It’s the clubhouse drama that keeps on giving and it’s been a busy few weeks for watchers of the World Handicap System.
The R&A launched an awareness campaign in Great Britain & Ireland reminding players of their responsibilities under the Rules of Handicapping as they look to combat manipulation.
Executive director of governance, Grant Moir, explained why it works slightly differently in different parts of the world and the adoption of Course Rating minus Par in the home nations marked its first anniversary.
Our postbag has been brimming with your views on the controversial system and we’ve had so many responses that we’re printing what you’ve said here…
What have you been saying about the World Handicap System?
How can we stop people manipulating WHS?
The R&A said golfers who deliberately manipulated their handicaps were cheats, with Moir arguing the practice was “frankly unacceptable”.
He added the governing body didn’t think it was “many golfers abusing the system to try and gain an unfair advantage” but added if only a small number did it could “impact the enjoyment of competition golf and it impacts negatively on the perception of WHS.”
Kev emailed to say: “Handicap manipulation through General Play Cards is the biggest gripe at our club. R&A are correct this is “cheating”.
“However, a simple way to at least curb this would be to limit the amount of GPC (general play cards) per player to 3 in a rolling year.
“In the case of new joiners looking to get a handicap this could be raised to whatever the Club match and handicap committee feel appropriate. In the case of my club this is 5 cards.”
Jeff added: “Nice to see the R&A taking an interest. I think they could have been a bit more pro-active by stating some of the things you can’t do, rather than just asking you to play by The Rules of Handicapping (which I suspect the majority of golfers have never opened).
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“For example, they could explicit state that you shouldn’t put a GP (general play) card in from team events (e.g. best 2 of 3) or from 4BBB.
“I suspect this is being ignored every weekend as it’s a very popular format. It’s virtually impossible for a handicap secretary or committee to police this aspect.”
He continued: “The mathematical side of WHS handicaps is much better and fairer than the old CONGU system, it’s the ease of GP score input and lack of rigour that gives the system a bad name.”
Scott wrote: “In my view a handicap is intended to allow players to “compete” against others. A casual round with nothing at stake does not require a handicap to create any form of equality with others.
“The general attitude of players is likely to vary depending on what is at stake at the end of the round. Therefore I believe that handicaps should reflect the relative abilities of players in a competitive situation and “general play” scores should not be included in any assessment of handicaps.”
Meanwhile, John argued: “I have yet to speak to a seasoned golfer who says that WHS has improved the golfing experience at their club.
“Each one has said that if they can’t shoot 43 points or a net -7 in competitions, they haven’t got a chance of winning anything.
“What happened to you only play to your handicap 4 times a year? It’s a car crash that the governing bodies won’t hold their hands up to and say we have made a mistake.”
Global differences in the World Handicap System
On The NCG Golf Podcast, Grant Moir, conceded that without regional variations to WHS found in different parts of the world – such as Most Likely Score in the United States – it might not have been possible for the new system to get the buy-in it required to get off the ground.
John said: “All handicap authorities must gravitate towards adopting exactly the same system and make possible the recording of scores directly from wherever in the world you are playing.
“At the moment you still can’t do that in the UK so we haven’t even got a fully integrated British system let alone a World one.”
Brian wrote: “I think if it’s being called the World Handicap System, then it should be played and used as such for every golfer worldwide, and not gave slight variations of this dependent where in the world you play.”
Eric had a similar view, saying: “I have played for 55 years, of course all countries should be the same. My personal opinion of this system is that it’s wide open for the bandits.”
And Brad, who is a member of a club in the UK and in Spain, explained he had two WHS indexes. “The different rules between countries means my WHS calculation differs,” he said.
“In Spain category 1 handicaps can only submit one non-competition round per month but in the UK I submit most rounds, competition or friendly as I believe this is how the system is designed. Complication!
“In Spain if you submit a medal competition no return your handicap automatically goes up 0.2!”
Course Rating Minus Par
I analysed the impact of Course Rating minus Par, which was a substantial change to the World Handicap System brought into golf in GB&I in April 2024.
David wrote: “I’ve got no problem with this change, BUT…. The question of whether the course rating is accurate or not is one that I’m yet to be convinced on!
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“It’s a subjective calculation undertaken by volunteers who can interpret the guidelines as they see fit, so that’s the real problem with the calculation…are the CRs correct?”
Meanwhile, Andy added: “I think the main problem with course rating minus par is that is not pro rata to the handicap. A 2 shot swing obviously has a greater difference to a 4 handicap player as it does to a 14.”
And Martin said: “Totally agree that GB&I made a mistake by introducing WHS piecemeal. They themselves realised this most recently by adding CR-Par into the calculation.
“Of course they should have done it all in one go. And yes, it is only a matter of time before they allow 4BBB match play scores to count (which btw is a sure cert as many players are already doing so – even without an Expected Score being explicitly allowed).”
Now have your say
How does this stack up with your view of the World Handicap System? Do you agree, or do you have a completely different point? Let me know by email at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or by leaving a comment on X. We’ll discuss some of your views in a future episode of The NCG Golf Podcast.
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