Approach

We calculate handicaps for Gaffers play based on the World Handicapping System (WHS) that has been adopted by the Golf Association of Canada for play in 2020 onwards, but with these variations.

• only incorporates Gaffers league rounds in its calculation. 

• generates a handicap for players from their first week's play and onwards (See First Week's Handicap )

• takes the most recent seven rounds

• using the best 5 games the system will produce the handicap factor and then the course handicap for a player. 

• limits the maximum Gaffers Playing Handicap to 36 (ignoring the WHS rule related to a maximum Handicap Factor that causes a lower limit)

• the extended adjustments that have been introduced by the WHS for 2023 will not be incorporated in Gaffers' Handicaps. Acknowledging that these are NOT part of Gaffers, if you want to read more about them click each topic 

  • Soft Cap and Hard Cap

  • Exceptional Score Reduction

  • Playing Conditions  Calculations. 

In order to compensate for the fact that the group includes players who play from different tee boxes, we use the White tees as the standard course rating, and then the handicap for players on other tees are adjusted by using the difference between our standard rating and the rating of the player's course/tee combination (i.e. following the World Handicapping System standard).

Players who have no recent Gaffers history and will start the same as a new member.  

Technical Calculations

The following calculations are done with each week’s score for every player.

Note that when “rounding” is specified “.5” or more is rounded upward.

Adjusted Gross Score

For Gaffers the Adjusted Gross Score is calculated automatically according to the WHS standard for Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) which sets a maximum number per hole that the handicap calculation system will use for a player depending on the player's Course Handicap that day.  

ESC defines that a player's handicap calculation will use a maximum of Net Double Bogey for any hole.

So always enter the actual score on the scorecard. 

• If a group decides to end a round early after the 14th due to adverse weather, they leave their scores blank for the remaining holes.  Local Rule #1

• If a player "picks up" (opts to not complete a hole) it should be scored as a 10. Local Rule #11

Handicap Factor

A Handicap Factor is used to indicate a measurement of a player’s potential scoring ability on a course of standard playing difficulty. Gaffers use the best 5 differentials from a player's latest 7 qualifying scores. The resulting Handicap Factor is truncated to one decimal place and is used for conversion to a Course Handicap.  

If a player has less than 7 qualifying differentials in their history, the the average of the available differentials are used. If a player only has 2 entries in their history, the best is used.

Course Handicap

Course Handicap is the handicap a player would declare in playing against others from the same tees. 

The course handicap is determined by multiplying the player’s current Handicap Factor by the Slope of the course to be played (e.g. Doon 18 Blue – 121) and then dividing by 113, adding the course rating, then subtracting par. The resulting figure is rounded off to the nearest whole number.  So a player with a Handicap Factor of 12.3 playing Doon 18 course from the Blue tees would be given a Course Handicap of 8 (12.3 * 109 / 113 + 68.2 - 72 = 8.1 ).

If a player has regularly played the Blue tees, their stored Differentials were calculated from their score using the Rating and Slope for the Blue tees. If they move to the White tees, the Course Handicap for their rounds from the White tees will reflect the “easier” course when played from those tees.  Our example player above with a Handicap Factor of 12.3 playing the White tees will get a Course Handicap of 5 (12.3 * 103 /113 +66.2 - 72 = 5.4)

Consequently, it is important to inform the Captain beforehand if you decide to change the tees on which you normally play.

For Equitable Stroke Control calculations to produce an adjusted gross score, the maximum Course Handicap in Gaffers Play is also limited to 36.

Playing Handicap

This adjustment may be used in the case where not all players have the same par for their selected tees. This is not the case for Gaffers as all tees use the same par (72).   

At this stage the only adjustment is that Gaffers are never assigned a Playing Handicap that is greater than 36.