B
birdieman
Guest
As a club match and handicap secretary I attended a CONGU(Council of national golf unions) seminar last night run by the SGU on the new rules changes in effect from this season.
For those who are interested there are a few significant changes this year and some interesting stats too.
I like many others for singles matchplay felt that ¾ difference in handicap is fairer than full difference. However I was proved wrong. Statistically when a lower handicap player plays a higher handicap player giving ¾ of the handicap difference in shots, the lower handicap player wins 61% of the time. If however the full difference in handicap is given in shots then the lower handicap player still mostly wins but only 55% of the time.
For that reason the Golf Unions want all singles matchplay to be full difference from now on as 55% is fairer than 61%.
The average winning handicap in the UK is 13.3. Remember there are a lot more players in category 2 and 3 than 1 and 4.
A category 1 player (5 and less) is expected to score 2 above their handicap on average.
A category 4 player (21-28) is expected to score 6 above their handicap on average.
Thsi is why the buffer zone is different for each category, the lower the handicap the more consistently the player scores, on average.
CSS rarely comes down early season and late season and is more likely to go up, therefore if you play well early or late season you are more likely to get a bigger handicap cut, thus dispelling the myth that if I play early season I’ll probably get a 0.1. You’re therefore more likely to get a 0.1 mid summer.
For Open competitions there will be a CSS calculated separately for home players and away players. On average home players will score 1.5 shots better than away players thus proving the old adage that playing at home or local knowledge does give you an advantage. If however the away players do actually out-perform the home players (rare) then there is only one CSS. This is only for handicapping, doesn’t affect the prizewinners.
For handicapping arbitrary cutting/increasing is not allowed -eg "If you get to round 4 of this or that knockout cup you will be cut 2 shots" - this type of stuff is nonsense so if your club is doing it, report them.
9 hole competitions – these are being introduced this year. Format is as follows-
• can only be played at your home course
• stableford scoring only
• 9 holes of course allocated and a new SSS calculated for those 9 holes.
• No CSS is calculated on the day
• A neutral 18 points is added to your stableford score to get aqualifying score
• Category 1 players are excluded from these 9 hole events for handicapping purposes but they can compete and win the trophy/prize/cup.
• Cannot be used for allocation of a new handicap or for a lapsed player returning 3 cards for handicap.
The formula is as follows – [exact handicap + 9 hole SSS –(9 hole par x 2)] / 2.
e.g. 12.8 + 69 –(34x2) / 2 = 6.9 so a playing handicap of 7 for the 9 holer.
Who said the rules of golf were complicated???
ps. Bandits are to be put in the stocks medieval style and pelted with rotten fruit....Madandra are you listening??
For those who are interested there are a few significant changes this year and some interesting stats too.
I like many others for singles matchplay felt that ¾ difference in handicap is fairer than full difference. However I was proved wrong. Statistically when a lower handicap player plays a higher handicap player giving ¾ of the handicap difference in shots, the lower handicap player wins 61% of the time. If however the full difference in handicap is given in shots then the lower handicap player still mostly wins but only 55% of the time.
For that reason the Golf Unions want all singles matchplay to be full difference from now on as 55% is fairer than 61%.
The average winning handicap in the UK is 13.3. Remember there are a lot more players in category 2 and 3 than 1 and 4.
A category 1 player (5 and less) is expected to score 2 above their handicap on average.
A category 4 player (21-28) is expected to score 6 above their handicap on average.
Thsi is why the buffer zone is different for each category, the lower the handicap the more consistently the player scores, on average.
CSS rarely comes down early season and late season and is more likely to go up, therefore if you play well early or late season you are more likely to get a bigger handicap cut, thus dispelling the myth that if I play early season I’ll probably get a 0.1. You’re therefore more likely to get a 0.1 mid summer.
For Open competitions there will be a CSS calculated separately for home players and away players. On average home players will score 1.5 shots better than away players thus proving the old adage that playing at home or local knowledge does give you an advantage. If however the away players do actually out-perform the home players (rare) then there is only one CSS. This is only for handicapping, doesn’t affect the prizewinners.
For handicapping arbitrary cutting/increasing is not allowed -eg "If you get to round 4 of this or that knockout cup you will be cut 2 shots" - this type of stuff is nonsense so if your club is doing it, report them.
9 hole competitions – these are being introduced this year. Format is as follows-
• can only be played at your home course
• stableford scoring only
• 9 holes of course allocated and a new SSS calculated for those 9 holes.
• No CSS is calculated on the day
• A neutral 18 points is added to your stableford score to get aqualifying score
• Category 1 players are excluded from these 9 hole events for handicapping purposes but they can compete and win the trophy/prize/cup.
• Cannot be used for allocation of a new handicap or for a lapsed player returning 3 cards for handicap.
The formula is as follows – [exact handicap + 9 hole SSS –(9 hole par x 2)] / 2.
e.g. 12.8 + 69 –(34x2) / 2 = 6.9 so a playing handicap of 7 for the 9 holer.
Who said the rules of golf were complicated???
ps. Bandits are to be put in the stocks medieval style and pelted with rotten fruit....Madandra are you listening??
