New Post #21

Hi Friends

I’m not talking about putting this week. I’ve done enough of that recently.

Today I want to have a look at the World Handicapping System - and more specifically Slope rating.

For those golfers in England, WHS was implemented under the cover of a COVID coloured landscape back on 2nd November 2020. It promised to unify all golfing nations and make it easier to maintain an accurate reflection of your current playing ability - I’ll leave you to be the judge of if that goal has succeeded.

We now all have effectively 3 handicaps -

Our exact handicap Index

Our Course handicap 

And then lastly and only when playing in a competition our playing handicap.

The difference between your course handicap and your playing handicap is simply the allowance for the format of play you are undertaking - e.g. the 95% stableford allowance.

Calculation for a stableford comp,

Course Handicap x Handicap Allowance = Playing Handicap

Anyway

Some people aren’t interested in the detail of handicapping and to be honest I bored myself typing it.

Not a great way to get engagement in a newsletter!!

The point I want to get across is……..Who the hell decided that “Slope Rating” should be a thing???

Well I’ll tell you who, this guy,

Doesn’t look very trustworthy to me.

Dean in his infinite wisdom decided to design a system giving higher handicappers more shots. In my experience that is basically what the Slope rating seems to do.

So what exactly is it?

Slope rating is the (alleged) difference that “bogey” golfer would score around a golf course compared to a scratch golfer. 

Dean basically cooked up a lot of statistics (Lies, damn lies and statistics) that he worked into an algorithm that is then used to rate courses.

We never needed it prior to WHS, but all in the name of progress I suppose!!

Right, back to lying on a couch talking to my therapist and I know what subject we can start on…………………………….……yep Slope ratings!

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