The World Handicap System (WHS) has been in place for four years (depending on where you live,) but there remains relatively widespread confusion over elements of its mechanisms.
Some complex calculations are implemented to deliver your Handicap Index and, unless you dive deeply to understand how those calculations function, it’s easy to be uncertain on exactly how the number at the top of your scorecard has been worked out.
At a basic level, WHS looks at your last 20 counting scores (if you have that many) and gives you a Handicap Index that is an average of the best eight Score Differentials within that 20. Less basic is how that score differential is worked out. It’s complicated. But thankfully the computer should do it for you. If you would like to have a go yourself – this is the formula:
Score Differential = (113/Slope Rating) x (Adjusted Gross Score – Course Rating – PCC Adjustment)
See… Not easy, and that demonstrates why there are so many misconceptions about the WHS. Here are five of the most common.
1. Your Handicap Shows Your Performance Against Par
If you play off a four handicap, that doesn’t mean you should always be playing rounds of four over par.
The key term here is, as mentioned above, the “score differential.” The R&A defines score differential as:
“The difference between a player’s adjusted gross score and the Course Rating, reflecting the Slope Rating and the playing conditions calculation. It is the numerical value attributed to a score achieved on a golf course on a specific day that is posted into the player’s scoring record.”
Different courses have different levels of difficulty. Four over par on a relatively easy parkland course is not the same as four over par on a windy Carnoustie. The score differential is designed to show your relative performance on courses of varying difficulty. Your handicap is based on an average of your best eight score differentials, not on an average of your best eight performances against par.
2. You Must Putt Out On Every Hole
Let’s firstly say, if you want to post a counting score in a standard “Medal” stroke play competition then you do have to putt out on every hole. But with regards WHS, it’s not necessary to do so.
If you’re putting in an 18-hole score, whether in a competition or…
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