It’s been nearly two years since golf’s new World Handicap System (WHS) came into effect at golf clubs across the country and many of us are still getting used to it. There’s no doubt that for a large majority of women the system has dramatically changed their handicap. I’m playing with club golfers who have seen a handicap increase of 10 shots or more. Although this is a reflection of their average and often inconsistent play, in my opinion it is certainly not indicative of their ability.
I witnessed it first-hand this summer, playing in many opens at clubs around the country, team competitions and matches. Historically, such fun away-days would be won by an impressive score of 40-something Stableford points (brilliant, but not unachievable), or perhaps a super net score in the mid-sixties in a medal, but I witnessed winning scores of 50 points and more.
One team competition I played in, aptly called the ‘champagne scramble’ because the victorious team gets six bottles of bubbly, was won with an outrageous 56 points. These aren’t isolated cases. I’ve spoken to women at clubs from Scotland to Skegness and they all have stories of events won at their clubs with incredible, some might say unthinkable scores.
Just last month I played in the medal at my home course Parkstone in Dorset and shot a very respectable two-over-par 72, a couple under my course playing handicap of four. In years gone by I would have been in contention to win with a net 70, or at worst been one or two shots off the pace. The week in question the winner had a net 60. I finished 10th.
As a low single figure handicapper I simply cannot compete with these scores. I play in two qualifying competitions a week and I’m pretty consistent off my handicap so it hasn’t changed dramatically. I started the year off 3, it crept up a bit after a run of poor scores in bad weather, then came tumbling back down again to my 2022 low of 2.6. Yet I’m playing with women who I know are decent golfers, who spent years playing in the silver division (off a handicap of 20 or below) and are…
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