5 Common Misconceptions About The World Handicap System

The World Handicap System (WHS) has been in place for four years (depending on where you live,) but there remains relatively widespread confusion over elements of its mechanisms.

Some complex calculations are implemented to deliver your Handicap Index and, unless you dive deeply to understand how those calculations function, it’s easy to be uncertain on exactly how the number at the top of your scorecard has been worked out.

At a basic level, WHS looks at your last 20 counting scores (if you have that many) and gives you a Handicap Index that is an average of the best eight Score Differentials within that 20. Less basic is how that score differential is worked out. It’s complicated. But thankfully the computer should do it for you. If you would like to have a go yourself – this is the formula:

Score Differential = (113/Slope Rating) x (Adjusted Gross Score – Course Rating – PCC Adjustment)

See... Not easy, and that demonstrates why there are so many misconceptions about the WHS. Here are five of the most common.

1. Your Handicap Shows Your Performance Against Par

If you play off a four handicap, that doesn’t mean you should always be playing rounds of four over par.

The key term here is, as mentioned above, the “score differential.” The R&A defines score differential as:

“The difference between a player’s adjusted gross score and the Course Rating, reflecting the Slope Rating and the playing conditions calculation. It is the numerical value attributed to a score achieved on a golf course on a specific day that is posted into the player’s scoring record.”

Different courses have different levels of difficulty. Four over par on a relatively easy parkland course is not the same as four over par on a windy Carnoustie. The score differential is designed to show your relative performance on courses of varying difficulty. Your handicap is based on an average of your best eight score differentials, not on an average of your best eight performances against par.

2. You Must Putt Out On Every Hole

Let’s firstly say, if you want to post a counting score in a standard “Medal” stroke play competition then you do have to putt out on every hole. But with regards WHS, it’s not necessary to do so.

If you’re putting in an 18-hole score, whether in a competition or as a General Play round, you have to start 10 holes according to the Rules of Golf. Meaning you have to put in a return (either a score or say that you started the hole but did not finish it) for 10 of your 18 holes within the Rules. Your score can then count towards handicap.

3. If You Don’t Finish A Hole, It’s Nett Par

Rumours abound that if you don’t putt out on a hole, then the WHS system will automatically always give you a nett par. That is not the case. When you’re entering your score after the round, and you put in “no score” for any hole, the system will give you two options.

You can either say that you played the hole but did not complete it, or that you did not play the hole. If you say the former – Perhaps you hit a couple of balls out of bounds or were heading for a big number, then the system will give you the maximum possible score for that hole – a nett double bogey.

If you say that you did not play the hole – Perhaps the hole was out of play due to maintenance work, that is when the system will give you a score of nett par.

4. Your Handicap Can Climb Without Check

In the clubhouse you will hear people bemoaning opponents in matches whose handicaps have seemingly climbed exponentially in an unchecked fashion during the course of a season. But there are actually caps.

There’s a soft cap and a hard cap. A player has a low handicap index – the lowest they have been in the last 12 months. If a player’s handicap index goes three shots above their low index, the soft cap kicks in and reduces further increases by 50%. The hard cap comes at five shots above the low index. If a player’s handicap gets to five above their low index it will not increase further. So, a player’s handicap cannot increase by more than five strokes in any 12-month period.

5. There’s No Allowance For Weather

In this country, we fondly remember CSS – Competition Standard Scratch – which used to allow for challenging weather conditions. Many lament it’s passing. But WHS does have a system in place to allow for tough weathers… Playing Conditions Calculation or PCC.

At the end of each day, a PCC takes place automatically to determine if scores made at the course were significantly higher or lower than expected.

If they were, a PCC adjustment of between –1 and +3 is applied to calculate you score differential, as per the super complicated formula in the introduction.

There’s one caveat – At least eight scores must be submitted for a PCC to be calculated. So, if you complete a round in a howling gale and are one of only two or three to get a card in, then you won’t get your PCC allowance. Harsh.