How handicaps work

A society handicap is not a WHS index. It moves after every round by a simple rule the whole society can follow, and it is the same rule most societies have run on a spreadsheet for years. The site applies it automatically; the committee only steps in for manual adjustments.

Exact and playing handicap

Each member has an exact handicap to one decimal place (14.3). It never goes below 0 or above 36 by default: someone on 36.0 who has a bad day stays on 36.0, and their next cut comes off 36.0. The playing handicap used for the round is the exact handicap rounded to the nearest whole number (14.3 plays off 14; 14.5 plays off 15). Both limits can be changed per season under Settings → Season → Handicap min / max.

The rule after each round

Each season has its own copy of these numbers under Settings → Season, so the defaults below can be changed without touching past seasons.

Cut by finishing position — default 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2: the winner is cut 1.0, second 0.8, third 0.6, fourth 0.4, fifth 0.2. Positions beyond the list get no position cut. Players tied for a position each get that position's cut.

Extra cut for a big score — default from 36, 0.1 per point: every Stableford point above 36 cuts a further 0.1. 39 points is 0.3 extra.

Increase for a poor score — default below 31, 0.1 per point: every point below 31 adds 0.1. 28 points adds 0.3.

Limits — default maximum cut 3.0 and maximum increase 1.5 in one round, and the result is held within the handicap limits above (so 36.0 with a poor score is still 36.0; the results grid says so when you hover the figure).

The cuts add up (position cut plus score cut), the increase applies only when there is no cut, and the result is clamped by the limits. Someone who finishes 1st with 39 points on 14.3:

• position cut 1.0 + score cut 0.3 = 1.3 → new exact handicap 13.0, plays off 13 next time.

Someone who finishes 8th with 28 points on 14.3:

• no position cut, 3 points below 31 → +0.3 → 14.6, plays off 15.

Someone who finishes 2nd with 44 points on 9.2:

• position cut 0.8 + score cut 0.8 = 1.6 → 7.6.

Multi-round events

A weekend has two rounds. Each is ranked and adjusted separately: day two starts from the handicap produced by day one. The championship points come from the combined total.

Where the current handicap comes from

The site never stores "the handicap" on a member. It is always worked out from:

1. the starting handicap for the season (entered when the member is added or on their season card), then
2. every saved round, in date order, applying the rule above, and
3. any manual adjustment effective on or before the date in question.

This is why fixing a result from an earlier outing and saving it recalculates everything that follows, and why the members list, the standings, the results grid defaults and the tee sheet all agree.

Manual adjustments

Many societies play off the lower of the WHS index and the society handicap, or agree a reset at the start of the year. On the member's page, Handicap → Set manually: enter the new exact handicap (within the season's limits), the date it applies from, and a reason (WHS index 12.4). It applies to rounds on or after that date and does not change results already saved. Delete it to go back to the calculated figure.

Dated the day of an outing, it depends on whether that outing's result had already been saved when you set it:

• Not yet saved — it is the handicap the member plays off that day; the round's own result then follows from it.
• Already saved — you are correcting the figure the round produced, so it applies after the round and becomes the current handicap straight away. The member's page marks these "after round".

Overriding one round

In the Results grid the committee can type a different handicap after for a player before saving, for the rare case where the rule gives an answer the committee has agreed not to apply. The override is stored with that result and flagged as manual.

Seeing the movement

Standings → Handicap movers lists everyone whose handicap changed over the latest month with results, over the season and over all time, with cuts in green and increases in amber. Members whose handicap has not moved are not shown. Each member's own page has the round-by-round history.