Your New WHS Index

I agree with your last paragraph there. I think your right.

On the point another poster made re casual rounds and the affect in respect of low amateur utilizing the rules to their benefit to massage a lower handicap - I just can't see how we can take casual rounds seriously. They really shouldn't be held in the same regard as counting scores in competition and the affect they have on handicap index.

It strikes me as something we've taken from the states. Should we allow gimees and mulligans next? Coz ye know, just because ?

I was the one who mentioned low handicappers using casual rounds to achieve a plus handicap and gain entry to championship. To take it a step further I've heard about one particular +3 guy and a lot of his casual rounds are for 9 holes, played on what's seen as a very scorable 9 in comparison to the other 9 on his home course. The system I believe when calculating automatically gives you 18 points for the nine holes you don't play, so he just plays the handier nine in under par and then takes the automatic 18 points for the tricky nine where he might potentially throw in a couple of bogeys.

I don't believe casual rounds should count in any form, it's not even close to the bit of pressure you'd be under when playing well in a proper competition and trying to hold a score. And I think allowing 9 holes scores is ridiculous. It's like saying you could decide in a GAA/rugby game at halftime that you're winning so you won't bother playing the second half

The rules changed last year for the elite amateur events. If an entrant has more than 4 general play scores in their 20 counting rounds then their handicap will be reviewed.

If it is found that their general play scores are 2 shots better than their competition scores then the handicap will be adjusted upwards for the purpose of gaining entry to the competition.

It's pretty easy to follow tbh. If you look at the course rating and par for the tees you're playing then you'll have a fair idea.

As a general rule for most people: Course rating > par = you get shots. Course rating < par = you lose shots.

If the course rating = par or is very close to par, you should have the same number of shots as previously.

In my club the Blues are giving shots to people, the Whites are almost 95% staying the same and the Yellows are taking shots away.

Rating based on scratch golfers.

We are not that good .

Handicap golfers are as likely to play well/poor on any course no matter how hard it's rated.

every few days I might open Holf Ireland App and it tell me there is a new update

I click on download

It send me to the App Store and no option to update, just open

iPhone……. Anyone else getting same,

Just on the changes to WHS I have come across something which may cause some confusion. I think I read somewhere that the following is true, but I can't find supporting documentation. Can somebody please confirm or deny & preferably link backup. The GI page of the changes doesn't seem to mention this.

Previously your course handicap was rounded before applying any changes to get to your playing handicap which was then rounded also but now there is no rounding until you work out your playing handicap

I assume this goes for everything such as

>Singles @95%

>Fourball @85%

>Foursomes @50% of combined

>Scotch @60% low & 40% high

I haven't done a deep drill into it but I would guess that most of the time it makes no difference, but sometimes it does.

Eg my own HI of 14.8 gives me a home course rounded course handicap of 16 as per the chart. So if I am playing fourball 85% of that is 13.6 so 14.

But actually my course handicap works out at 15.5097 and 85% of that works out at 13.18 or 13.

I realise the computer will do most of the work, but a lot of the time you come across comps where the printer is broken or something like that and you don't get a sticker. Sure the sticker I git the other day just had numbers on it where I'm pretty sure in the past, it actually specified which was the CH & which was the PH.

I'm guessing this could cause a lot of confusion if people use the charts to look up their handicap and work out their playing handicap. But if somebody is playing match play, there are no stickers and you have to work it out yourself.

Here is another Foursomes example.

Course handicaps are is 12.57 & 15.51. Is it 50% of the combined of these (28.08/2=14) or 50% of ((13+16)/2)=14.5 to give 15???

to much to read through now, but at a quick glance that looks to be a useful document, thanks @paulos53

thanks for your input and I guess that makes sense.

however my old man is looking after some club teams and it seems he was asked to calculate based on exact for one particular scotch foursomes team…. this is contrary to what you are saying (which makes sense) he didn't have full details though so will have to investigate more into that

anyone else notice the golf Ireland app now has a stupid banner running through the middle of your scores to click for the latest news

It’s annoying and stupid

i also get a pop up add sometimes when I log into the app…. And add for GI which I just have to hit x top right hand corner

what are they at??????

Recently had my first 4BBB that counted for my GI handicap. My understanding is that you take 90% of each handicap, the lower handicap player gets assigned the gross score for hcap purposes and the higher gets assigned the gross score + the handicap difference.

As it happened, it didn't make such difference (my counting score was 1 shot lower than my individual score would have been) but you could see cases where it could be very penal if one of the pair was not contributing. For example, if one player didn't contribute at all and the other played really well.

What are peoples thoughts on it?

I think you're mixing up with a matchplay situation (90% allowance) or the foursomes calculation for the overall team handicap (50% of team's total course handicap).

For standard 4bbb, your individual playing handicap = 85% of your course hc. So for example a course 11hc = playing 9hc (rounded). So you play off 9 and the best score of the pairing on a hole is what will "count". In principle, you're still playing yourself against the course albeit with a reduced hc.

One of the lads in my club had two good 4bbb scores (prize wins) so he's dropped by a shot as a result. This is great tbh. We all know the story of why is X not being cut for this?

On the other side of it, if someone plays poorly then don't get a bad score on their record. Because WHS didn't account for 4bbb in the past, some people would have done a general play card (rightly or wrongly). Now they shouldn't be doing that as the 4bbb now has it's own criteria.

Amen to that !! I want a world where your actual number of shots taken is your score 😀

Count yourself lucky, its one more than we have in our place !😁😁

I suppose in fairness, we probably wouldn't have half a dozen guys 5 or lower, well, maybe half a dozen or so. There probably wouldn't be much more in the 6-10 range either, less than 20 I'd say. Makes it easy to argue against a gross prize.

Its interesting though, with WHS, I see so many of the mid to high handicap players who have gained 2, 3, 4 or even more, shots with the new system (which seems to be fairly common across the board), I'm also seeing guys who would have always been, say in the 12-14 range and you hear they're now off 8 or 9. The voice in your head is kinda going "how ?". Guess it comes down to changing our longheld understanding or belief of what an X handicap should be.

Not too relevant for most people joined a club in my opinion as if they look at their last 20 counting scores, it is probably 90% are from their own club.

I got a + handicap in the last year, I am nowhere near that level, for me the issue for lower players is their 7th/8th scores are still consistent & if there is one really good score then you are not moving much.

To verify that I was not going made, I took my last 20 scores at the time using what would have being the CSS off whether it was white/blue, etc tees and the +1 in the new system was close to 2 in the old system.

I agree that they are not the same, I mentioned earlier that I would see scratch index roughly as the equivalent of a 2 handicapper under CONGU rules, also I know a 0.0 index could be scratch up to 4 handicap based on the course & tee markers that you play.

My point is for the course I am joined and most of the courses in my area that are popular, a 0.0 index is usually scratch off the whites and you might get to 2 off the blues though usually one.

In the old system CONGU rules, if I shot level par off the whites it would be 36pts, usual CSS was 38pts so it would be 0.1 back, now it is a score that returns an index which keeps you around scratch index.

The point I tried to make earlier is that when I got to -1.0, I took the 20 scores that accounted for that index, I used the CONGU system and the usual CSS and it brought me to 2 handicap where -1.0 index in my club is +1 off the whites and scratch off the blues.

This is what I do not find consistent, the same 20 scores on the old system gives me a 2 handicap whereas on the new system it gives me an index of -1.0 which gives me a playing handicap of either +1 or scratch depending on whether it is blue tees or white tees.

Consistent is the last word I would think of when comparing both systems:)

Is there anyway to download your score history from GI website or Masterscoreboard? want to do a bit of analysis and rather than manually plugging them into excel was wondering if they could be pulled from somewhere.