Radical thoughts for the WHS article

[upsidedown]

Interesting article re WHS
https://www.nationalclubgolfer.com/news/world-handicap-system-club-competitions/

I'd go with a trial for it to be compulsory to put every card in from April to October ( opt out if declared a practice round) which would be similar to what we did in NZ but longer due to better weather. It takes out the "ooh I've got a card " in my hand for medals and a round becomes just a round with no competition pressure and felt I played better as more relaxed.

 

[BTatHome]

Seems to be a tabloid headline to me. What he's actually saying is that WHS is a better solution than the old congu system, as his handicap wouldn't be any different in the old system, just a lot harder to change. NCG seem to have a huge issue with WHS and use every opportunity to have a poke at it, and yet if its used then you'll end up with a decent handicap that equates to your handicap form.

personally, I've been putting in all almost all the rounds that I play, and have found that my handicap is going up, not ridiculous just steady, then I have a decent round and it drops again. Most of this form is because after a heart attack I've struggled with stamina for a full round, I'm hoping I can eventually sort this out and then I'll get back to the lower handicaps I had (I know its there)

 

[Captain_Black.]

My thoughts.
Putting a card in for every round just isn't in our DNA in this country.
Our weather is too variable, I certainly lose all concentration when I get cold & wet.
It's impossible to police & most players are content with social games & roll ups with maybe a mid-week or weekend qualifying comp.

Regarding WHS as a whole.
No system is perfect, I can see it's advantages if it's used as it was intended, but it never will be in this country.
What it has undoubtedly done is make it a lot easier for the more unscrupulous to artificially inflate their handicaps in a shorter time frame than was otherwise possible under Congu.

 

[Canary Kid]

Sometimes I use a social round to try out different things … there is no way I would want to put in a card in such cases. There are so many circumstances where it would not be appropriate, or indeed logical, to put in a card. Also, it would be impossible to police … especially when not playing at your own club. It’s a non-starter in my opinion.

 

[sweaty sock]

Does no one play golf anymore? It seems every round is expected to be singles strokeplay come what may.

I truly hope this trend doesn't continue. Fair enough the weekend medal, but nearly all my social golf used to be matchplay, or 4bbb, or even some sort of made up "lets see if we can get to 5 under gross better ball..."

Yes I know, I'm old and stuck in my ways, but if everyone starts playing strokeplay every round plodding round the course, then golf is going to get more boring and slower.

Remember when we were kids and needed a birdie on the last for a best ever round, so were more than happy to hit a running jump at a 3 wood to see what happened... well thats totally drummed out of us now.

Oh yeah, and now handicaps will represent less of your ability, and more about your attitude to the rules... as it is in america, where competitive handicap golf is near extinct...

 

[Golfnut1957]

They can do it if they want, if they did, I'd just ignore it.

As the Sweaty one says above, a large percentage of our golf, summer and winter, is extremely competitive matchplay with the focus being on the hole in play. Qualifying scores are for the summer and a qualifying comp once or twice a week, nothing else.

 

[sweaty sock]

I do realise Im poking fun at myself by exemplifying the stuck in the mud stereotype portrayed in the article.

But I dont think I'm wrong!

 

[Mandofred]

And.....no gimmies. Everybody would have to putt out every hole. That would kill a lot of people who almost never putt out.

 

[sweaty sock]

And.....no gimmies. Everybody would have to putt out every hole. That would kill a lot of people who almost never putt out.

And back to the tee for lost balls, and penalty drops in the trees, and 3 minutes looking.
Either (or more likely both)

Every round is 4 hours plus
Rules are regularly ignored / worked around.

As someone, who if playing for handicap, is in a group where 100% rule adherence is unquestionable, I'm certain my handicap would be higher than average.

 

[Crazyface]

I don't ever do gimmes. The aim of the game is to put the ball in the hole, isnt it? From my wife when she started to play. And she's dead right
Also, I wonder what top pros would be playing off if every round they played counted towards their handicap. I'll bet someone out there has worked it out.

 

[Crow]

From what I've heard, many scores submitted by Americans include the "likely score" on holes where they don't hole-out and the likely score is a bit of an arbitrary figure based on your handicap so in effect it doesn't consider further mistakes on that hole.
So basically I'm 50 yards from the hole but can't be bothered to finish it, I'll add 3 to my score. No wonder American handicaps often don't seem to reflect the actual ability of the golfer.

I can only remember putting in one general play card in my life and that was because it was a hickory competition (therefore non qualifying) but I was playing classics which were also allowed.

 

[sweaty sock]

*removed duplicate post

 

[sweaty sock]

From what I've heard, many scores submitted by Americans include the "likely score" on holes where they don't hole-out and the likely score is a bit of an arbitrary figure based on your handicap so in effect it doesn't consider further mistakes on that hole.
So basically I'm 50 yards from the hole but can't be bothered to finish it, I'll add 3 to my score. No wonder American handicaps often don't seem to reflect the actual ability of the golfer.

I can only remember putting in one general play card in my life and that was because it was a hickory competition (therefore non qualifying) but I was playing classics which were also allowed.

I asked alot of questions of American golfers prior to whs,

They generally put cards in for every round, the general mindset is play your round enter score on app. Its very common for every single round to go in. However...

What generally happens is normal peer groups, be it swindle, fourball, scratch team or father in law, who ever you play your normal golf with kind of develop agreed ruleset.

Gimmies, drops from divots etc etc the thing that we would do in bounce games in the uk can all be overlooked or not group to group. So each cohort end up with comparable handicaps to there immediate playing partners and games are competitive. Wether 35 points normally wins or 45 depends how your group become accustomed to.

In a wider group though, say a drawn club comp, this attitude to handicap comes home to roost and scores are wildly spread with outrageous winning scores, and as outrageous scores are probably quite common in some groups, they dont even see the harm...

As you would expect, drawn club comps become much less attractive as a test of skill and handicap records end up almost wholly recreational...

 

[BiMGuy]

I don't ever do gimmes. The aim of the game is to put the ball in the hole, isnt it? From my wife when she started to play. And she's dead right
Also, I wonder what top pros would be playing off if ever round they played counted towards their handicap. I'll bet someone out there has worked it out.

It seems to some the aim is to get the ball within 4 or 5ft. Call it 18inches and pick it up as a gimmie.

 

[Golfnut1957]

Playing so much matchplay we do gimmes all the time, including 4 or 5 footers, at least for the first 15 or so holes.

We had a round the other week where we decided to hole everything out, it seemed stupid not giving 6-inch putts. We haven't bothered since.

 

[BiMGuy]

Not everyone plays match play all the time.

It’s rare at my club and was at my previous clubs.

 

[WGCRider]

As a single data point on how hard this is to get right. I submit every single round I can as a general play score if I am able to via the app. So my rounds that don't count are 1) those played abroad 2) match play comps 3) comps where the club as decided they are non-qualifying so stop the score be submitted. Separately I calculate and track what my handicap would be if there rounds were included. As of right now my official HC is 6.3, my calculated HC is 4.9.

 

[Backache]

Does no one play golf anymore? It seems every round is expected to be singles strokeplay come what may.

I truly hope this trend doesn't continue. .

To be fair I don't think there is a trend other than of people writing articles. There has not been any suggestion of compunction in returning out of competition scores, other than possibly informal competitions which no one appears to actually enforce locally.

 

[sweaty sock]

To be fair I don't think there is a trend other than of people writing articles. There has not been any suggestion of compunction in returning out of competition scores, other than possibly informal competitions which no one appears to actually enforce locally.

Probably fair, and to be honest the feeling on here seems that most dont pay much attention to what the EGU want anyway, thank goodness!

 

[Billysboots]

Whilst accepting that having a handicap which reflects your current playing ability is important to protect the integrity of competitions, golf is also supposed to be fun. If it was ever mandated that a card had to be submitted for every round, I’m sure the majority would fail to see the fun in that.