I took an on-course lesson, which means that I can't post the score. For the record, I shot 42 on the front, while the lesson was still in my mind (or shoulders), and 53 on the back after it had escaped.
I hear a lot of bad opinions on how / when to post. There are sandbaggers, to be sure, but I've never met anyone who admitted to it. I have played with numerous people who admitted that they only post their good rounds. Consequently their handicap (or handicap index if you're being pedantic) is artificially low. They are anti-sandbagging as it were.
The other time you can't post is if you're playing solo. This seems silly to me, since the random strangers I play with never see the score that I post, but that's the rule. I think there's another rule about you can't post "off-season," which is meaningless here in San Diego. But it probably matters elsewhere.
If you play between 7 and 12 holes, you must post a 9-hole score. If you play 13 or more holes, you must post the 18 hole score. For any holes that you didn't actually play, post the score your handicap would have given you. We skipped #12, because we were racing sunset. My course handicap (calculation below) is 19 on that course, it's the #4 handicap hole, so if I were to post, then I would put a bogey for that hole. At 19, I would post a bogey for any given hole, except #6, which is the #1 handicap hole. I would post a double-bogey for that hole.
I think another thing that people mess up a lot is ESC (Equitable Stroke Control) scoring. ESC scoring is used so that one bad whole doesn't have too big of an impact on your handicap. If your course handicap is under 10, then the most you can post for any hole is double-bogey. If your handicap is 10-19, then the highest score you can post for any hole is a 7. If your course handicap is 20-29, then the max is 8, 30-39, max is 9, and at 40 and up, the highest score you can post for any hole is a 10. I had an 8 on one hole, so if I were to post, then my 95 would have posted as a 94.
On more than one occasion, I've played one set of tees on the front, and a different set of tees on the back. You can do that. Just post them as two different 9-hole scores.
You shouldn't change tees in the middle of a side. I do recall an occasion where there was a temporary tee box on #4 at TP South, and there is a formula for recalculating the slope for that scenario, based on the yardage differential. But I won't get into that.
Your course handicap is calculated by taking the slope of the course (on the scorecard) divided by 113, multiplied by your handicap index (the number you receive in your email twice per month).
Worth noting is that your handicap index is based on the best 10 of your last 20 rounds. So you should only expect to "beat" your handicap about 25% of the time.
