World Handicap System

[duncan mackie]

Actually it doesn't. How many cat 1 golfers come in with net 62 or below? Yet almost every medal you get a higher handicap coming in with a result like this. I played an open last season with a 17 handicap how had a gross 78!

It really does depend where you play - both the nature of the course and the incidence of beginners/rapidly improving golfers.

As posted above, 18 holes of golf isn't enough to smooth even the normal distribution curve of the average golfer.

 

[rulefan]

How many cat 1s are in the field?
How many high cappers? If you mean higher than average then 50% I reckon.

From CONGU

The analysis covers 750 club handicap competitions reported in the months May to September. The competitions selected had a minimum field size of 75 competitors.
• All competitions were evaluated as ‘open’ i.e. there was one overall winner of the competition irrespective of handicap.
• The winners of the 750 competitions were grouped into the four handicap categories.

• When the distribution of winners by handicap category is related to their representation in the field, all handicap categories win in reasonable proportion to their entry i.e. Category 1 and Category 3 players typically comprise 8% and 40% of a
club competition and in a ‘single class’ competition win 10% and 38% of the time.
• This would suggest that handicapping is acceptably fair and equitable throughout the handicap range.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I had this explained to me for first time at the weekend, blimey - what a change. The way it was describes means that I won't have a handicap as such - but will have one based upon the best 8 of last 20 rounds played, and then adjusted for the course I am to play based upon it's Slope Rating.

Hmmm. Can see my handicap fluctuating quite a bit.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

I had this explained to me for first time at the weekend, blimey - what a change. The way it was describes means that I won't have a handicap as such - but will have one based upon the best 8 of last 20 rounds played, and then adjusted for the course I am to play based upon it's Slope Rating.

Hmmm. Can see my handicap fluctuating quite a bit.

Yes you will have a handicap - it will be called your Handicap Index and is the equivalent of your current Exact Handicap. This will change as the make-up of your best 8 from 20 changes.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Yes you will have a handicap - it will be called your Handicap Index and is the equivalent of your current Exact Handicap. This will change as the make-up of your best 8 from 20 changes.

Does it not also get changed according to the Slope rating of the course you are about to play? So that if I find myself playing a course with a low course rating my handicap will go up - and vice versa - and indeed my handicap around my 'home' course may very well be different to my Handicap Index?

 

[Capella]

Does it not also get changed according to the Slope rating of the course you are about to play? So that if I find myself playing a course with a low course rating my handicap will go up - and vice versa - and indeed my handicap around my 'home' course may very well be different to my Handicap Index?

Yup, that's basically how it works. Like in the EGA system now, you have a handicap index, a kind of baseline, and then a playing handicap for each course (or rather each set of tees) you play. The difference can be quite severe, especially for higher handicappers. For example, my handicap index is -32.5 at the moment, but at my home course I play off -37. So your handicap is lower for an easier course and higher for a harder one. Normally you find a table in the pro shop or on the score card of courses which have the CR, SL rating, telling you what your playing handicap is according to your handicap index. Or you can calculate it with a formula (which I am too lazy to look up right now, but it is not overly complicated)

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Does it not also get changed according to the Slope rating of the course you are about to play? So that if I find myself playing a course with a low course rating my handicap will go up - and vice versa - and indeed my handicap around my 'home' course may very well be different to my Handicap Index?

Yes when you play off a specific set of tees they will have a slope rating. You use your Handicap Index to calculate your Playing Handicap for that set of tees.

So you will have a different Playing Handicap for each set of tees on your course - could be higher of lower depending on rating.

 

[HughJars]

Actually it doesn't. How many cat 1 golfers come in with net 62 or below? Yet almost every medal you get a higher handicap coming in with a result like this. I played an open last season with a 17 handicap how had a gross 78!

I'm sorry, but it does. Results analysed by the SGU
/CONGU and they show the lower the handicap, the more likely you are to win the medal. Yes less really freakish results, but equally when the weather isn't perfect it's almost always a low guy that cracks it on the day.

https://www.scottishgolf.org/wp-content/uploads/Myths-and-Misconceptions1.pdf

 

[Fish]

Yup, that's basically how it works. Like in the EGA system now, you have a handicap index, a kind of baseline, and then a playing handicap for each course (or rather each set of tees) you play. The difference can be quite severe, especially for higher handicappers. For example, my handicap index is -32.5 at the moment, but at my home course I play off -37. So your handicap is lower for an easier course and higher for a harder one. Normally you find a table in the pro shop or on the score card of courses which have the CR, SL rating, telling you what your playing handicap is according to your handicap index. Or you can calculate it with a formula (which I am too lazy to look up right now, but it is not overly complicated)

The one question I failed to ask or heard mentioned when I went to a workshop presentation with the R&A and USGA, was, how will it all start?

Will we all have to put 3 cards in again to get a baseline new handicap or will we be simply -16 etc based on our existing handicap and then once 20 rounds have been played, start to see the movements as they analyse 8 from them, or.......

 

[nickjdavis]

The one question I failed to ask or heard mentioned when I went to a workshop presentation with the R&A and USGA, was, how will it all start?

Will we all have to put 3 cards in again to get a baseline new handicap or will we be simply -16 etc based on our existing handicap and then once 20 rounds have been played, start to see the movements as they analyse 8 from them, or.......

I went to a workshop a couple of weeks ago....basically they will use your existing last 20 scores at the "end of 2019" to determine your starting index under the new system based on the best 8 of those 20.

 

[Fish]

I went to a workshop a couple of weeks ago....basically they will use your existing last 20 scores at the "end of 2019" to determine your starting index under the new system based on the best 8 of those 20.

Thanks, that'll get me a few more shots :smirk:

 

[fundy]

Thanks, that'll get me a few more shots :smirk:

youve already decided what youre gonna score at the end of 2019

 

[HughJars]

I went to a workshop a couple of weeks ago....basically they will use your existing last 20 scores at the "end of 2019" to determine your starting index under the new system based on the best 8 of those 20.

Oh dear, so basically the US system with a tweak or two. Social games count? gtf with that nonsense.

The Congu system is far better than this, but you just knew the USGA would hold sway. Disappointing to say the least

 

[pinberry]

Oh dear, so basically the US system with a tweak or two. Social games count? gtf with that nonsense.

The Congu system is far better than this, but you just knew the USGA would hold sway. Disappointing to say the least

Social games are social games, you are not forced to enter a score. You can still go out and play with your mates without keeping a score etc. This new system just gives you the possibility of entering a qualifying score outside of competitions, which is what CONGU allows already. A lot of fuss for nothing

 

[nickjdavis]

Oh dear, so basically the US system with a tweak or two. Social games count? gtf with that nonsense.

The Congu system is far better than this, but you just knew the USGA would hold sway. Disappointing to say the least

Absolutely not.

Social games will not be included as a "mandatory" requirement. Neither will 4BBB, matchplay or other forms of non singles competition golf. Whatever you've heard (folks in general....not you specifically) about being able to submit a score where "gimme's" are given or "estimating what your score might have been had you not picked up"....its wrong. Scores that count for handicap purposes must be played under competition conditions.

The WHS is being developed to take into consideration the needs of all SIX current handicapping authorities around the world....from the US's prevalent "social golf" needs, the Australians predominantly 4BBB formats to the UK's "competition needs". Various aspects from each of the systems will be incorporated into the new WHS. It is clear from the presentation that was given that the EGU has had a loud voice when representing the needs/concerns of UK golfers during the development of the system.

If anything....the new system is closest to what the Australians use, rather than the Americans, and as I understood it from the EGU presentation, the Australians will be implementing the WHS towards the end of 2018 as it is sol close to the system they currently use.

 

[Old Skier]

Oh dear, so basically the US system with a tweak or two. Social games count? gtf with that nonsense.

The Congu system is far better than this, but you just knew the USGA would hold sway. Disappointing to say the least

More based around the Australian system which is why they will fully implement it next year and not 2020 like us, and when in 2020 may be a movable feast.

Untill the R&A rule on exactly what "Competion Golf" actually means what cards are automatically accepted/used is still a grey area but as to social golf, players will have the option at any course to nominate that round as a counting card in the same way as supplementary cards must be nominated now.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Absolutely not.

Social games will not be included as a "mandatory" requirement. Neither will 4BBB, matchplay or other forms of non singles competition golf. Whatever you've heard (folks in general....not you specifically) about being able to submit a score where "gimme's" are given or "estimating what your score might have been had you not picked up"....its wrong. Scores that count for handicap purposes must be played under competition conditions.

The WHS is being developed to take into consideration the needs of all SIX current handicapping authorities around the world....from the US's prevalent "social golf" needs, the Australians predominantly 4BBB formats to the UK's "competition needs". Various aspects from each of the systems will be incorporated into the new WHS. It is clear from the presentation that was given that the EGU has had a loud voice when representing the needs/concerns of UK golfers during the development of the system.

If anything....the new system is closest to what the Australians use, rather than the Americans, and as I understood it from the EGU presentation, the Australians will be implementing the WHS towards the end of 2018 as it is sol close to the system they currently use.

The key is that only Appropriate Scores will count. However, all these need to be registered PRIOR to play. Thus a social game, played over a measured course under normal competitive conditions can count in the same way a supplementary score counts today.

As has been said - must be singles based.

 

[SGC001]

Sandbaggers paradise, ideas like appropriate tees with percentage of handicaps, slope rating and bogey rating have so much potential but 8 of 20 is too open to abuse.

 

[HughJars]

Thank you all for the corrections above

Sandbaggers paradise, ideas like appropriate tees with percentage of handicaps, slope rating and bogey rating have so much potential but 8 of 20 is too open to abuse.

Got to agree with this as well, your handicap could should up dramatically and quickly under this system. As I don't play at all usually Oct-Mar, I tend to start season slowly, I can see me rocketing up by the start of June every year under this system.

 

[NWJocko]

Sandbaggers paradise, ideas like appropriate tees with percentage of handicaps, slope rating and bogey rating have so much potential but 8 of 20 is too open to abuse.

If you read a bit more about it there's a constraint in the calculation based around you're lowest handicap in last 12 months (I think) to avoid this type of "management" of handicaps :thup:

Played with a mate from Oz recently who explained it, tbh not going to be too much difference in terms of what cards are used for handicapping, just the Slope adjustments etc will be the big change rather than SSS (although most people tend not to look at SSS rather than par when playing away)