World Handicap System - FAQ’s

[IanG]

With the slope rating being being adapted, anyone know what will happen in regards to RO and tougher than normal conditions instance?

Some of the comps i play are occasionally Reduction Only if its really windy, which is not that unusual on Links courses, anyone know if anything like this will be used in the new system?

The FAQ linked to in the original post says there will no longer be any comps that end up RO.

 

[Orikoru]

I agree that people who play regularly on a tough will always be better equipped. But when you turn up at an easy course and you handicap is adjusteds from 10 to 6, that will counter it. Where at the minute you turn up at a course still playing from 10 even though this place you would probably have a 6 handicap if it was your home course.

I've seen it in club matches where some turn up with maybe a 5 handicap from an easy course and struggles to play to 10 on the harder one. At least his handicap would be adjusted at the harder course to give him a chance.

This aspect confuses me. How would I work that out then? I don't really play many competitive rounds on other courses, but say me and my pals were having a friendly knock on a tougher course than our home one, and we wanted to work out what our adjusted handicaps should be. How on earth would we work it out?

 

[TheJezster]

This aspect confuses me. How would I work that out then? I don't really play many competitive rounds on other courses, but say me and my pals were having a friendly knock on a tougher course than our home one, and we wanted to work out what our adjusted handicaps should be. How on earth would we work it out?

That's the easy bit. Simply look at the Slope rating on the course (it will be shown everywhere, including the card) and use your handicap index to determine what actual handicap you'll be playing off for those tees.

Don't worry about that, that's very simple

 

[Orikoru]

That's the easy bit. Simply look at the Slope rating on the course (it will be shown everywhere, including the card) and use your handicap index to determine what actual handicap you'll be playing off for those tees.

Don't worry about that, that's very simple

What the hell is a slope rating? And how would you relate that to you handicap? You made it sound so simple without actually explaining it at all, lol.

 

[patricks148]

The FAQ linked to in the original post says there will no longer be any comps that end up RO.

i saw that, but it just says "no" i'd like to know what if anything will happen in these instances where it would go to RO, its all very well with the slope, but thats not much different to what an SSS is with tee's now.

get it quite often 30 MPH wind hardly anyone breaks 80, so if there is no system to take this into account it will just show up as a bad round?

 

[Cake]

What the hell is a slope rating? And how would you relate that to you handicap? You made it sound so simple without actually explaining it at all, lol.

As I understand it the Slope Rating is a new measure of how difficult a course is (from a given set of tees) relative to another course (or the same course but different tees), so it can be used to adjust your handicap index to what it should be going around any course.

I believe that there will be a lookup grid at each club that says for Handicap Index 17.5-18.5 (no idea what the boundaries actually would be) then your playing handicap off the whites would be 20 and off the yellows would be 18 (or something like that)

If that is how it works then as Jezster says it should be a simple lookup on a table against the tees you were playing that day

 

[patricks148]

What the hell is a slope rating? And how would you relate that to you handicap? You made it sound so simple without actually explaining it at all, lol.

all your tee's will be slope rated, most courses that get overseas visitors already have this done.

For instance my course is par 71 SSS73 US course rating 73 slope 134. so effectively my handicap is 5 but i can shoot 7 over and play to handicap. but if in went to another club where the slope is lower i would play a lower handicap. You get a sheet with the slope on and how many shots you get in relation to that.... i think!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I'm not really understanding the WHS system enough yet to be able to work out whether I have to adjust my thinking as I come down the home straight and I am playing close to my handicap - or might be just over.

At the moment in a qualifying round I usually aim to play to within my buffer (for me 2 shots) since if I manage to do that I know pretty certain (assuming CSS does not go down) that my handicap will not go up. In the past I'd always just 'go for it' if I was one or two over my handicap coming down the final stretch as 'buffer' thinking was (stupidly) not part of how I thought - and then I realised how to stop the 0.1s

But I just can't get my head around how I should be thinking with WHS if I am scoring to, or just over, my handicap - so what strategy should I adopt. I am guessing that in the first instance I should go out knowing my 8th best score - what the CSS was that day - and what my handicap was at the time?

Or does WHS not make any difference whatsoever to my thinking

 

[Lord Tyrion]

As I understand it the Slope Rating is a new measure of how difficult a course is (from a given set of tees) relative to another course (or the same course but different tees), so it can be used to adjust your handicap index to what it should be going around any course.

I believe that there will be a lookup grid at each club that says for Handicap Index 17.5-18.5 (no idea what the boundaries actually would be) then your playing handicap off the whites would be 20 and off the yellows would be 18 (or something like that)

If that is how it works then as Jezster says it should be a simple lookup on a table against the tees you were playing that day

Hopefully, in this modern era, there will be a handy app where we input the information and it tells us the end result.

 

[Orikoru]

I'm not really understanding the WHS system enough yet to be able to work out whether I have to adjust my thinking as I come down the home straight and I am playing close to my handicap - or might be just over.

At the moment in a qualifying round I usually aim to play to within my buffer (for me 2 shots) since if I manage to do that I know pretty certain (assuming CSS does not go down) that my handicap will not go up. In the past I'd always just 'go for it' if I was one or two over my handicap coming down the final stretch as 'buffer' thinking was (stupidly) not part of how I thought - and then I realised how to stop the 0.1s

But I just can't get my head around how I should be thinking with WHS if I am scoring to, or just over, my handicap - so what strategy should I adopt. I am guessing that in the first instance I should go out knowing my 8th best score - what the CSS was that day - and what my handicap was at the time?

Or does WHS not make any difference whatsoever to my thinking

Why not just aim to get the best score you can and forget your handicap altogether?

 

[Deleted member 15717]

i saw that, but it just says "no" i'd like to know what if anything will happen in these instances where it would go to RO, its all very well with the slope, but thats not much different to what an SSS is with tee's now.

get it quite often 30 MPH wind hardly anyone breaks 80, so if there is no system to take this into account it will just show up as a bad round?

If it is worse than your 8th best score, it won't make any difference to your handicap, as far as I can tell. From that FAQ, there is a Course Conditions Adjustment, which may even things out a touch

 

[duncan mackie]

i saw that, but it just says "no" i'd like to know what if anything will happen in these instances where it would go to RO, its all very well with the slope, but thats not much different to what an SSS is with tee's now.

get it quite often 30 MPH wind hardly anyone breaks 80, so if there is no system to take this into account it will just show up as a bad round?

Basically there will be a version of the CSS calculation (It's not detailed well but you can look at the Aus version of the USGA system to see how the principle gets applied).

Ultimately you don't need RO because such extreme rounds can, statistically, simply be accepted as never forming an active part of a players handicap calculation.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Why not just aim to get the best score you can and forget your handicap altogether?

My point is simply that I might not want to go for the best score.

OK - I decide to go for it and try to get under my handicap - but I make a mess of the last few holes and end up well over and outside my buffer. So I go up 0.1.

I did this for years until I realised that if I felt I wasn't in a position to get a podium slot it is better for me to just aim to protect my handicap against a 0.1 by trying to play within my buffer. I was a 0.1 drip-dripper as my handicap went up frustratingly.

 

[duncan mackie]

I agree that people who play regularly on a tough will always be better equipped. But when you turn up at an easy course and you handicap is adjusteds from 10 to 6, that will counter it. Where at the minute you turn up at a course still playing from 10 even though this place you would probably have a 6 handicap if it was your home course.

I've seen it in club matches where some turn up with maybe a 5 handicap from an easy course and struggles to play to 10 on the harder one. At least his handicap would be adjusted at the harder course to give him a chance.

I'm really trying not to seem to disagree, but all of this already exists in practice.

For example I'm playing in a Q comp tomorrow where, to par, I'm handicapped to 15. Last week I was playing a Q comp on the same course, but different tees, with a handicap of 10 to the same par figure (and I can be as low as 8 of the forward rated tees)
I'm not expecting the slope ratings of these tees, on that course, to change things significantly because of the nature of the course.

 

[TheJezster]

Yes, but most people when playing at away courses don't play them as qualifiers. This would then follow what MacAdey was saying.

Golf trips for example, if its a difficult course, we'll have more shots to help us get as close to 36 as possible.

 

[duncan mackie]

Yes, but most people when playing at away courses don't play them as qualifiers. This would then follow what MacAdey was saying.

Golf trips for example, if its a difficult course, we'll have more shots to help us get as close to 36 as possible.

Possibly unwittingly you have summed up the single biggest issue with the current CONGU system!

People have in their heads that 36 points is a fair reflection of their handicap (more being better etc).

As to the competitive nature of the golf trip - that will generally remain neutral for most, but there may be (significant) differences for the bogey golfers coming from very different course types.

 

[duncan mackie]

My point is simply that I might not want to go for the best score.

OK - I decide to go for it and try to get under my handicap - but I make a mess of the last few holes and end up well over and outside my buffer. So I go up 0.1.

I did this for years until I realised that if I felt I wasn't in a position to get a podium slot it is better for me to just aim to protect my handicap against a 0.1 by trying to play within my buffer. I was a 0.1 drip-dripper as my handicap went up frustratingly.

Going forward you can just ignore it then - so you should score better in comps overall!

No more 0.1 and no more guarantee that any returned score will always have some impact on you handicap (obviously except buffer previously)

 

[Deleted member 3432]

The FAQ linked to in the original post says there will no longer be any comps that end up RO.

I was chatting to our secretary the other week about this and he is very concerned on bad weather days (very frequent around these parts) people are just going to cancel and not bother.

At present if its a day likely to be RO you will still get over 100 in the comp.

 

[Grant85]

I was chatting to our secretary the other week about this and he is very concerned on bad weather days (very frequent around these parts) people are just going to cancel and not bother.

At present if its a day likely to be RO you will still get over 100 in the comp.

Surely the SSS for a single day comp would still come into play?

Also, as others have mentioned - once you are up and running with 20 active scores in play, a very bad round is probably not going to change your handicap at all. Assuming you have a fair spread of scores throughout the 20.

 

[patricks148]

I was chatting to our secretary the other week about this and he is very concerned on bad weather days (very frequent around these parts) people are just going to cancel and not bother.

At present if its a day likely to be RO you will still get over 100 in the comp.

you might find every one who's cat 1 at yours end up as 15 handicaps if you have a windy few months:rofl: