World Handicapping System
The Handicapping & Competitions Committee will publish information here as the introduction of WHS in November 2020 draws closer. Please review these resources as they provide basic background information on what the WHS is, how it works, and how it will affect you, as well as following links on this page some resources may become available as PDF downloads at the bottom of the page.
From November handicap calculations will be performed on the England Golf website, to do this they need to store some of your personal data which will be maintained and held on their website, read their statement here to see what is held and how they will ensure it is kept private.
The new World Handicap System will be rolled out in Great Britain & Ireland on 2nd November 2020. From that date your handicap will be based on the average of your best 8 scores from the last 20 rounds, and will vary depending on the difficulty of the course being played, as described below.
In terms of day to day playing, to be honest not too much changes, you will need to know your Course Handicap before you start each round as this changes dependent on which course & teeing areas you are using, but during the round and following it no changes, just enter your score into the PSI system in the Clubhouse as you do currently and you will be notified of any change to your Handicap Index overnight.
1. Course Rating & Slope Rating
Course Rating replaces Standard Scratch (SSS) and represents the score that a scratch golfer is expected to achieve on the course.
Slope Rating is the relative difficulty of a course from a specific set of tees for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer, as described on the Course & Slope Rating page.
2. Acceptable Scores
Singles Competition Rounds and Social Scores in Authorised Formats may be submitted for handicap purposes, as described on the Acceptable Scores page.
3. Handicap Index
A measure of a player's demonstrated ability calculated against the Slope Rating of a golf course of standard playing difficulty, as described on the Handicap Index page.
4. Course Handicap & Playing Handicap
Course Handicap is the number of handicap strokes a player receives before Handicap Allowances, on a specific course and a specific set of tees.
Playing Handicap is the Course Handicap adjusted for any Handicap Allowances. It represents the actual number of strokes the player gives or receives for the round being played.
See the Course & Playing Handicaps page.
5. Transition Handicaps
In order to move from CONGU to WHS handicaps, all players' current Handicap Records will be reprocessed using the WHS principles, as described on the Transition Handicaps page.
6. Definitions
New terminology explained on the Definitions page.
