7 months in, how do you like the new World Handicap System?

[Pete Lavallee]

We allow those over 80 to play from the green tees, everyone else is off the whites. We no longer need to put a bucket of ice water by the 18th green for the seniors to dip their 3 wood in after the round. Seems a very democratic accommodation.

[jeffwarne]

The knowledge Jeff Warne dispenses here is directly responsible for one of my top 15 all-time career highlights as a golfer. I also think it was a discussion of Goat Hill that triggered my #1 all-time GCA Discussion Group highlight, the legendary "Vastidous Horse Shirt" thread. To be clear, I would play in any tournament he handicapped, and would never ask him to show his math.

Lots of gems in this thread, and I think I learned something


Which brings up a whole separate category..
The Goat handicap-which is totally arbitrary, and decided by the Commissioner, and errs on the side of severly slashing handicaps-especially for hose who can drive it reasonably and have a hint of imagination.
That said, if the Goat is even CR'd and sloped, I would like to see how close the "assigned" handicaps are over the years as I have dozens of cards from over the years I have kept for their sheer art value alone.


Would love to know of your top 15 career highlights, and the one for which I am responsible.


JK quote is spot on about golf trips and sandbaggers
"I'm just a golfer who uses the new system every day. I thought moral sandbagger was a kind way to describe gaming the old system.I think it hilarious that a guy who is killing it on a long golf trip could see his handicap go down from day to day. As the modern golfer goes from private club member to destination resort guest this is a perfect system."

[John Kavanaugh]

Jeff,


At our two day net club championship we would have had a different champion if handicaps were adjusted after the first round. It was an interesting controversy when the pro had to declare that the handicap on Saturday would also be used on Sunday. As can only happen in net tournaments none of this was brought up until the guy who would have won lost in a playoff.


Just a heads up for your future events.

[jeffwarne]

Jeff,


At our two day net club championship we would have had a different champion if handicaps were adjusted after the first round. It was an interesting controversy when the pro had to declare that the handicap on Saturday would also be used on Sunday. As can only happen in net tournaments none of this was brought up until the guy who would have won lost in a playoff.


Just a heads up for your future events.

Ha!
yes, that's when it always comes up.
I had a guy who missed qualifying by a shot, call a rule on a guy (whose card he had kept) an hour after they all had finished, as a means to get himself in.
he was jubilant when I DQ'd the offender--a bit less jubilant when I DQ'd him as well for knowingly agreeing to waive a rule......

[Ulrich Mayring]

One marked difference to all previous systems is the hard cap rule. Basically, if your lowest handicap in the last 12 months was 15, then regardless of how bad you play, your handicap cannot go over 20 (low handicap plus 5 shots).
This is somewhat funny, because it means that the better you are as a player, the worse you are allowed to get within a year.

[Mark Mammel]

The biggest difference is getting less on the course; in the old system an 8.8 would get 8, now they get 7.


I’ve yet to see a differential changed due to course conditions. Your differential is computed when you post and I assume it would change at midnight should the course play easier or harder.


I still am confounded as to why US golfers must post scores for casual rounds? Are UK golfers posting casual rounds?

The reason we US golfers post casual scores is that the USGA mandates that ALL scores be posted. If you play 7 holes, a 9 hole score must be posted, with your score + handicap strokes on the unplayed holes. Ditto 18. The change for us in this area is that solo rounds can no longer be posted. The USGA and R&A/UK clubs have always had differing opinions about this; the USGA believes this decreases sandbagging- which of course it doesn't. Some clubs inform members that if they are on the tee sheet and don't post, a score of even par will be added.
Silly? yes.

[Jason Topp]

Seems ok but now when someone asks me my handicap I have no idea how to respond.


I like how the adjustment in course handicap give the player a decent idea of what a good score is on a particular course for particular tees. 


I seem to spend the entire first hole fiddling with the app to figure out strokes for a particular match.   

[Lou_Duran]

JT,


When asked, I just provide my handicap index.  If someone persists, I state that my handicap would be higher on a course with a high course ranking and slope, and lower if these are the other way.  If they keep pushing, I tell them what my handicap is from the tees I generally play.  So far I haven't had to show them how to make the calculation manually, not that I can remember from the top of my head.

[Garland Bayley]

...
I like how the adjustment in course handicap give the player a decent idea of what a good score is on a particular course for particular tees. 
...

This was always possible. Now you add your handicap to par. Before you added your handicap to the course rating for the tees you played.

[SL_Solow]

Rule 6 of Rules of Handicapping.  Course Handicap calculation   Course Handicap = Handicap Index X Slope Rating divided by 113 plus course rating minus par.  When asked for your handicap, best response is to give your index unless you have the data to figure the course handicap

[Rob_Waldron]

I like the app which provides current handicaps for my group of regulars as opposed to the twice per month calculation.
What I do not like is the fact that only the best 8 of the last 20 scores count as opposed to 10 scores. Subsequently only 40% of the scores count towards a handicap versus 50%. It still takes 20 rounds to get rid of an infrequent low round. Under the system a rare low score has significantly more impact than the more frequent high scores.

[Ken Moum]

."

BTW Jeff, re. one of your posts from last week.  Under the old rules, you were supposed to adjust handicaps for players playing from different tees by the difference in course ratings.


IOW, you'd get their handicap for the tees they played, then if the course ratings were 68 and 71 you'd adjust the playing handicap by three, just as you described.


It wasn't something random, there was a formula.  But every time I tried to get anyone to do it there was a HUGE argument that basically boiled down to, "Well, my handicap was set from those tees, why do I have to give up three shots?"


Where I've been playing in the winter, they started doing it a few years ago (before I joined) and it was apparently controversial. Now, the system does it automaitcally.


Even in the Monday/Wednesday/Friday game i play in, one guy figures he scores the same from white and blue, so he plays the blues. No one else does. He's much longer than anyone else in the group, and probably right about his scoring.