Golfers in Ireland have told their governing body they believe handicapping “currently favours higher-handicapped players”.
That was the “strong sentiment” shared by players and golf club administrators following a second series of post-season tracking surveys carried out by Golf Ireland.
Almost 5,000 golfers responded to a player questionnaire, while 171 of 376 affiliated clubs took part in a survey where a male and female official answered on behalf of the club.
Golf Ireland also revealed that a “formal decision” has yet to be made on whether to continue a pilot scheme that gave clubs the power to alter handicap allowances.
But they said the nine-month trial had seen “broadly positive impacts”.
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Golf Ireland said while they were collating data, with the aim of publishing it in their Annual Report, they were “happy to share the following broad trends”.
They revealed: “There is a strong sentiment among both golf club administrators and golfers themselves that handicapping currently favours higher-handicapped players.
“Roughly half of Irish golf clubs have implemented a change in handicap allowances in 2025, with a significant majority of those clubs who haven’t continuing to express an openness to doing so in future. A number have also reported that they are seeking the views of their members at their AGMs.”
What have Golf Ireland said about the World Handicap System pilot?
The governing body have been trialling a project agreed by Golf GB&I, which replaced CONGU in administering the World Handicap System in the four home nations.
The pilot scheme allowed club committees to alter the way they implemented the Playing Handicap in singles competition and fourball stroke play, Stableford and V-Par events.
The Playing Handicap is a golfer’s Course Handicap adjusted for any allowance in competition formats. Since April, Irish clubs in singles events were able to keep the current allowance of 95%, reduce it to 90% or 85%, or increase it to 100%.
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In fourball stroke play competitions, they could maintain the current allowance of 85%, reduce it to 80% or 75%, or increase it to 90%.
Subject to its success, the other home nations were set to adopt the pilot next year. But we reported England Golf decided “after careful consideration and consultation” to postpone “any adoption of changes to Playing Handicap Allowances until 2028, in line with the wider WHS review cycle”.
Looking at the pilot results, Golf Ireland said “roughly half” of those clubs who had brought in a change reported it having a “significantly positive effect in both making winning scores more achievable and equalising any perceived inequity against lower handicappers”.
They added: “Most others, meanwhile, reported that any changes encountered were minimal. However, general feedback among all respondents here was much more likely to be more positive than negative.
“A small cohort felt it was too early for them to assess the impact of the change, but in the meantime they are happy to continue with the changes.”
The governing body continued: “There is little or no indication that clubs who have adopted the change would be more inclined to go back to the mandated allowances, should the option to continue with the discretionary allowances be available to them”.
But with England Golf already having announced they will make no changes before 2028, there is obvious speculation about the pilot’s future.
Golf Ireland said: “No formal decision has been made on whether to continue with discretionary handicap allowances as we wish to discuss the findings of the pilot with the other GB&I Unions, The R&A, and also internally with our national Handicap Committee.
“However, we are pleased to note the broadly positive impacts of the pilot, and the manner in which golf clubs have dealt with the change in guidance provided on this matter since April 2025.”
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Now have your say
What do you think about Golf Ireland’s survey? Should the pilot scheme there be implemented in the rest of Great Britain in 2026? And what can governing bodies do to shift the belief that handicapping currently favours higher-handicappers? Let me know in the comments, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com, or get in touch on X.
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