New handicap system

If you were doing a General Play score the 6 would be correct wouldn't it? the 95% is just to Limit the advantage higher handicappers will have when playing a high slope rated course i think.

The slopes you are right on they are way off. I have seen a couple of course rated at 95, and its a handicap builders dream. Shoot your handicap every single time you play, so 36pts, and your handicap will just keep trending up as the slope is so low, and the course rating is low. And the course is not that easy, it has some seriously tough holes, but lack of bunkers and water hazards has the slope and course rating low.

Do Golf Ireland have the slopes listed somewhere on their website, can seem to find any link etc

All rated courses are available in the WHS Course Handicap Calculator on the Golf Ireland app, but I don't think they have that information available on their site.

I mean in terms of their final gross score (actually it doesn't matter if someone was in single figures or not, really), but someone might be credited with lets say an 80 gross, but realistically it would have been 77 if they'd actually tapped in the three times they missed short putts for halves and picked up and simply entered a loss on the score card. Probably not a massive issue, but definitely something to be aware of.

I'm probably getting myself confused now ! 😀

What I mean is, lets say you have no shot on a hole, miss a short putt for par (and a half in V Par), and don't bother tapping in for a single bogey and just pick it up because its a loss in the competition. AFAIK you get the net double bogey on your gross score when you enter the loss or a 0 on the computer, whereas in reality you had a single bogey (albeit you didn't bother tapping it in), or if it was strokeplay you would have had a single bogey had you finished out. I'm not for a second suggesting that anyone get credit for a score they didn't finish out, just pointing out that if this was to happen 2 or 3 times in a round, as it could easily do, someone who didn't know to finish everything out would end up with a gross score a few shots higher than they "had". I realise that by not tapping in, "had" is probably the wrong word to use but you get the point.

I get what you are saying now. Vs Par would nearly need to be played as a stableford comp to avoid that.

yea but then people will think they have 40 pts when they could have only 39, unless the computer flags it when they enter the card

I think the reasoning behind the 95% makes sense, as it’s clear the higher slope ratings do benefit higher handicap players more.

Getting rid of it is a little drastic, especially when the problem is just poor education. I’m really surprised that so many golfers don’t understand the workings of WHS, it’s pretty simple and there is tonnes of online info but maybe GI need to up their game in communicating these type of idiosyncrasies.

im Not saying get rid of it as such. Totally agree it is there for a reason. But get rid of the reason. Ie come up with a better formula for calculating SD, HI, Slope etc.

even when people do understand it, they will still pick up. Some on purpose, some without thinking. What I’m saying about it being an American system which doesn’t work here is that the yank will stick himself in for the double instead of letting the computer stick him in for the net double!

this also goes for longer puts though, it’s not just a tap in for double, but the 5 or 10 footer. Which they just don’t bother having a go at

Just play. Your handicap will adjust itself. Hopefully you'll find that you play to 14 sooner rather than later.

The 'hoping for a handicap of' thing is often a bad way of saying it. Your handicap should reflect in some way, your scorecards (if they were legit anyway)

By right, if you hand in 3x cards of 100 strokes on a 72 stroke course, you should be given a handicap of 18-20 probably. 14 shows the handicap secretary (or whomever decided) isn't doing their job properly imo.

Can you post your record here. We can tell what the handicap secretary has done easily

Around 100 is very vague especially considering only one round counts, so 94, 106, 108 will get a very different result to 99, 100, 101

Former will be about 4-5 shots lower and depends on blow outs you have had

They gave him a 14 Hcap though. 16 as a ‘starting point’ is beyond cautious and kinda unfair

At least the new system allows it to even out quickly

Does it?

If he shot 28 over (if the course is 72 and he shot 100 in all rounds), his lowest is +28

Even with the adjustment it should be 16 etc

So your lowest score is +32 and they put you off 14. That's way off imo. Should be 18 minimum but maybe even 20/21/22

Mentioning your old handicap shouldn't come into the equation imo as you haven't had a valid one for 17 years (you probably should've just not mentioned it! haha)