HANDICAP ADVISOR NOTES - februaRY 2024

​2024 WHS™ Update Resources (englandgolf.org)
 
The WHS system is having an up date on 1st April 2024, most of your Handicap Secretaries have attended a workshop with England Golf to talk them through the changes.
The above link is where you can find full information about the changes and how they will work.
 
How will they affect you the player?
 
Your Handicap Index and how it is calculated is not changing, how it will be converted to a Course Handicap and then a Playing Handicap in competitions is;

Course Handicap (CH) is going to have + Course Rating – Par added to the calculation. 
If your Par is lower than your Course Rating you will receive extra shot/s, if Par is Higher you will lose them.
This will mean we will all be playing to our Par not CR, so in a stableford competition everyone will be aiming at 36 points to play to handicap. 

Playing Handicap may change because the unrounded CH will be used to apply the Handicap Allowance and then it will be rounded up. Before 1st April we rounded up twice. 
Your rounded up Course handicap will still be used for General Play Cards, and in stableford competitions you should still putt out to your full course handicap for your handicap index calculation.

4BBB scores will now be qualifying scores, although for most of us these will not be included in your handicap index calculation.  Only those pairs with 42 points or more will be looked at, the player with 9 or more counting scores will have an expected score calculation done and then if it is 36 points or better then a score differential will be added to their handicap. 
There is a document showing how this is done in the link above.
 
Expected Scoring when N/S (not started) is used, either because a hole is closed, you have been taken ill or the course closed. Note N/S is not the players choice. Or because you are playing a 9 hole competition the missing scores / back nine will have a different calculation applied. Previously it was net par, now it will be dependent of the difficulty of the hole, the players ability, how the other holes have been played, so it can be different for everyone. This is a “closed calculation” WHS will apply automatically.
 
4BBB Matchplay -  The Handicap Allowance stays at 90% but how it is applied has changed back to pre WHS.  The Full Course Handicap is calculated for everyone then the lowest player gives 90% of the difference between them and the other players in shots at the appropriate Stroke Indexed holes.
 
Course Rating -  Shorter courses can now have a Course Rating and Slope calculated, 1500 yards for 18 holes or 750 yards for 9 holes.
 
Standardising Par -  If you have a hole where the par is different because of the length of the tees you can select the par that is most commonly used and use that par for all tees. It is not recommended across genders, but can be done if you want. The CR-PAR calculation will compensate for the change in Par. Recommended you do this before 1st April 2024.

Link below is a players guide to the rules of handicapping.
Master Version - 2024 Player Reference Guide on the Rules of Handicapping (englandgolf.org)
 
There is a lot of information on the England Golf website, some of it does take a bit of finding!
 
Janet Fear
Handicap Advisor.
​​HANDICAP ADVISOR NOTES - JANUARY 2023

Following our WHS Presentation in January, Martin Olive (SGU) & I have been looking at the Penalty Score and Deleted Score Intent reports for last year for all clubs.

Some of the results were shocking and I think shows a need for an education at club level about General Play scores.
It also showed us that some clubs do not have a Club Handicap Committee or access to the WHS Platform is restricted to just one or two people.  So that is our challenge for 2023.
 
Key points about General Play scores - 
  1. Must be pre- registered before playing either using an App or via the club.
  2. Must be on a Qualifying course – check with your Pro before playing.
  3. A score MUST be submitted unless there is a very good reason.  Note, we can see the reason you have entered!! RAIN is not a good reason. We seem to have lots of fair weather golfers in Somerset.  If you have not completed all the holes it can still be submitted.
  4. Submit your score using the same method you used to register, otherwise you could get a penalty score for the unused method.
 
If you do not put the score in an auto penalty will be applied, the sum of your course handicap + the course rating of the tees you played from. Note, we can see these too!!
 
The clubs handicap committee, which should be a minimum of 3 people mostly members, should be watching these reports and contacting players.
 
Want to know more about WHS?    World Handicap System - England Golf
​
Janet Fear
County Handicap Advisor