With the USGA announcing changes to its handicap system this week, the revisions — while very specific and taking effect on Jan. 1 — should be viewed in the bigger picture.
And the bigger picture in this case is the World Handicap System — or whatever other formal name it may take — that is expected to take shape by the beginning of 2018, eventually making all the handicap systems uniform across the globe.
Right now, there are significant differences among the systems overseen by the world’s six handicapping authorities, which means that a 10-handicap player in the U.S. might be notably different ability-wise from one in, say, Australia. But the handicap system changes announced Monday by the USGA are another step toward uniformity. (To read more about the six revisions to the USGA handicap system that will take effect on Jan. 1 — along with the 2016 edition of the Rules of Golf — CLICK HERE.)
Gerry Brown, the CGA’s director of course rating and handicapping since 2001, thinks the changes likely to affect the most people are: no longer allowing a golfer playing alone to post a score for handicap purposes; no longer allowing a player who makes strokes while anchoring a club to post the resulting score for handicap — unless applying the appropriate penalty; and narrowing the definition of what qualifies as a tournament score.
Other changes deal with adjusting hole scores, posting scores when a player is disqualified, and committee responsibilities.
The CGA administers handicaps for the state of Colorado, and currently, more than 43,000 Coloradans have their handicap indexes issued by the CGA, according to Brown.
“(These changes are) kind of just fine-tuning the current USGA system to be more in line with what the World Handicap System will be when it’s unveiled,” Brown said.
That will likely be in about two years, with the plan being that the USGA, and the handicapping authorities representing Great Britain and Ireland, and continental Europe, adopt those standards at the beginning of 2018. Then it’s hoped that the world’s other handicapping authorities will come on board within two years after that.
As Brown noted this week, the change about golfers playing alone no longer being able to post scores for handicap purposes as of Jan. 1, will likely affect the most people.
“A lot of golfers play by themselves for whatever reason — whether it’s practice or they can’t find someone or they don’t have time to put together a foursome,” Brown said. For the most part, the “rest of the world doesn’t allow anyone to play by themselves (and post scores). And most don’t accept casual round scores at all (in the compilation of handicaps). But they will adopt casual rounds (probably beginning in 2018) to try to grow the game and get more scores into the record. We want more players to get into the game, but peer review is a big factor in the handicap system — having at least one other golfer being able to vouch that a person is playing according to the Rules of Golf.”
Which led the USGA to change its policy about allowing golfers playing alone to post scores for handicap purposes.
“I would say (that change) is long overdue,” Brown said. “It’s something a lot of handicap committees (at clubs) can wrap their arms around, especially if they have a player who has played a lot of rounds with no peer review.”
Many clubs in Colorado have such handicap committees, which are licensed and instructed by the CGA. Brown, and potentially other staffers at the CGA, have considerable interaction with handicap committees that have questions about how to deal with problematic situations.
“We encourage them to use us,” said Brown, who besides having been a CGA staffer since 1992 also serves on the USGA Course Rating Committee. “We’re here to help them out and make sure everything is done in accordance with USGA rules.”
In the bigger picture, the latest USGA handicap system changes pave the road toward the World Handicap System. Last year in St. Andrews, Scotland, the six handicapping entities from around the world met to hash out what works best and what is problematic about their respective handicapping policies. And over the coming two years, the idea is to codify the best of those policies and get everyone on board. The world standards may include daily handicap revisions, and formulas that may take into account weather and abnormal playing conditions. For instance, an 85 shot in brutal weather on a given course might count differently than an 85 recorded in ideal weather conditions.
“The USGA handicap system is constantly evolving to ensure that the system works for the game today and tomorrow,” Steven Edmondson, the USGA’s managing director of handicapping & course rating said when the USGA announced its changes to the handicap system. “As we examine the game domestically and globally, these revisions support the integrity and reliability that millions of players around the world expect of this system. We continue to explore substantive changes as we work toward a World Handicap System in the years ahead.”
The ultimate goal is to have an average-based handicap system that works the same in the U.S. as in South Africa, Europe, South America, Australia and everywhere else in the world — whether that be through inclusion of equitable stroke control, dealing with casual vs. more controlled tournament play scores, etc., etc. That way, golfers can be on even footing wherever they travel. But it may take until 2020 for handicapping to become standardized worldwide as some policies are ingrained in certain areas of the world and not others.
Meanwhile, the USGA and R&A are making a concerted effort to simplify the Rules of Golf in a similar unifying effort.
“Some game-changing stuff is being worked on,” noted CGA executive director Ed Mate, who now serves on the USGA Rules of Golf Committee.
