The First Year of WHS - Positives and Negatives

[Deleted member 15344]

So yesterday was our last comp round ( yes I know you can still put cards in but the course work will start etc etc ) so thought would see what people’s thinking etc about the first year

So I started the year at 2.6 and have finished at 1.2

Using the old system I worked out that I would have finished at 2.0

The good things for me - the ability to put any card in from any course , the EG App making it easier and the key one is prob handicap being more reflective of current playing

Negatives -

EG APP allowing people to quit rounds (that should be changing)
The lack of connection between the governing bodies ( it’s far from “World”)
The ability to start to enter a scorecard halfway round a round
The overly complicated working out of - playing handicap at times
The apparent way that for some handicaps have shot through the roof

And PCC being no different to CSS

Overall I think it’s worked a little better than I thought but there is still a good way to go

 

[Bazz]

I've loved it, not having to go into the shop to tell them I wanted to put a supp card in and just doing it on the app has been great. Haven't played any comps all year so doubt I would've put many in at all.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Positives -

Handicaps are more reflective of playing ability much quicker. It hurts your ego but it is the truth, if you put enough cards in.
I like the way your h/cap alters for tougher courses.

Negatives -

It is more complicated to understand than it should be. I doubt more than 10% of golfers, I am being generous, fully understand the calculation (I'm not one of them). Okay, the computer does the work but I am not sure that is overly impressive.
Having an index, a course handicap and a playing handicap is one to many. They should have found a way to simplify that.

I don't put in casual rounds, my club wont accept scores via the app, so I can't comment on the other points.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Positives -

Handicaps are more reflective of playing ability much quicker. It hurts your ego but it is the truth, if you put enough cards in.
I like the way your h/cap alters for tougher courses.

Negatives -

It is more complicated to understand than it should be. I doubt more than 10% of golfers, I am being generous, fully understand the calculation (I'm not one of them). Okay, the computer does the work but I am not sure that is overly impressive.
Having an index, a course handicap and a playing handicap is one to many. They should have found a way to simplify that.

I don't put in casual rounds, my club wont accept scores via the app, so I can't comment on the other points.

Use the EG App to put your casual rounds in - it goes onto your handicap record straight away and the club can’t stop it

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Use the EG App to put your casual rounds in - it goes onto your handicap record straight away and the club can’t stop it

They won't accept them for rounds put in at my home club. We were told that back in May, beginning of the season anyway. I think they manually remove them, might be wrong but that is what we were told. I know I could do it at away courses but I play them for fun, or in 4BBB Opens that wont count, so I don't want the pressure of thinking it counts for anything. Proprietary course, nothing we can do about changing the head honcho's attitude.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

They won't accept them for rounds put in at my home club. We were told that back in May, beginning of the season anyway. I think they manually remove them, might be wrong but that is what we were told. I know I could do it at away courses but I play them for fun, or in 4BBB Opens that wont count, so I don't want the pressure of thinking it counts for anything. Proprietary course, nothing we can do about changing the head honcho's attitude.

They can’t stop them being added - it goes straight onto your handicap record within WHS - use the EG App , then if they are going and deleting the round then all you do is email the county and EG and they will be told to stop removing the rounds. If they don’t there will be a chance of sanctions against the club - there is something you can do about it

 

[timd77]

Things I like:

-The transparency of it
-Being able to see the graph of your scores
-The ‘course handicap’ thing so that you’re always playing with a the proper number of shots for each course

Things I don’t like:

-My handicap keeps going up and down with every score, just as I’m thinking I’m heading in the right direction, a good score drops off and I’m back up by 0.4 or whatever.

-I don’t really totally understand it.

Overall though, I’m happy with it. I’ve only been playing properly for a couple of years so I guess I don’t really know any different.

 

[PJ87]

They won't accept them for rounds put in at my home club. We were told that back in May, beginning of the season anyway. I think they manually remove them, might be wrong but that is what we were told. I know I could do it at away courses but I play them for fun, or in 4BBB Opens that wont count, so I don't want the pressure of thinking it counts for anything. Proprietary course, nothing we can do about changing the head honcho's attitude.

I'm with Phil here (shocking I know ?) put them in via EG and sod the club they can't actually stop you

If they delete them report it to EG and action will be taken against them and not you.

Onto the topic in hand

Lots of positives for me love the whole thing

Don't like a round can be deleted without much punishment

But love that you don't have to have a club for a handicap. 3 of my mates signed up for it and it's great to follow their handicap trends

Two have gone straight in at single figures.. one always moaned that he was too low (we always played him off 7) now he's off like 6 so he can't moan.. he just a good player lol

 

[Deleted member 30522]

Positives: The ease of entering a GP score compared with the old system

Negatives:
1. The frequency of ultra low net scoring
2. The imposition of mandatory allowances on formats of golf that have never been tracked before and have ruined the format
3. A "world" system that only works in your own country
4. A "world" system that is being implemented in many different ways in many different jurisdictions
5. A PCC that no-one understands, that almost never moves, and that the authorities can't explain
6. No winter period, all scores count regardless of playing conditions
7. Not having a "set" handicap, it changes course to course.

 

[sweaty sock]

+ve's
Erm

-ve's
Its easlily and routinely abused.
The course ratings are a shambles, particularly in winter.
For the vast majority it's much less reflective of your ability.
Its way more work for hcap committee's
It provides much less satisfaction in achievements.
Its no more portable than any other handicap I've ever had. And there still seems to be next to zero reason for it to be portable.

It's total cack, I wish it would go away.

Our course is thoughtlessly requiring all our winter stableford to be counting. As the course is shorter in winter the slope has dropped to 117, and despite losing less than 900 yards the course rating has dropped by 5 shots.

Not sure about your home course, but in uk winter you lose 900 yards just from temperature and ground conditions so it plays practically the same distance.

At the end of winter, if I play in stablefords, I will 100% hit the 5 shot hard cap. Which will mean i cant enter scratch stuff, I will not be considerable for team golf, and I'll be an absolute lock for all matchplay events. Its effectively barring me from entering the winter stableford if i want to keep a fair handicap. It means anyone who puts the effort in over the winter will be handicapped like a proper cheat at the start of the season. It's absolutely doing my head in!

 

[Deleted member 30522]

Our course is thoughtlessly requiring all our winter stableford to be counting. As the course is shorter in winter the slope has dropped to 117, and despite losing less than 900 yards the course rating has dropped by 5 shots.

Not sure about your home course, but in uk winter you lose 900 yards just from temperature and ground conditions so it plays practically the same distance.

At the end of winter, if I play in stablefords, I will 100% hit the 5 shot hard cap. Which will mean i cant enter scratch stuff, I will not be considerable for team golf, and I'll be an absolute lock for all matchplay events. Its effectively barring me from entering the winter stableford if i want to keep a fair handicap. It means anyone who puts the effort in over the winter will be handicapped like a proper cheat at the start of the season. It's absolutely doing my head in!

Agree with your earlier negavtives.

On this though, if the course is measured, then SG insist that all rounds are qualifying "because GB&I" agrees. That is the official response from Scottish Golf. Despite the fact that SG diverged on course handicaps and software, when it comes to this they hide behind "all the same".

They're literally admitting no thought has gone into the difference in January between Bournemouth & Bonar Bridge, it's ludicrous, and nor do they show any intention of reviewing it.

My club doesn't run anything over the winter, and we go onto winter tees Dec-Feb so the course is off anyway. But, I play a lot of Opens, I expect to see come April & May, a ton of players who have as you suggest, shot up over the winter now playing off an artificially high handicap until their summer scores kick in again, which depending is likely to be July for many of them.

 

[Backache]

Introducing it as COVID hit was unlucky and for me has resulted in me not really engaging with it.
My casual golf does not really lend itself to counting strokes much, gimmees are frequent. I have entered few medals and as such my handicap probably doesn't mean a lot.

 

[sweaty sock]

I should also not the powers that be have changed the par of the course too to 4 under...

Played my first winter comp yesterday, winnjng score 44. Bearing in mind the winter tees are currently just the front of the yellow tees, the player has in effect shot 48 points but will be handicapped as if they shot 43. Thats before the freezing cold, driving rain effects the pcc to change the course rating by 0%....

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I am loving it.

+ve

Done more scoring rounds this year, than probably in total over all previous years (40 I think I just counted)
Scoring rounds are so easy to do, just turn up, register on phone and off we go
Handicap is being kept upto date
Actually liking the pressure of seeing when good rounds drop off
Will continue doing rounds during winter (never did before)
Like the england app for ease of use
You can easily compare scoring differences across different courses

-ve
My low index is set based on rounds done in 2019 and will take another 8 months worked out of that
At the moment can not do rounds outside of england, would be nice to see Wales or scotland etc included
Almost never any PCC irrelevant of weather conditions (twice out of 40 rounds, across a few different courses/weather conditions)

Big hit for me

 

[howbow88]

I've had a really good year, but in fairness, I've really put in the practice hours.

At the start of the year my handicap was 9.5 and I've now got it down to 5.1. I think with the old handicap system I would have got it down, but probably not by 4.4 shots.

I like the app, even if it is a little bit glitchy. And I like the idea that you add in every round. Although I must admit, there have been rounds I haven't added on when I've just gone to play with mates and we're not taking it too seriously.

I think the course ratings have not been done properly in my area - almost like someone has just looked at course length and decided on the difficulty based on that. Some of them are completely laughable.

 

[rosecott]

They can’t stop them being added - it goes straight onto your handicap record within WHS - use the EG App , then if they are going and deleting the round then all you do is email the county and EG and they will be told to stop removing the rounds. If they don’t there will be a chance of sanctions against the club - there is something you can do about it

Club officials with Administrator access to WHS can indeed cancel a General Play card. It is obviously completely unacceptable for any club to have a blanket policy to do such cancellations and the Regional/County authority has to be made aware that this is going on.

 

[nickjdavis]

Positives...

Portability of handicap from course to course as a result of slope
The ability to enter scores via the MyEG app
Generally more reactive to sudden changes in player ability (exceptions do occur)

Negatives...

Folks can too easily choose to not submit a score/delete their scoring intent, or register for a round after they have played and then wait a few hours to enter their score
PCC calculation is an utter waste of time
Forget the WORLD aspect of the WHS.....its not even a common UK wide system.

 

[Orikoru]

Positive
- getting more shots at harder courses so you don't feel like you've slogged your heart out for 31 points is a nice touch.
- I like the app with the records of your rounds, handicap graph, being able to put cards in easily etc.
- the calculation being as baffling as it is, I've basically stopped caring about my handicap as much, which is probably a good thing.

Negative
- the 95% thing is just annoying. Why do you give me a course handicap and then tell me to play off 95% of that? Just include that in the bloody calculation and give me the number.
- I still don't really like that you can have a good round but your handicap still goes up (if you knock a better one off your record), but as I touched upon above, in a way that has stopped me caring about it which could be seen as a positive.
- I think the course/slope rating at my club is too low, they've basically rated it as an easy course just because it's short, but the greens are more hellish than any other course in the surrounding areas - this seems to get ignored in the ratings.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

Managed to put in 77 qualifying rounds this year, so feel I've given it a fair run.

Overall - think it's a really positive move. The ability to put scores in outside of official competitions has been a huge benefit for me, and made my social golf infinitely more enjoyably, as I don't hugely enjoy just slapping it round and playing for a fiver.

I think the app is generally pretty good, and improving all the time.

Have generally found the whole system incredibly easy to understand too, if you're prepared to spend a couple of minutes looking at it. There was a lot of "OMG ITS CRAP IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE" at the start, but people that have actively engaged in it, seem to be more on board.

It's also a nice way of keeping track of all the different courses I've played, and looking at how they compare for difficulty.

Negatives

Inability to 'police' it more effectively. Think you should have to sign in on a screen within the pro shop before the round, rather than just tapping the app, as it's too easy to do this after a couple of holes ...

Lower handicaps seem to have come down across the board, but particularly so for people that aren't playing a lot. This has meant me getting balloted out of Scratch Opens several times this year, when I'm 100% confident I would score lower than half the field that got in.

 

[rulefan]

So I started the year at 2.6 and have finished at 1.2

Using the old system I worked out that I would have finished at 2.0

Your course handicap on the tees you normally play would perhaps be a better comparison.