Please direct any questions to our handicap secretary – Stu Keen.
Overview
The purpose of this section is to explain the society handicapping rules. The World Handicap System (WHS) was introduced in November 2020, replacing the old CONGU system. Further information can be found here.
For Society members that don’t belong to a club our traditional handicap system will be used. This makes use of a modified version of the WHS, mainly around the area of handicap adjustments. Each player has a Handicap Index which is held to one decimal place (eg: 17.3). The Society Handicap Index maximum limit reflects the current WHS maximum of 54.
Note: None of the sections below apply to Ampfield Par 3 course except for the final section “Ampfield Information”.
Establishing a Handicap Index
Three cards must be submitted to the Handicapper. These cards MUST be for Medal or individual Stableford rounds and must be marked and signed by someone with a valid handicap. The Handicapper will scrutinize these cards and allocate a handicap index. If you would like an explanation of the process, please contact the Handicapper who will, no doubt, be pleased to explain it to you!
The Society assigns a handicap index to be used in ALL society events. This may not be equal to your golf club handicap index, but experience shows that if a player is active in both society and golf club events they tend to be close. It is quite common for the society handicap index to be significantly less than a golf club index and usually indicates that the player supports one activity at the expense of the other or has won several events – if your club index becomes lower than your society handicap by more than one shot you should tell the handicapper. A players society handicap index will always be used for society events.
Calculating a Playing Handicap
A Playing Handicap recognises the difficulty of the course being played and is a calculated using the slope rating of the course, the players Handicap Index and the Handicap Allowance (based on the type of competition being played).
First of all, the players Course Handicap is calculated by dividing the course slope rating by 113 and then multiplying the result by the players Handicap Index.
For example, if the course slope rating is 124 and players Handicap Index is 19.2, then the Course Handicap is ((124 / 113 * 19.2) = 21.1 (rounded to 1 decimal place). The Playing Handicap is now calculated by multiplying the Course Handicap by the Handicap Allowance for the format of the completion being played (see this link for competition allowances). So, for example, for a stableford competition, which has a Handicap Allowance of 95%, the Playing Handicap will be 21.1 * 0.95 = 20 (rounded to a whole integer).
Handicap Adjustments
The Society will continue to use the old CONGU system for handicap adjustments, for those members that don’t have a WHS handicap, excepting that the course “par” will be used for Competition Scratch Score (CSS).
These are made to the EXACT indexes and will only change playing handicaps under the rule for rounding. Adjustment will be made after all society events when stroke play rules apply – ie: individual events which are MEDAL, STABLEFORD, or BOGEY competitions. The adjustment is based on a player’s score relative to a CSS, described in the next section. The following cases can arise:
- The players score is worse than CSS by 3 or more shots, points, or holes; the exact handicap increases by 0.1 subject to the maximum. Cards marked as “No returns” usually fall in this category.
- The players score is in the “buffer zone” – 0, 1, or 2 shots worse than CSS; the exact handicap is unchanged.
- The players score is better than CSS by N shots; in this case it gets complicated! – the exact h/c is decreased by NxP where
| P | RULE | DESCRIPTION |
| 0.1 | if exact h/c <= 5.4 | category-1 players |
| 0.2 | if 5.5 <= exact h/c <= 12.4 | category-2 players |
| 0.3 | if 12.5 <= exact h/c <= 20.4 | category-3 players |
| 0.4 | if exact h/c >= 20.5 | category-4 players |
If subtracting NxP causes the exact h/c to cross one of the dividing points (5.4, 12.4, 20.4) this is allowed for by notionally applying the decrease one shot at a time and using the table above.
On society days after EACH of the 2 rounds – the rules above still apply, unless the event is a single 2-round competition such as the WorldMark Cup. In this case decreases take effect immediately after the end of the competition.
You may send ANY signed card to the handicapper for consideration for DOWNWARD adjustment, who will normally oblige. No adjustment will be made to society handicaps for rounds played over handicap in non-society events.
This rule allows the handicapper to adjust handicaps based on “general play”. It is not used very often but the following 2 cases have been used in the past.
- A player established a handicap by the usual means (3 cards) but later results showed that this handicap was inaccurate. A new handicap was established based on the “later results”.
- When an improving or an in-form player’s handicap increases to x.5 and this would cause the playing handicap to increase – the recent past can be considered (say 6 events) and if that player has played to handicap x, or better, on more than one occasion the increase is postponed by rounding the exact h/c to x.0.
If a lady is a member of a Golf Club and has a club index she should use this in Society events. Otherwise, the same rules will be applied as for men but with the maximum index allowance being 54. Courtesy shots are to be defined as the difference between Mens par and Ladies par.
- Shots are to added before any handicap calculations (i.e. 3/4 etc.) are made.
- Ladies MUST play off the MENS card (ignore Ladies card completely).
Ampfield Information
Ampfield is not part of the England Golf Union (EGU) scheme and don’t use the WHS handicapping system, but operates a system similar to that before used before 1983 with a maximum of handicap of 18 for men & 27 for women. For the society events Ampfield handicaps are allocated by multiplying exact handicaps by two thirds and then rounding in the usual way. In competitions at Ampfield, Ampfield members should use their club handicaps if applicable.