It’s been five years of rowing, arguments, and controversy – and that’s just the World Handicap System. Go back through golf’s history books and you’ll find the concept of giving other players shots, based on ability, has always sparked fierce debate no matter which method has been in place.
But should we have handicaps at all? How could you play competitions without them?
In a recent episode of The NCG Golf Podcast, Tom Irwin and I donned our tin hats and risked the wrath of the internet to discuss if handicaps are fundamental to golf as we know it, or if there was a different approach.
Should we look at how other sports deal with competitive action, do our existing arrangements just need to reflect the concerns of golfers, or is it all a storm in a teacup?
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Should we get rid of golf handicaps?
“I often think the handicap system just causes more problems than it solves,” said Tom on the podcast. “You’ve got this premise where people say, ‘but it’s unique to golf and it means anyone of any age or ability can compete against each other’.
“I get all that and it is definitely a hugely advantageous thing but that relies on the system being correct and it relies on calculating players’ indexes properly so they get over the line at the same time and it seems we can’t actually settle on a system that does that.”
I’ve played a lot of sports over the years which have had handicapping elements. All of them were set up for the purpose of competitive play. When I played league snooker, I had a ‘start’ for games, but that didn’t cross over to social games. We just decided that among us ourselves.
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It seems to me that the World Handicap System separates handicapping from competitions.
Governing bodies say golf needs to be accessible to all. One of the ways that can be achieved is through universal handicapping because it allows everyone to measure their progress.
Today you can submit scores outside of competitions. Prior to 2020, the only way you could really have a handicap in GB&I was by playing competitive golf.
General play has completely changed the narrative.
But, at least in the minds of some golfers in GB&I, the social and competitive elements don’t often mix well together. They feel like two rams butting heads. The authorisation of general play scores has led to allegations of manipulation.
If golfers were measuring progress through handicapping without entering competitions – in the same way as runners measure their times and personal bests with apps like Strava – there wouldn’t be nearly the controversy about WHS. It’s the competitive element, when those numbers are used to play in games with prizes on the line, that changes the equation.
So what to do about it? Taking the running example, where there are prizes and overall winners but competitors are also split into categories as a way of recording results, Tom suggested using handicap indexes simply to separate golfers into divisions.
“I think you maintain the concept of an index and we carry on submitting scores into our apps and we see our index move up on down on that basis,” he explained.
“Then, if we’re going to play in a club competition, rather than playing off a handicap we all play in a division. We have a nought to 10 index and those people play off scratch. We have an 11 to 20 division and those people play off scratch, and so on.
“It’s not impossible for a scratch golfer to lose to an eight handicap. I think it would happen more than you would expect.
“On the day they do it, the eight would be delighted – they’ve beaten a scratch golfer and they’ve done it off stick end. If your index goes lower or higher, you move division.
“I think that’s the best way of doing it. You’re put into a pot based on your index and then you play off scratch. That’s how you resolve club competitions, in my mind.”
When I suggested to Tom that the 10-handicappers – to take his example – might instinctively be aggrieved to find themselves going up against scratch players with no shots in the bank, he replied: “Benchmarking against yourself is the healthiest approach to take for any sort of sporting endeavour, because you can’t influence genetics.
“Someone may well be predisposed to just being better than you at jumping or running or hitting but what you can do is try and beat you.
“On your 10-handicapper point, they may well be angry about not winning this scratch league every week, but they’ll be really happy about being in it, won’t they?”
Now have your say on WHS
What do you think about Tom and Steve’s golf handicaps debate? Do you agree? What would you do? Let us know by leaving us a comment on X.
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