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Though not strictly Rules I am interested in hearing how the change is going on down there. Golf is in complete lockdown here and we only introduced WHS in November so not much playing experience. But the big issue is with so many people not being able to understand the difference between Course Rating and Slope.
Rather surprisingly, the changes from CONGU handicap values to WHS values hasn’t really been an issue.1 user liked this post.
Generally, it is widely understood and accepted.
But there are plenty who just want to bo told what handicap they’re playing off today and couldn’t be bothered with the technicalities.People say that nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
No championships worth mentioning in recent years.
Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.1 user liked this post.
A lot less big swing movements with the WHS, especially with the introduction of the ‘soft cap’. The thing I found strange (as did many others) was the 3 stroke change in handicap between the slope on the day. At my home course, midweek off whites on a slope of 130 with a scratch rating of 71 against par of 72 lose a stroke. Weekend off blues with a slope of 132 with scratch rating of 74 against par of 72 gain 3 shots
But I am one of those that just sees the daily handicap at the top of the scorecard and goes and plays. How it is worked out is inconsequential (and hurts my small brain) to me.When did WHS go live there?
30/1/2020
We had most of the WHS elements beforehand; slope, best 8 of 20, etc.
But Golf Australia (GA) like to exercise their muscle and toy with us.
We also had a 7% deduction in the calculated handicap. But, if my memory serves me correctly, that’s not part of WHS. So, GA added that back in as a local thing and apply it the playing handicap.
The adjustment for the difference between the scratch rating and par has also been a more recent change (part of WHS?).So, to get your playing handicap, one must ascertain your GA Index, (your ‘official’ or ‘published’ handicap,) then:
(GA × slope ÷ 113 + scratch – par) × 0.93You can understand why many just want to know the handicap number for today.
I appreciate the desire to have difficulty fairly evaluated between courses. But in the case of my local course usual men’s tees, the par is 71 but the scratch rating is 69. So the playing handicap is discounted by two strokes. Effectively, they are saying that two of the par 4 holes are only par 3s. Which two? All the calculations that go into rating a hole should result in a whole number. Either the hole is a par 4 or it’s a par 3. We aren’t scored for example 3.3 in playing a hole, we are scored on the number of strokes taken to hole out. Whether your last stroke was 10cm or 10m is not taken into account. So, why are the ratings done with decimal places?
Whinge over. At least it will make us more competitive for pennant.
People say that nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
No championships worth mentioning in recent years.
Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.
The .93 was moved from the original place to allow for the difference between stroke play and match play. GA and the USGA had a ‘bonus for excellence’ (.96 in the US) to compensate for the bias in stroke play favouring the higher handicappers. This has now been moved to the Playing Handicap calculation (95%) for competition result purposes. The Course Handicap is used for Handicap Index purposes.
However, contrarily, the stats for match play show that the lower handicapper will beat the higher capper more often than not. In fact 55% of the time. So no adjustment is made for match play.PS. Having reread your response I am now wondering if the GA version of the WHS manual is different from the USGA, European and CONGU (ie GB&I) versions. All of which have slight variations.
The USGA version says:
6.1a For an 18-hole Round
An 18-hole Course Handicap is calculated as follows:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating – par)
A Playing Handicap is calculated as follows:
Playing Handicap = Course Handicap x handicap allowance
The handicap allowance for stroke play being 95%Whilst the USGA and Europe say:
An 18-hole Course Handicap is calculated as follows:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating – par)CONGU says:
An 18-hole Course Handicap is calculated as follows:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating ÷ 113)We had our Course – Gardiners Run, rerated halfway through 2021, after the Low Markers at the club complained that the rating gave high handicappers too many shots off the Blue Tees, and was inconsistent with ratings compared to other Golf Courses in Melbourne Metro. The revised rating was introduced in Jan 2022.
Course is a par 72. To be fair the fairway bunkers are not deep and it is open and has very short rough through both first and second cut, under trees etc.
Scratch rating was the big change for White Tee and Blue tee(back tees) with the Whites now 67 down from 70 and the Blues down from 74 to 71. Slope rating didn’t change much at all.
With these changes to the scratch rating it’s now impossible to get a played to your handicap for 36 points off the whites tees.
I had 36 points playing off 17 from the White Tees a week ago and got a played to 19.5, my GA is out to 20.9 and I see no sense in it at all.The Superintendent has made subtle changes to the greens over the last two seasons, introducing more break in the greens through pin placements and improving the surface after coring, building up fringes etc. It plays harder some days, and scores have come down from mid 40’s to high 30’s now winning comps.
Meh. Rant over.NAGA
The new system means that if you play to 36 your played to on the day should be close to your GA handicap
It’s not mean to be that your played to matches your playing handicap on the dayScratch rating was the big change for White Tee and Blue tee(back tees) with the Whites now 67 down from 70 and the Blues down from 74 to 71. Slope rating didn’t change much at all.
Wow…. so you lose 5 shots off your handicap with the scratch rating of 67 against a par of 72. I would be quite chuffed with having 36pts no matter what the ‘played to’ ends up as under those circumstances.
With (par – scratch) taking 5 off players’ handicaps, the end result will be that all players’ handicaps will go out by 5 strokes, although it might take a year or more.
That raises two issues.
1. The club’s handicap pennant teams will have higher handicaps than they really deserve. Not so, some will say, this course is easier than par would suggest and this is an equaliser. But it actually works the other way.
2. When playing the course, players need to take one off the par on five holes and that becomes their target. So, which par 5s need to be treated as par 4s? Which par 3s need to be played as par 2s? And which 320m par 4s are now par 3s?
The golfers’ various abilities haven’t changed, so their handicaps will have to, in order to reestablish equilibrium.People say that nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
No championships worth mentioning in recent years.
Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity.
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