A modern handicap system for all golfers everywhere.
The World Handicap System
Golf’s new World Handicap System, which is designed to bring the game of golf under a single set of Rules for handicapping and provide a more consistent measure of players’ ability between different regions of the world, remains on track for implementation starting in 2020.
The governing bodies of amateur golf in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are licenced to operate the for the new World Handicap System (WHS) which will come into operation on November 2, 2020.
The World Handicap System; explained
If you have a current CONGU handicap, you won’t need to do anything.
WHS software will provide your new Handicap Index by calculating the average of the best eight scores from your last 20 rounds.
If you are new to golf or don’t have a handicap at this stage, you will need to submit scorecards amounting to 54 holes.
From those an initial Handicap Index will be provided.
This will be altered when 20 scores have been submitted to deliver a fully developed Handicap Index.
This is the key number in WHS.
It’s calculated from an average of the best eight of your last 20 returned scores.
When a new score is submitted, the Handicap Index is automatically recalculated and updated at the end of the day’s play, ready for use the following day.
Maximum Handicap Index is 54 and a player must be a member of a club to obtain one.
There will be caps in place – soft and hard based on a player’s lowest Handicap Index in a one-year period.
If a player’s handicap goes three shots above the low index, further rises are reduced by 50%. (Soft cap.)
If a player’s handicap moves 5.0 strokes above the low index in a 12-month period, it cannot rise any further. (Hard cap.)
Two calculations are made – Course Rating and Bogey Rating.
Course Rating is how many strokes a scratch golfer (someone with a Course Handicap of 0) should take on that course.
Bogey Rating measures playing difficulty for a bogey golfer (someone with a handicap of roughly 20 for a man and 24 for a women).
Knowing these two ratings allows WHS to determine the difficulty of the course and to produce a Slope Rating for each set of tees which allows all golfers to work out how many strokes they will receive on a particular course – Course Handicap.
At a course where all players compete from their Handicap Index, Slope Rating is 113.
Every club should have clear signage displaying Course and Slope Rating for every set of tees.
A player will then cross reference their Handicap Index with the table to find what their Course Handicap will be.
They then go out and play to that number.
To calculate your Course Handicap yourself, find the Slope Rating and divide by 113, then multiply that by your Handicap Index.
No! Although a recreational round can be counting, you will have to select to pre-register before teeing off if you want it to.
If you haven’t pre-registered, a score cannot be submitted.
A singles competition score or pre-registered social score from a course and tee that has a Course and Slope Rating for your gender, played to singles medal, Stableford, Par/Bogey format.
No. Counting scores must be completed with at least one other person.
Yes. The system includes a “Playing Conditions Calculation” that looks at how all players who have entered a score on a course have performed on that day, compared to their expected performance.
At the end of each day’s play a Playing Conditions Calculation will be made by the system.