World Handicap System - WHS
All About Slope
Find out what Slope is, how it's calculated and how it affects players, just click below.
Slope Chart
Go to this link to see the Slope Charts for CFGC
Important: Ensure you choose the correct Slope Chart. At CFGC the Red course is rated for women, the White and Yellow courses rated for men. When playing at other courses where tees may be rated for both men and women there will be sepparate Slope charts for each on the same tee.
Competition Handicaps
When it comes to handicap allowances for competition play under WHS not much has changed. Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) has updated its guidance in the latest edition of its handbook, but confusion still exists for many players.
WHS covers this in four main groups, general play, qualifying competitions, where individuals play against the course, matches where players play against one another and team formats.
First, some definitions, a player's Index is an exact handicap used with slope charts or the formulae "Exact(Slope/113)" to determine the player's Course Handicap(CH) which is rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. A Course Handicap is for general play.
In competitions, a player's CH will change by the application of handicap allowances changing to a Playing Handicap.
Where players play from different tees in the same competition Adjustments to CH are needed to compensate for a difference in difficulty between tees, based on each Course Rating (CR). The exception is mixed foursomes, where each team comprises of one man and one woman, in which case each side cancels out the other with no need for any CR adjustments. The handicap allowance is half the combined CH.
Note, all adjustments and allowances are to the player's rounded Course Handicap not their Index.
General Play, previously social golf, including Supplementary Cards, the latter is now a scorecard returned for handicap purposes from a general play round as part of the players running total of 20 cards, full course handicap(CH) applies. Follow the link below for a full listing of Competition handicap allowances.
Qualifying competitions, individual stroke-play, such as medals, stablefords and par/bogey, where players play against the course. Playing Handicaps are 95% of the player's course handicap. In formats or matches against others, singles match-play remains full handicap, with the difference in handicap between players, being the number of strokes given to the higher handicap player. Fourball Better Ball Match-play playing handicaps are 90% of CH with strokes taken from the player with the lowest handicap.
Handicap allowances and adjustments are set-out by the Committee in the Conditions of Competition.
Equity, Being Fair
Golf handicapping is about being fair, more so when players in the same competition play from different tees. Follow this link to see how handicaps are adjusted.
Handicap Index & Course Handicap
In WHS there have been some significant changes in player handicap management, not least the way it enables players handicaps to be adjusted to match the difficulty of a course.
First, new terms:
Index, a player will have a handicap index based on their performance from the best 8 scorecards of the last 20 cards submitted. Your index will be shown to one decimal place. As your index varies with performance you will be notified of any changes. It's important to keep an eye on your index as this will have a direct effect on your course handicap. Your Index is used in conjuction with a slope chart to determin your Course Handicap.
Course Handicap is what you play-off on the course for general play. To find this check your index against the slope chart for the course you are going to play. All Clubs will have slope tables convienently displayed. CFGC Slope tables can be found on this website under the WHS menu. Competition rounds are subject to handicap allowance restriction, for example Individual Stableford is 95% of Course Handicap.
How to find your INDEX go to the England Golf website at this address https://www.englandgolf.org/my-account/ and either create an account or open your existing account. For new accounts you will need your unique CDH number. To find your CDH number log into the Members Hub on this website or Club V1 and select handicap certificate. Your CDH number is displayed on the certicate in the top left corner.
Enter this as your Member ID and a password of your choosing. This site will then present you with your handicap INDEX and show your recent playing history. All Done! Now you're set for golf under WHS.
World Handicap System
Preparations in England have been underway since 2014 with more than 2,500 clubs being re-measured and "Rated" to the WHS standards. In the weeks prior to the launch of WHS members will have received their new handicap INDEX which they will use in conjunction with Slope charts to find their Course /Playing Handicap. See other posts on this page on how to find your INDEX.
Follow the links below from the BB&O and Englad Golf on the new handicap system. If you have any questions or queries about WHS, please contact the Golf Committee.
Rules of Handicaping in WHS
Follow the links to two documents from CONGU on Handicapping under the new World Handicapping System.
Handicapping Rules and Advice on Handicapping