Changes ahead for the World Handicap System in 2024 will make your handicap more reliable and timely

[PHOTO: monkeybusinessimages]

As golf’s popularity has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic so too has the popularity of playing nine-hole rounds. Now the first significant changes to the World Handicap System since the R&A and USGA launched it in 2020 will provide golfers playing only nine holes (or anything fewer than 18) the chance for their handicap index to more quickly and consistently account for those rounds.

Starting in January 2024, the WHS will use an “expected score” formula to take nine-hole scores and adjust them to 18-hole score differentials. Mining the data gathered from the 100 million scores posted yearly around the world under the WHS, a model scoring formula for every handicap index for males and females has been developed. The appropriate one will be applied to your index and create an expected score on any remaining holes you had for handicap…