UK v US - The Best of Both Worlds

Having looked at UK and US handicapping systems (see my last 3 posts), I think there is the potential to have a really good system by taking the best of each system.

If left up to me (and if given a healthy ‘consultancy fee’ for my time and effort), I would use a handicapping system based on the following;

Breadth of handicap; The US system of using the last 20 scores is a good one, but I would take it a step further by taking the last 30 scores, and averaging the best 15 from those 30. US 1-0 UK

Conditions; there HAS to be some allowance for the playing conditions on the day, and the best way of doing this is by looking at how the field perform overall, by calculating an adjusted Course Rating similar to the CSS calculation used in the UK. US 1-1 UK

Bonus for Excellence; get rid of it, taking the best scores and then multiplying by 0.96 doesn’t serve any purpose other than people having a handicap 4% lower than it actually is. US 1-2 UK

Slope Rating; Although daunting to many people, is a good leveller of golfers of all abilities, especially when playing at courses away from their home course. US 2-2 UK

Stableford Par Adjustment; the UK system of rounding to net double bogey is far fairer than using fixed numbers like 7 for 10-19 handicappers in the US, completely ignoring the difficulty of the hole. US 2-3 UK

Most Likely Score; This would have to be removed, along with the concept of playing strokeplay alongside matchplay. Strokeplay tactics may be significantly different from matchplay tactics, and there is no way on earth that a golfer should be allowed to mark down on a scorecard what score they were most likely to get, without putting out. US 2-4 UK

Count more scores; Although I have said that combining matchplay with strokeplay shouldn’t be allowed, I do believe that it shouldn’t just be tournament scores (as currently is the case in the UK) that count. If a card is marked and everything is putted out and played within the Rules of Golf, then it should be submitted for handicap adjustment. US 3-4 UK

Course Rating; Update it every 12 months by looking at actual scores submitted. If all the competition rounds are on a database somewhere then using these scores, with a large sample size, has to be more accurate than even the most objective course rater. US 3-4 UK (Me 1)

Although the UK wins more points than the US system in my proposal above, each point has a different level of importance, and some of the US points are absolutely critical to a good handicapping system, so overall, in the interests of national diplomacy, let’s call it a draw.

I’m talking in the realms of fantasy here, as I can’t see everyone getting their act together enough, but if you were to combine all of the above aspects, I believe you would have a truly fair handicapping system.