cap"

"In its primitive days, handicapping was more art than science." - GolfWorld

Did Albert Einstein make any contributions to handicapping formulas? No, he did not. While he did prove E=mc2, Einstein also delved into other complexities of the universe such as fermi bubbles, rectangular galaxies and pars for Salishan's hole #10. Einstein played the hole from three different locations. Then using his scorecard for calculations, he traded his putter for a chalk stick and wrote the solution on the blackboard, exclaiming, "Oh Mein Gott, loch nr. 10 ist ein nein-brainer."

The lead-in quote was pulled from a 2011 GolfWorld.com article celebrating the centennial of the USGA's adoption of the handicap system. The full article can be downloaded via the link below. Credit: Dean Knuth, Fmr. Sr. Director of USGA Handicap Department.

There are two handicaps formulas used in the handicap system -

Handicap Index (a portable number that represents your demonstrated golfing ability). It the sum of your lowest 8 out of 20 differentials divided by 8. Differentials are calculated - (Adjusted Gross Score minus Course Rating) X 113 / Course Slope).

Course handicap (your demonstrated golfing ability for a specific tee box). Handicap Index X Slope Rating/113 + (Course Rating-Par).

There is no need to learn these formulas as the GHIN app does all the calculations for you. Course ratings, slope ratings and differentials are shown in the images below.

Special note 1 - Salishan Golf Links member, Dr. Erik Barton's great uncle, Trygve Bogevold (1918-1995), was on the Board of the Northern California Golf Association and was part of first 1979 USGA Handicap Research Team (HRT). More on this in coming months.

Special note 2 - the "Posting Scores on the Date Played" report won't appear on a monthly basis. I will report the year-end results in my December blog. 

You will find two reports below - Number of Rounds (Monthly) Posted and Number of Rounds (Season) Posted report. The Most Improved report link is located elsewhere on this website.

This month's winner of a sleeve of TaylorMade golf balls is Cathy Berger*. (Please track down golf pro Andrew Grove.)

*As suspicious as it appears, please know that this was a legitimate random pick. Please see the screenshots below.