World Handicap System

The World Handicap System (WHS) came into play from 2 November 2020.

The best place to find out more about the WHS is to go to the England Golf website and by downloading the WHS golfer's toolkit. There is also the Rules of Handicapping Player Reference Guide.

Ryton Golf Club Course Ratings and Slope Ratings

• White (Men) - Course Rating: 68.9 Slope Rating: 117
• Yellow (Men) - Course Rating: 67.9 Slope Rating: 114
• Blue (Men) - Course Rating: 65.8 Slope Rating: 109 View Course Handicap Table
• Red (Ladies) - Course Rating: 71.4 Slope Rating: 126

To calculate your course handicap, simply use the following calculation: Handicap Index X (Slope Rating/113).  Or the easiest way is to use the chart below. This chart is also available on the 1st tee and in the locker rooms. 

Click to view the Ryton Golf Club Course Rating & Slope Rating Table (White/Yellow/Red)

Which handicap do I put on the card?

When the WHS was introduced it was required to put the Course Handicap on the card to avoid disqualification. However, in the 2023 rules it update under Rule 3.3b (4), it is no longer required for a golfer to put their handicap on the card.

Ryton Golf Club's scorecard contains space to put your 3 handicaps on to assist your playing partners and the committee on processing competition results. 

What are the handicap allowances for competitions?

It is the responsibility of the Committee to declare what the handicap allowance is in the terms of each competition.

The two main formats are individual strokeplay (including Stableford and Par/Bogey) which will be 95% of your Course Handicap. This would be mean handicaps 0-10 would stay the same, 11-30 would lose 1 stroke, 31-50 would lose 2 strokes. 

Fourball will be 85% of your Course Handicap.

For full handicap allowances for various formats, see the England Golf website Playing Handicap Allowances table. It is the intention of the WHS that players should not focus on their playing handicap as it is only intended to calculate competition results.

Some members' handicaps have changed significantly, why is that?

The vast majority of members' handiacaps will remain within 1 stroke of their previous CONGU handicap. 

There are some scenarios where a player's handicap might increase by more than this. 

Handicap increasing by more than 2 strokes - If a player had a handicap under the old system which was previously set at a limit of 28, and they were unable to play to that handicap, then their handicap would only be increasing by 0.1 each time a score was returned. This would mean it could take a long time for the player's handicap to get to a level they can play to.  Since the WHS is an averaging system with handicap limits up to 54, then it is likely that the change to the WHS will result in a big increase in their handicap, which would better reflect their current ability and allow that player to compete more fairly.  This would also apply to any player who is losing ability such as through age or injury where the previous system could not accommodate this. 

Handicap decreasing by more than 2 strokes - For new golfers that do not yet have a full handicap record (20 scores) there are adjustments made until a full calculation can be made. A player's first 5 records takes the lowest 1 score for the calculation, rising gradually until the average of the best 8 can be made from the most recent 20 records. This would mean that if a player's 'first 3 cards' were high, but then entered a competition and posted a good score, the handicap record would then be based off that lowest 1 score.  See Page 49 of the Rules of Handicapping.

If you believe that your handicap is incorrect, then it is possible that you may have scoring records missing or they are based off incorrect course data. Please contact the club and ask us to investigate this.