Working out my rough h'cap off the WHS...

[Orikoru]

So I was just bored and thought I would try and work out what my handicap would be off the new handicap system. My understanding is limited but I know it's meant to be your best 8 rounds from the last 20. So I..

• wrote down my last 20 competition scores - and took off any shots that were more than net double on a hole.
• circled the 8 lowest scores.
• did an average of them, which gave me 87.625
• subtracted par (68) from that and got 19.625. CSS is usually the same as par.

So alarmingly, by that calculation I'd be going back up to 20! Obviously this is oversimplified and I'm sure there's more to it, but am I well wide of the mark here? For my best 8 rounds, 5 of them were in my last 7 rounds, but two of them were from back in December '18, which is actually quite a long time ago in my opinion, for judging current level.

Will handicaps be generally higher in the new system? Has anyone else worked out what theirs would be?

 

[robinthehood]

I got as far as looking in hdid but didn't add any up yet. I'd think they'd start us of as we are. There 'll be people with not enough scores anyway

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Will handicaps be generally higher in the new system?

May be they will just be a bit more honest? Let's face it,(hypothetical situation) if you are off 15, par is 70, CSS or whatever is 70, and you shoot 95 6 times then you only go up 0.1 each time. You are nowhere near 15 but you only go to 16. The new system is meant to react much quicker and more accurately, is how I understand it.

I haven't done mine, I suspect it might depress me, as yours did you

 

[robinthehood]

From talking to US guys they always seem to have lower caps than us. That's from a system pretty much like what we'll be using

 

[Orikoru]

May be they will just be a bit more honest? Let's face it,(hypothetical situation) if you are off 15, par is 70, CSS or whatever is 70, and you shoot 95 6 times then you only go up 0.1 each time. You are nowhere near 15 but you only go to 16. The new system is meant to react much quicker and more accurately, is how I understand it.

I haven't done mine, I suspect it might depress me, as yours did you

20 wouldn't be right for me at all though, I don't think. Shouldn't it have some recency bias at least? Three of my recent good rounds have been in the lower 80s, but one of the December rounds which is still in the best 8 was a 91, the joint highest of the 'best 8' - so an eight month ago round is dragging the average up? It seems wrong. I think 16 is a little low for me at the minute because I got a 1.0 exceptional scoring reduction* after the three low rounds I mentioned - but I think 17 or 18 would be accurate. 20 is definitely high.

*will ESRs no longer exist in the new system?


Edit: I mean, a difference of four shots between the two systems just screams something is wrong anyway doesn't it? Maybe more wrong with the way I calculated it than with the system, but still.

 

[patricks148]

From talking to US guys they always seem to have lower caps than us. That's from a system pretty much like what we'll be using

thats true, but i think thats mainly because they, cant count, can't add up, take Mulligans, lose ball and don't count them and give them selves 3 ft putts... under those conditions we would all be lower too

 

[robinthehood]

Some good info
https://www.englandgolf.org/article/world-handicap-system-whs/

 

[robinthehood]

thats true, but i think thats mainly because they, cant count, can't add up, take Mulligans, lose ball and don't count them and give them selves 3 ft putts... under those conditions we would all be lower too

true and They use all scores where as we use comp only. If i had put all my recent scores in id be 3 shots lower i reckon.

 

[patricks148]

true and They use all scores where as we use comp only. If i had put all my recent scores in id be 3 shots lower i reckon.

i suppose you could in theory do the same when the WHS comes in.

ive had some great bounce games of late, but some pretty average medal scores

 

[Orikoru]

i suppose you could in theory do the same when the WHS comes in.

ive had some great bounce games of late, but some pretty average medal scores

I only counted competition scores for me, as I figured they would continue to be the only cards I bothered to hand in. (In friendly rounds there could be four of us all on the card, can't be bothered handing that in really.)

But if I included non-comp rounds, an 83, 85 & an adjusted 88 would replace the 90, 91 & 91 from my 'best 8'. However, those non-comp rounds would have been off the yellows so I don't know how that is accounted for. Ignoring the tees though, the new average would be 85.5, less 68 = 17.5. So I guess that would be more accurate.

 

[Britishshooting]

If I calculate mine based on the method in the initial post then I'm actually off the same exact handicap as current which is pure fluke I imagine.

That's the mean average of the 8 lowest recent rounds, minus par of the course.

I assume slope doesn't enter the equation unless your adjusting your handicap at another course?

 

[patricks148]

I only counted competition scores for me, as I figured they would continue to be the only cards I bothered to hand in. (In friendly rounds there could be four of us all on the card, can't be bothered handing that in really.)

But if I included non-comp rounds, an 83, 85 & an adjusted 88 would replace the 90, 91 & 91 from my 'best 8'. However, those non-comp rounds would have been off the yellows so I don't know how that is accounted for. Ignoring the tees though, the new average would be 85.5, less 68 = 17.5. So I guess that would be more accurate.

you would just adjust to the course rating. slope or what ever it is we will be playing instead of the SSS, so prob a lower handicap on those scores.

 

[robinthehood]

I only counted competition scores for me, as I figured they would continue to be the only cards I bothered to hand in. (In friendly rounds there could be four of us all on the card, can't be bothered handing that in really.)

But if I included non-comp rounds, an 83, 85 & an adjusted 88 would replace the 90, 91 & 91 from my 'best 8'. However, those non-comp rounds would have been off the yellows so I don't know how that is accounted for. Ignoring the tees though, the new average would be 85.5, less 68 = 17.5. So I guess that would be more accurate.

I'd like to include more social games, but only as long as the system to enter them is easy peasy -- but thats a differnt story altogether

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

I have done mine, quite easy with Intelligent Golf and Excel. IG gives CSS, adjusted gross scores etc. Orange rounds are my best 8, average is 6.63 over par. My current handicap is 7.0 for comparison.

Given my course has a slope of 125, if I played a course rated 'neutral' (113), i'd receive 5.99 shots (if my understanding of the system is correct)?

 

[Britishshooting]

I'd like to include more social games, but only as long as the system to enter them is easy peasy -- but thats a differnt story altogether

This is the way I'm going to go, I'll be playing a whole lot more casual golf and submitting supplementary scores.

 

[Orikoru]

'Slope' is just completely alien to me. Have absolutely no idea what it means.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Haven't entered 20 qualifying comps in over 3 years according to HDID, two low rounds(one in 2016 and one in 2017) and nothing better than my current handicap for any other comp but more consistent scoring.

Be interesting to see how it is worked out, reckon I may creep up 1 or 2 shots from my quick calculations, unless I have a couple of buffer/better rounds in the comps this/next year before implementation.

 

[robinthehood]

'Slope' is just completely alien to me. Have absolutely no idea what it means.

Me neither, i believe we use it with the course rating to give us a specific number of shots for a given course.

 

[Britishshooting]

'Slope' is just completely alien to me. Have absolutely no idea what it means.

I know it's not the way to look at things typically but is it our problem to learn? I assume there will be a calculator once all courses have their slopes that does all the hard work for us.

My only understanding is that a neutral course is 113 less is easier, higher is harder and handicap is adjusted up and down depending on difference to your home club? Same as you though slope number means nothing to me, I wouldn't know how to adjust accordingly.

 

[jim8flog]

Whilst that may be your same handicap remember it is only a handicap index.

So you might get more or less shots depending upon the course and the slope rating.