Over the weekend of April 9, thousands of golfers (including yours truly) anxiously logged onto Golflink.com.au to check out how the new system had changed our handicaps. After a few minor delays --mostly due to GOLF Link smartly rolling out the changes in gradual steps to prevent massive server loads or website crashes -- the new system was up and running.

Judy Pridmore, Golf Link CEO told Inside Golf "The launch created unprecedented levels of interest and activity on the Golf Link website. By the end of the handicapping changes, we had experienced nearly a month’s worth of traffic and are on track to hit a record 300,000 visitors and 3 million page impressions for April."

The results of the switch, for some of us, were surprising.

Like many golfers out there, my own handicap went up by a full shot. Given my recent good form, however, I reckon it should be 1 or 2 shots lower (but please don’t tell my handicapper). Our publisher, Sam “the sandbagger” Arthur, also saw a 1-shot rise, though he’s arguing that, given his recent poor form, his new handicap should have been 5 shots higher still (tell him he’s dreamin!).

All kidding aside, our research has found that most handicaps haven’t been dramatically affected by the new system. On our web poll (www.insidegolf.com.au) we found that the majority of golfers (around 60%) stayed within 1 shot of their old handicap (see chart).

Phil Laurie, communications manager of Golf Queensland, says that the changes were inline with his expectations:

"The majority of players would have experienced a slight increase in handicap -- which is what we expected given that players don’t play to their handicaps that often in competitions," he said.

However, there were some truly big shifts for some of you out there.

Matthew Pitt, founder of the Bushranger Golf Social Club – which maintains active handicaps for over 160 of their 700 nationwide members – says there were some anomalies with the changeover, in particular among those with less than seven rounds in their history.

"We had one player – who only plays a few times a year -- drop from 21 to 16 and a new member skyrocketed from 11 up to 26. A mate of mine who is a top amateur, went from a +1 to a +3, which is quite a jump at that level," he said.

The move to the new system has not been without its critics. Players from all over the country have voiced their concerns about the changeover, claiming “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. But many of us in the industry (myself included), have hailed the change as a positive step in the right direction.

"I’ve got to say that after all the analysis and presentations that I’ve done on the new system – the rolling handicap average is a far superior method to the old CCR calculation," explains Laurie.

"It gives a much better representation of a player’s ability over a period of time. Before, you could have one blazing round and lose 1.5 strokes and then spend the next 6 months going out 0.1 each time you played," he adds.

So this begs the question: How were YOU affected?

Take our web poll and let us know which way your handicap moved!

And if your handicap went up or down significantly, tell us about it! Post your comment in the comment box below.

The new system: explained

The new system calculates an exact handicap by averaging the best 10 differentials (differential = gross score - AMCR/AWCR) of your 20 most recent valid scores), then multiplying that number by 0.96 and truncated to 1 decimal point.

The 0.96 is referred to as the “bonus for excellence” as described in the USGA Handicap System. In essence, this multiplier favours the low handicappers -- and thus gives all golfers the incentive to lower their handicap – as the 0.96 factor results in a smaller reduction in lower handicaps versus higher ones.

GOLF Link, which manages the handicaps across Australia, has posted a Q&A Page on their website which answers many of the common questions that golfers have been asking throughout the last year. For more information: www.golflink.com.au

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