It has been 18 months since the introduction of the World Handicap System (WHS) for golf clubs in England. During this time we have all had to get used to calculating handicaps in a new way and adapting our understanding of how it all works. With this in mind, the committee have received some emails in the first half of the season about how to calculate the correct handicaps in matches along with what is the maximum hcp / shots allowed? Therefore, the committee feel it would be good to summarise the following.

To calculate the correct handicap and shots in 4BBB match play, there is a handicap and shot calculator on the website but failing this then the following applies. You take the players Handicap Index and convert this to there Course Handicap using the slope rating. You then take 90% of your Course Handicap which gives that player there Playing Handicap. You then take the full difference from the lowest handicap player in your match to give the shots allocated. Please note: there is no limit on the amount of shots a player can receive.

 The league does operate a maximum handicap for each division and this is based on Handicap Index and can be found in the constitution but starts at 10.0 for Division 1 and goes up in 2.0 for each division. For example Division 2 is 12.0, Division 3 is 14.0 etc.

Apologies if this information is not new to you but as mentioned due to the number of emails received along with personal experience of teams not working the HCPs out correctly, the committee felt that this email would help to clarify.

Ryan Sainsbury.