The WHS became effective 2 November 2020 and this will change how golfer handicaps are calculated, based on their historical play and on the course/tees that they will play off. The following provides a concise summary of the factors affecting your handicap on a given day at a given course/set of tees. For more detailed explanation refer to the either Golf England website or find further information under the WHS section of our website. England Golf are now responsible for storing all players scores and calculating a players Handicap Index every time a round score is submitted
Course Rating replaces Standard Scratch (SSS) and represents the score that a scratch golfer is expected to achieve on the course.
Slope Rating is the relative difficulty of a course from a specific set of tees for a bogey golfer (course handicap approximately 20 for male & 24 for female) compared to a scratch golfer. A course with long carries, narrow fairways, lots of hazards and thick rough will have a high slope rating because these features are more of a challenge to bogey golfers. The Slope Rating can be anywhere between 55 and 155. 113 is the neutral value that is used in handicap calculations. The St Neots Golf Club Slope Ratings are for men, white 127, yellow 124 and ladies red 125.
All 9 hole and 18 hole Singles Competition Rounds in Authorised Formats must be submitted for handicap purposes, subject to the competition being played to the Rules of Golf and over the measured length of the course. Scores from team competitions, match play and mixed tees are currently not be acceptable, although this may change in the future.
The recommendation from England Golf is that ALL scores from general play, whether it be organised or not (societies, swindles and roll-ups) , in authorised formats are submitted.
Players must register their intent to submit a general play score for handicap purposes before starting the round, do this via the terminals in the Competitions room and Pro Shop or via the HowDidiDo Today’s Golf or mobile app. A score card must be submitted as a hard copy and contain the signature of the person marking the card.
Retrospective submission of intention to submit scores will not be accepted.
A Handicap Index is a measure of a player's demonstrated ability calculated against the Slope Rating of a golf course of standard playing difficulty. It represents a golfer's playing handicap on a course with a Neutral Slope Rating of 113.
It is calculated as a rolling average of the lowest 8 from the last 20 score differentials.
The Course Handicap for a player is the number of strokes that a player will receive based on their handicap and the specific course and specific set of tees they will be playing on a given day.
To achieve this, each player should on the day of play:
1. Establish their current handicap index. The easiest way to do this is to check via your England Golf account or on HowDidiDo that the club uses for score submission purposes.
2. Establish what their course handicap is for that day on the course/tee that they are going to play. To make life easier for players, they do not need to know the specific Slope Rating and/or Course Rating; simply cross-reference their handicap index against the pre-prepared Course Handicap Tables that are available next to the first tee or via the club website or a golfing application.
3. Go and play your round of golf
Once your round is finished please enter your score into the system either via the Howdidido app. or the PSI terminals in the club and hand in the hardcopy signed scorecard . This will generate a new Handicap Index by the end of the day to be used for your next round.
Please note the Course Handicap must be recorded on your scorecard and the card deposited in the relevant box.
The Pro Shop will not enter scores from scorecards handed in, these are for record purpose only.
WHS brings a few changes from competitions run under CONGU previously as follows.
1. Handicap Allowance :-
For singles strokeplay or stableford events, a Handicap Allowance of 95% of a players Course Handicap is used to calculate that players Playing Handicap, this will be done automatically by the software and is displayed when signing-in. Adjustments are made to a players score after a player has entered their gross score for the round.
For pairs strokeplay or stableford events, the handicap allowance is 85% of each players Course Handicap, again this is handled by the software and the playing handicap for each player is displayed at sign-in.
For singles matchplay events, the allowance is calculated from Course Handicap, e.g. for a competition
with full allowance where the golfers A & B have course handicaps of 5 and 15 respectively, golfer B will
receive 10 shots over golfer A.
For pairs matchplay events, a Handicap allowance of 90% of Course Handicap is now used as before e.g. in a doubles match where golfers A,B,C & D have course handicaps of 5, 12,17 and 21 respectively, player A is the reference and the other golfers take 90% of the difference between course handicaps rounding up or down to nearest whole number. E.g. player B will receive 7x0.9=6.3 rounded to 6, player C will receive 12x0.9=10.8 rounded to 11 and player C will receive 16x0.9 =14.4 rounded to 14
For Greensomes, the handicap allowance for a pair is 60% of low handicap player Course
handicap and 40% of the high handicap player course handicap.
For Foursomes ,the handicap allowance for a pair is 50% of the combined Course Handicaps of both
players
For Texas Scrambles the following percentages are used, 25, 20, 15, 10 % from lowest to highest Course
handicap.
2.No Returns (NR) :-
For Handicapping purposes, a players score will be calculated from a minimum of 10 holes fully completed, the remaining no score holes will be credited with nett Par+ 1 stroke, for the first , and nett Par for the remainder in order to calculate the players new Handicap Index. If a minimum of 14 holes have been played then the remaining holes are credited as nett par.
A player regularly submitting scores for uncompleted rounds may be subject to disciplinary proceedings if they do not have a valid reason for completing the round.
Reasons for not completing holes Being:-
Fading light or bad weather,
Player injury or illness,
A match finishing before the final hole or
A hole being declared out of play by the Committee for maintenance or reconstruction purposes.