Changes To WHS and Handicapping Being Introduced on 1st April 2024
You may well be aware of changes that are coming to the WHS handicapping system in Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) on 1st April 2024. It is part of a worldwide WHS update that was introduced on 1st January 2024 but is being delayed in GB&I to allow time to make people aware of the changes.
The main difference you will notice at Arscott will be before your round starts. At the moment you use the boards on the outside of the clubhouse to work out your course handicap. Two of the changes that are coming will mean that the current boards will become obsolete on 1st April and we will be bringing in a new method (yet to be determined) to enable you to work out your course handicap and your playing handicap. The changes are (1) the introduction of “Course Rating minus Par” (CR-Par) and (2) rounding up only done once at the end.
1. CR-Par At present the calculation that gives you your course handicap from your handicap index is Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating/113). From 1st April (CR-Par) will be added to this calculation and this will mean that, for handicapping purposes, you will be playing to the par for the course and not the course rating. Practically, if the par of the course is lower than the course rating then you will receive extra strokes. If the par is higher then you will lose strokes.
For example, on the white tees, the course rating is 71.4 and the par is 70 so you will see 1.4 shots added to your course handicap. On the red tees, for the ladies, the course rating is 71.8 and the par is 71 and so you will see 0.8 added to your course handicap. From 1st April 36 stableford points will mean you are playing to the par of the course. Additionally, it will make the organising of strokes received in mixed gender events a lot easier in the future. A video to help explain this change can be viewed at:
2. Rounding At present the calculations to obtain your Playing Handicap are rounded twice, once when working out your course handicap and then again when applying a playing allowance (e.g. 95%). From 1st April this rounding up will only happen right at the end of the calculation, when you obtain your playing handicap.
Other Changes
There are other changes which are summarised in a PDF from England Golf which can be found at:
The ones most likely to affect players at Arscott are:
3. Use of “Expected Score” to correct for holes not played. This could be to (a) round a 9-hole score up to 18 holes; (b) correct for a hole not played or (c) to allow a round not completed (but above the minimum number of holes) to be used for handicapping. Practically this will be done automatically in the computer when you enter your score as a change to the software calculation. A video to explain more can be found at:
4. Four-ball Scores become acceptable for handicap purposes This will only be in competitions and several criteria must be met. The following infographic will help to explain further:
https://static.whsplatform.englandgolf.org/clubs/1000-1/uploads/whs/four-ball-scores-infographic.jpg
We are still working on how the changes will be introduced and will keep you updated as we approach April. Lastly, more information can be found on the England Golf website at: