World Handicap System - FAQ’s

[duncan mackie]

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.

Saving par' s sec is right to be concerned. For elite golfers handicap is everything and based o historical evidence many simply won't play a competition where they feel there is no upside (where mere mortals just head out to compete and take any handicap consequences that may, or may not, happen.
However, there's little point in double guessing what might happen - clubs will respond to whatever players choose to do in practice.

 

[jim8flog]

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.

It is simple (this figures are not exact but just to show easy it is)
in basic terms say your club is slope rated at 1 and you play a course which is rated 0.9 you get 9/10s of your handicap if you play a course which is rated 1.1 you get 1.1 times your handicap.

No doubt there will be easy to use look up tables similar to those used to calculate stroke allowances.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

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

I'm certainly playing like one

 

[Orikoru]

It is simple (this figures are not exact but just to show easy it is)
in basic terms say your club is slope rated at 1 and you play a course which is rated 0.9 you get 9/10s of your handicap if you play a course which is rated 1.1 you get 1.1 times your handicap.

No doubt there will be easy to use look up tables similar to those used to calculate stroke allowances.

I do hope so!

 

[jusme]

I do hope so!

Why is it difficult? You get to a course, look up your index and they will tell you your playing handicap that day. Reading is the only knowledge required to use it

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

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)

OK - I get that - but when I am standing on say the 16th tee and I am level with my handicap - should I be thinking about playing conservatively and hopefully knock it round in my handicap - or attack the course as it doesn't matter if my score is way over my handicap in the end.

As I will always be wanting my handicap to come down all I might want to do is make it better than my 8th best of the previous 20. But will it be easy enough for me to know or to work out what I have to shoot for it to be better that that 8th best - given that that 8th best could have been shot ages ago on a course I'd forgotten about.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Why is it difficult? You get to a course, look up your index and they will tell you your playing handicap that day. Reading is the only knowledge required to use it

You do realise that for such as I of 45+ years playing - having a variable handicap according to the course to be played is a massive cultural change...

 

[cliveb]

A few things I didn't see addressed in the FAQ:

1. Currently the way a score affects your handicap is driven by a differential from CSS. Will the new system also use a differential from some "target score" (sorry, I don't know what the official term for it might be)?

2. Since the slope index gives the player a playing handicap, presumably the "target score" will always be net par with a (small, often zero) modification due to the CCA for the day?

3. What range can the CCA take? (cf. CSS can range between -1 and +3 of SSS)

4. The FAQ states that only one CCA is calculated per day (unlike the current system where there's a separate CSS for each competition). But what if there are multiple competitions from different tees (eg. men off the whites, ladies off the reds). Will there still only be one CCA?

5. Will there still be a stableford adjustment to scores for handicapping purposes?

 

[MadAdey]

I do hope so!

Over here we use this to work stuff out. It will do all the calculations for you.

https://www.usga.org/course-handicap-calculator.html

Slope is a very easy way to look at a course. In the UK they look at the scratch golfer and what they will score, not the 18 handicap bogey golfer. THe US way takes that into account, which is a good thing, because what affects a scratch golfer does not affect a bogey golfer in the same way.

 

[patricks148]

Over here we use this to work stuff out. It will do all the calculations for you.

https://www.usga.org/course-handicap-calculator.html

Slope is a very easy way to look at a course. In the UK they look at the scratch golfer and what they will score, not the 18 handicap bogey golfer. THe US way takes that into account, which is a good thing, because what affects a scratch golfer does not affect a bogey golfer in the same way.

i just did this with the slope for my course, which is 134 and Nairn Dunbar which is 139. it came out the same so tried with a higher handicap IE cat 2 and it was still 1 shot higher, so a cat 2 player you are losing one of your buffer shots by this system

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Bottom line for me is.

If I am standing on the 16th tee (let's for simplicity say of my own course) and have to par in to play to my handicap (it's my own course so I'll know what my handicap for my own course is and I know what it's par is) - will I know what I have to do to stop my handicap going up? (without having to have some bleedin' gizmo in my hand).

At the moment I do. Assuming no downwards adjustment of CSS I just have to make sure I play to no more than 2 over handicap. And that's dead easy for my head to handle.

 

[BTatHome]

You way over thinking your game. If playing conservative gives you your best score then play like that. If you believe 'going for it' gives you a better then that's what you should be doing.

Either way I would guess that you don't always achieve your aim by your chosen playing style .... but that's why we play amateur golf.

If won't be a single round of golf that affects your handicap, but an accumulation of good/bad golf.

 

[Garush34]

Bottom line for me is.

If I am standing on the 16th tee (let's for simplicity say of my own course) and have to par in to play to my handicap (it's my own course so I'll know what my handicap for my own course is and I know what it's par is) - will I know what I have to do to stop my handicap going up? (without having to have some bleedin' gizmo in my hand).

At the moment I do. Assuming no downwards adjustment of CSS I just have to make sure I play to no more than 2 over handicap. And that's dead easy for my head to handle.

Surely you would just be trying to play the best you can on the day? Whether thats even or 1 over, it really shouldn't matter, because thats the best you could have played.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Surely you would just be trying to play the best you can on the day? Whether thats even or 1 over, it really shouldn't matter, because thats the best you could have played.

I can play the best I can - and I do.

My thinking is very simple. As I approach the end of a medal round I decide my strategy for the final few holes. At the moment when playing a medal round this is easy. If I am playing to my handicap I decide whether I am playing well enough to go for an under-handicap score. If it's a comp I might not bother even if I am if I can't get a 'podium place'. There is always a risk with going for it that I blow up and score well outside buffer zone and up 0.1 I go.

I suffered 0.1 drip-drip to my handicap for many years - even when playing well - it was hugely frustrating. My handicap started coming down when I started playing the last few holes intelligently - according to the circumstances. In this way I pretty much stopped the 0.1s and so could consolidate any deductions.

I am simply unsure how I can use this very simple strategy thinking with the new system.

 

[Foxholer]

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.

Google 'Pope of Slope' and check Dean's postings!

Basically, he analysed an enormous number of results and found that while a Scratch golfer might be expected to play to Course Rating (on average), higher handicap players would be 'punished' more on 'more difficult' courses - and that this relationship was pretty linear, depending on 'handicap' (actually Index) - thus the term 'Slope'!

So a 'standard' course has a Course Rating (the equivalent of SSS) and a Slope of 113. Anything tougher will have a slope greater than 113 - Augusta National has a slope of something around 145, and that's from the non-Masters tees!

So before your round, you check the Course Rating as a base point and add the adjustment for the Slope Rating according to your Index. That will be your handicap for the round.

Hope that helps.

 

[Garush34]

I can play the best I can - and I do.

My thinking is very simple. As I approach the end of a medal round I decide my strategy for the final few holes. At the moment when playing a medal round this is easy. If I am playing to my handicap I decide whether I am playing well enough to go for an under-handicap score. If it's a comp I might not bother even if I am if I can't get a 'podium place'. There is always a risk with going for it that I blow up and score well outside buffer zone and up 0.1 I go.

I suffered 0.1 drip-drip to my handicap for many years - even when playing well - it was hugely frustrating. My handicap started coming down when I started playing the last few holes intelligently - according to the circumstances. In this way I pretty much stopped the 0.1s and so could consolidate any deductions.

I am simply unsure how I can use this very simple strategy thinking with the new system.

Seems strange to me, because until the results are posted how are you going to know if you have a podium place or not. Surely if you are on for an under handicap score you would go for it otherwise it would seem as you are attempting to protect a higher handicap than to what you could be.

 

[jim8flog]

OK - I get that - but when I am standing on say the 16th tee and I am level with my handicap - should I be thinking about playing conservatively and hopefully knock it round in my handicap - or attack the course as it doesn't matter if my score is way over my handicap in the end.

As I will always be wanting my handicap to come down all I might want to do is make it better than my 8th best of the previous 20. But will it be easy enough for me to know or to work out what I have to shoot for it to be better that that 8th best - given that that 8th best could have been shot ages ago on a course I'd forgotten about.

I always play to win so if I was standing on the 16th level with my handicap I know the only way to win is to play better than my handicap so I would be going for it on the final 2 holes.

 

[duncan mackie]

I can play the best I can - and I do.

My thinking is very simple. As I approach the end of a medal round I decide my strategy for the final few holes. At the moment when playing a medal round this is easy. If I am playing to my handicap I decide whether I am playing well enough to go for an under-handicap score. If it's a comp I might not bother even if I am if I can't get a 'podium place'. There is always a risk with going for it that I blow up and score well outside buffer zone and up 0.1 I go.

I suffered 0.1 drip-drip to my handicap for many years - even when playing well - it was hugely frustrating. My handicap started coming down when I started playing the last few holes intelligently - according to the circumstances. In this way I pretty much stopped the 0.1s and so could consolidate any deductions.

I am simply unsure how I can use this very simple strategy thinking with the new system.

You seem to be completely missing the working of the new system.

Going forward you can shoot 20 over handicap in a comp and that round may never feature in the calculation of your handicap index, ever.

If it really really worries you you can obviously review your handicap record before playing every round and establish the minimum score you need to keep your handicap exactly where it is currently....but this could be a very wide range from significantly below handicap, well above handicap but usually 'this one won't necessarily matter at all.

 

[SammmeBee]

I can play the best I can - and I do.

My thinking is very simple. As I approach the end of a medal round I decide my strategy for the final few holes. At the moment when playing a medal round this is easy. If I am playing to my handicap I decide whether I am playing well enough to go for an under-handicap score. If it's a comp I might not bother even if I am if I can't get a 'podium place'. There is always a risk with going for it that I blow up and score well outside buffer zone and up 0.1 I go.

I suffered 0.1 drip-drip to my handicap for many years - even when playing well - it was hugely frustrating. My handicap started coming down when I started playing the last few holes intelligently - according to the circumstances. In this way I pretty much stopped the 0.1s and so could consolidate any deductions.

I am simply unsure how I can use this very simple strategy thinking with the new system.

The winner or 3rd place in the competition bears no relation in how you faired against your handicap to par/css.

 

[rulefan]

Handicapping hasn't been a barrier to European resorts, or clubs, running competitions with both CONGU and EGA handicaps playing. What will (should.....) change is the arbitrary reduction in CONGU players handicaps over and above the normal calculation process (which already exists).

Handicapping is rarely the real barrier!

The EGA system is virtually the same as CONGU, particularly the ratchet system of handicap adjustment and CSS. The major difference is in the use of slope.

The rest of the world (ie excluding the England Golf Union - only men at the time of course) had already recognised the merits of slope.
In fact all of CONGU (except England men) have been rating courses and determining slope for over 10 years.. EGmen have ignored the higher handicap player entirely except to make a gesture with downward stoke adjustments by category.