The First Year of WHS - Positives and Negatives

[AliMc]

I’ve not played enough this year due to time and injury so I still don’t feel like I’ve really experienced the WHS in a meaningfully positive way. Each experience of it so far has been negatively tainted by Scottish Golf App and implementation issues rather than the concept of WHS itself.

I like the concept. Hate the implementation.

Have to say I've got in excess of 20 gp scores recorded, all through the sg app and have had no issues whatsoever, same with many of my pp's tbh, maybe a lot of the issues were with the legacy systems data not being transferred over correctly ? don't know personally just remember a lot of negative comments around that time

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Playing off 9 at the end of the old system I was very good at playing to the buffer - so to 11 - less good at playing to 9 or less. My H/I is now 10.0 and round my track that gives me a CH of 11. I’m thinking the new system gives me a handicap that is a better reflection of my golfing ability. I realise that I was probably a bit of a S/F ‘snob’.

Problem? Off back tees CR is 72; off front tees CR is 70. SR is 125 for both tees. I play most of my competitive golf off the backs. When off the fronts I generally don’t score 2 shots better than off the whites and so off fronts I often find my H/I going up as a result of what I would consider a good knock- say s/f 36pts…and that I struggle with. Though I know why and I can accept it.

 

[Val]

I like the system, had no issues at all and the largest plus I see is that someone who has had an injury doesn't need 10 medals any more to go up just 1 shot. I tore my achilles 2 years ago and played minimal golf as a result and the little i did play through 2019 and 2020 wasn't very pretty and had minimal impact on my handicap. Had it happened this year, I may have had a more enjoyable time where score to handicap was concerned.

I always said it would need a year or 2 to settle and it's proving to be the case. It's here to stay so time to try and embrace it.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Positives.
1. Its better than the last system on the whole.

Negatives.
1. The amount of moaning it has produced.
2. Some people who still don't understand that you score stableford points according to your playing handicap for individual strokeplay NOT COURSE HANDICAP.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Positives.
1. Its better than the last system on the whole.

Negatives.
1. The amount of moaning it has produced.
2. Some people who still don't understand that you score stableford points according to your playing handicap for individual strokeplay NOT COURSE HANDICAP.

No you don't, there's a stableford adjustment for handicapping purposes after the fact, but in individual strokeplay you score what you score, every shot counts

 

[chrisd]

It's not the handicap system that I struggle with, yes I've gone up to 16 but was struggling with the driver for quite a while and it did reflect my scores. The thing that I'm not so enamoured of is the fact that my 16 gives me an 18 handicap off both whites and yellows, and as much as 22 when I played Chart Hills recently, I do get why but would be quite happy to play off 16 and hope to score well enough to earn a cut on any course.

 

[Val]

No you don't, there's a stableford adjustment for handicapping purposes after the fact, but in individual strokeplay you score what you score, every shot counts

I think he's added to many words in there, if you take out "for individual strokeplay" it makes more sense and would be correct.

"Some people who still don't understand that you score stableford points according to your playing handicap NOT COURSE HANDICAP."

 

[Voyager EMH]

No you don't, there's a stableford adjustment for handicapping purposes after the fact, but in individual strokeplay you score what you score, every shot counts

For handicapping purposes there is a net double bogey limit according to course handicap.
Stableford is an individual strokeplay format and playing handicap for individual strokeplay applies.

 

[rulefan]

I don't like that there's no requirement to put scores in to keep a handicap.

There wasn't under CONGU either.

 

[Voyager EMH]

I think he's added to many words in there, if you take out "for individual strokeplay" it makes more sense and would be correct.

"Some people who still don't understand that you score stableford points according to your playing handicap NOT COURSE HANDICAP."

There are many types of playing handicap.
Playing handicap for betterball matchplay, playing handicap for betterball strokeplay, etc
That is why I specified which one I was discussing.

 

[Val]

There are many types of playing handicap.
Playing handicap for betterball matchplay, playing handicap for betterball strokeplay, etc
That is why I specified which one I was discussing.

You already said stableford which is a form of strokeplay after all

 

[Whereditgo]

I read it as: in a singles Stableford competition you score stableford points according to your playing handicap for individual strokeplay NOT COURSE HANDICAP.

 

[Val]

I read it as: in a singles Stableford competition you score stableford points according to your playing handicap for individual strokeplay NOT COURSE HANDICAP.

Which is what it is, pendantics and clarity maybe could re-word but hey ho, does it really matter?

 

[Whereditgo]

Which is what it is, pendantics and clarity maybe could re-word but hey ho, does it really matter?

I think the point being made was that some people still think they get the extra strokes afforded by their course handicap?

 

[Voyager EMH]

You already said stableford which is a form of strokeplay after all

Yes, but you can play betterball stableford and I've not heard of people not applying 85% so I did not want that to be included.

 

[IanM]

The last half a dozen posts demonstrate my point about over engineering.

 

[Swango1980]

Handicap Allowances couldn't be simpler, surely everyone knows the following off by heart by now???

100% = Individual Match Play, best 3 of 4 stroke play, best 4 of 4 strokeplay, total score of 2 match play, 4 of 4 par/bogey
95% = Individual stroke play, individual stableford, individual par/bogey, individual maximum score
90% = four ball par/bogey, four ball match play, best 3 of 4 par / bogey
85% = four-ball strokeplay, four -ball stableford, best 2 of 4 stroke play
80% = best 2 of 4 par/bogey
75% = best 1 of 4 stroke play, best 1 of 4 par/bogey

When I arrange a four ball match play game now, I prepare at home by finding out each player's index. I then work out course handicaps, then playing handicaps and then shot allocation. It saves loads of time having to work it all out on the tee. It is ridiculous. The 90% bit is fine, and we always did that. But most people have no idea what their course handicap is, and they seem to frequently get confused by their playing handicap, the one they played with in their last individual club competition. Or, they sign in to play a general play round, and the App tells them their course handicap. That is fine, except they then insist this is the handicap their score must be based on if they are playing in a comp (say a roll up), simply because that is what the App tells them.

PLAYING HANDICAP is the most ridiculous concept of the WHS. It is great for those theoretical mathematicians / statisticians who love to crunch numbers, and then give us all these allowances to work with. Maybe impress us with their wisdom in coming up with these numbers. However, in practice it is one big mess. When I play golf with people and they express their WHS opinion, it is generally to mock it. The only positive comment is that you can easily enter general play scores. However, that is not really anything to do with WHS, except WHS accelerated the IT to be able to do this (i.e. this could have been achieved under any handicap system). The Australians seem to have got it better, and ditched playing handicap. They simply have Index and Course Handicap (albeit they call them something different)

 

[Voyager EMH]

The Australians seem to have got it better, and ditched playing handicap. They simply have Index and Course Handicap (albeit they call them something different)

I have come round to this view as well. Although early this year I thought differently.
My perception is that the Auzzies have ditched Course Handicap (except they didn't ditch it, they never had it in the first place). They go straight from GA Index (note no use of the word "handicap") straight to Daily Handicap which is equivalent to our Playing Handicap for individual strokeplay. Thus for the average Auzzie, their "handicap" is just what it always used to be - that is "what I play off in medals and stablefords" with far less confusion than we appear to have the UK.
And they were ahead of us in implementing WHS. So we missed an opportunity to do what they had already done.

 

[Wabinez]

The only negative I have is the fact that you can’t input scores from Scotland/Wales/Ireland easily. I understand this is changing at some point next year though.

The rest I am absolutely fine with, and love the new system.

 

[Crow]

I'm old now so don't like change, ergo, I don't like the WHS.
(Did I just type "ergo"? I'm really getting old.)

Grumpy old git angle aside, I think the new system can go up too quickly, whereas the old one was generally too slow because handicap committees were too cautious in raising handicaps after annual reviews.

Even after a year the new system is still confusing to the majority.

My own experience; After several years of awful golf for various reasons I ended the CONGU system on 15.2, which if I remember correctly means my handicap was 15. I couldn't play to it at the time but felt it was more of a mental issue and in reality I wasn't far off.
WHS put me at 16.4 which gave me a course handicap from the whites at my new club of 19, playing 18.
I continued in poor form for the first four months and my HI went up to 17.5, CH 20, PH 19 so I was getting 2 shots on some holes.
I then found some form and a bit of confidence and started putting some good scores in which upset some people (cries of bandit) and to be honest I found quite embarrassing.

I'm now down to 12.1 HI, CH 14, PH 13, this is more realistic but possibly still a little high.

I've never liked the idea of supplementary cards if I'm able to play regularly in competitions so didn't enter any under CONGU and haven't under WHS.

On top of that, it's been soundly proven that the "World" part of the system, which was what we were told was the key reason for the change, has been a complete fiasco.
And how many golfers felt they'd ever need a "World" handicap and still feel that way? Less than 0.1% I'd estimate.