World Handicap System Now Out (2020)

[Golfingdad]

19 minutes ago, natureboy said:

It makes sense as golf is evolving to be more of a global game.

The daily adjustment almost seems like it would be an incentive to keep an official HCP (if low is your aim) as you will get a little help on bad weather days.

I originally thought that as well, and similarly, there will be help on days when there are a lot of tough pins or whatever.  But it goes the other way too ... when tees are closed for maintenance, then you're playing shorter holes a lot of times, and that will factor in the other way.

It'll probably all balance out.

[natureboy]

10 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

I originally thought that as well, and similarly, there will be help on days when there are a lot of tough pins or whatever.  But it goes the other way too ... when tees are closed for maintenance, then you're playing shorter holes a lot of times, and that will factor in the other way.

It'll probably all balance out.

I think a day with high winds is going to play with your scores more than slightly shorter holes, but could be wrong. Given that conditions like that tend to be rarer, you're probably right about balancing out.

[Artbij]

What organisation sanctions these guidelines? And is also EGA joining this hcp sytem?

[imsys0042]

I think this is all great in concept.   A good round under tougher course conditions technically gives you a slightly better differential, so that is reflected in your handicap.  And a horrible round under more favorable conditions is also registered thusly.  Therefore it better identifies how you did using the total scores for the day.  

I doubt it changes peoples' actual indexes much though.  I think it all evens out.  Maybe a tad either way.  Interesting to keep using he old formula concurrently when it goes into effect and see what impact, if any

[Shooting29]

This adticle just popped on my newsfeed. There are no specifics other than the governing bodies are coming together to make one system. 

World Handicap System in the Works
http://www.usga.org/articles/2017/04/world-handicap-system-in-the-works.html

@iacas, any specifics on how this might differ from what we currently have?

[iacas]

@Shooting29 I merged your post.

[iacas]

It still surprises me how little play this is getting among golfers.

[MacDutch]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

It still surprises me how little play this is getting among golfers.

For me thats because there seems to be no info on how this system will work.

 

[DaveP043]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

It still surprises me how little play this is getting among golfers.

When I mention this to my friends, most of them seem unaware of any impending changes.  In fact, quite a few of them don't even realize that there are other handicap systems being used.  Even among avid golfers, players who have maintained a handicap for years, many have very little understanding of how the system works.  They'll only start to pay attention after the changes are made, and then they'll simply complain that its different, and therefore its unfair.

[iacas]

5 hours ago, MacDutch said:

For me thats because there seems to be no info on how this system will work.

I don't know about that.

[MacDutch]

The Dutch golf federation stated a draft will be presented by the end of this year. Till then not much to discuss I think.

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

The Dutch golf federation stated a draft will be presented by the end of this year. Till then not much to discuss I think.

I think there's a good amount of information out there about this.

Course ratings and slopes will be the basis, just as with the USGA's system. The best 10 of 20 will still be the standard. The course rating and slope will automatically be adjusted slightly to account for the conditions (i.e. if a statistically significant number of people all score better or worse than expected that day, the ratings will fluctuate a bit, for bad weather, an easy course setup, etc.). Solo rounds will continue not to count, tournament rounds will continue to have a little extra weight…

The system is heavily based on the USGA's system, so there's a LOT of information out there about it.

[MacDutch]

14 minutes ago, iacas said:

I think there's a good amount of information out there about this.

Course ratings and slopes will be the basis, just as with the USGA's system. The best 10 of 20 will still be the standard. The course rating and slope will automatically be adjusted slightly to account for the conditions (i.e. if a statistically significant number of people all score better or worse than expected that day, the ratings will fluctuate a bit, for bad weather, an easy course setup, etc.). Solo rounds will continue not to count, tournament rounds will continue to have a little extra weight…

The system is heavily based on the USGA's system, so there's a LOT of information out there about it.

Tried to google, but could not find anything.

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

Tried to google, but could not find anything.

It's still internal and not a ton has leaked or been made super public, but I just told you a bunch of information.

• http://www.usga.org/articles/2017/04/world-handicap-system-in-the-works.html
• http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2017/04/19/usga-ra-develop-single-world-handicapping-system
• http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/usga-ra-developing-world-handicap-system/
• http://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/10843017/ra-and-usga-announce-plans-for-single-world-handicap-system
• http://golfweek.com/2017/04/20/golf-handicaps-usga-ra-world-system/
• http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/notice-board/golfs-governing-bodies-planning-world-handicap-system-132547
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-handicap-may-finally-go-global-1431732136

[Shindig]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

It still surprises me how little play this is getting among golfers.

I've been out of it for a while.  I just read this thread this morning and I like it.  The daily rating changes sound great.

As for the goofy pin positions someone mentioned, we have one of them on my home course.  There's a pin position for #5 that is goofy on approach shots, especially for handicaps over 6 or so that shoot at it and end up in a really bad spot.  We use it for the second day (of three) of the Club Championship and I can't recall ever seeing it otherwise.  I probably pick up a stroke on my flight by going for GIR or n-GIR on that hole that day.  

In any case, I welcome golf being more modern.  I don't agree with all of the changes for the "modernizing" rules (see Flagstick Rule at the top of TST), but I like the idea of recognizing that we can, in nearly real time, determine how tough a course was that day and account for it in handicaps.  I think I saw that slope ratings are staying the same, so we can still figure out how many strokes we need for a match or net contest. 

[MacDutch]

28 minutes ago, iacas said:

It's still internal and not a ton has leaked or been made super public, but I just told you a bunch of information.

• http://www.usga.org/articles/2017/04/world-handicap-system-in-the-works.html
• http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2017/04/19/usga-ra-develop-single-world-handicapping-system
• http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/usga-ra-developing-world-handicap-system/
• http://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/10843017/ra-and-usga-announce-plans-for-single-world-handicap-system
• http://golfweek.com/2017/04/20/golf-handicaps-usga-ra-world-system/
• http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/notice-board/golfs-governing-bodies-planning-world-handicap-system-132547
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-handicap-may-finally-go-global-1431732136

Yes, the info you gave is new to me. But I could not find anything in the links you gave that supports what you wrote. They all say there will be a new system and that there will be a draft end of this year. No specifics like you gave.

So there you got your reason why there was not a lot to discuss. But we can discuss it now 

Looks as if it's a lot like the USGA system. And it is a lot different from the EGA system (that is the basis for my hcp). I think its better, because it is based on recent scores. If I would play 20 rounds in a row like a 36 hcp, my current hcp would only drop 2 points.

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

Yes, the info you gave is new to me. But I could not find anything in the links you gave that supports what you wrote. They all say there will be a new system and that there will be a draft end of this year. No specifics like you gave.

Well, be fair now… those details are right here in this topic, too. The first post says rating and slope, with daily adjustments.

14 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

Looks as if it's a lot like the USGA system. And it is a lot different from the EGA system (that is the basis for my hcp). I think its better, because it is based on recent scores. If I would play 20 rounds in a row like a 36 hcp, my current hcp would only drop 2 points.

Yeah, they're pretty slow moving and you can improve a lot before your handicap even sniffs catching up.

[Valleygolfer]

Up until recently the information required for handicap assessment would rarely be available at my course. We are just now getting it passed to roll the greens a few times a week and post the stimp daily, which I am really excited about.