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Q:  Now that the new World Handicap System is in use in the United States, do we still have to make a Course Handicap adjustment when players compete from different tees?

A:  Under the previously used USGA Handicap System and before the launch of the WHS in January, a Course Handicap represented the number of strokes a player received to play to the Course Rating of the tees being played. Since the Course Rating will vary from one tee to the next, an adjustment was required when multiple tees were in use to enable everyone to play to the same benchmark.

However, the WHS has introduced an important change: the Course Handicap calculation now includes a Course Rating minus par adjustment. This means that the benchmark for all players has shifted from their respective Course Rating to par. As a result, as long as par is the same from each set of tees being played, no Course Handicap adjustment is needed. In other words, the new calculation automatically accounts for the Course Rating difference, which makes it easier for golfers to have a fair game when they are playing from different tees.

With that said, in instances when par is different, any player competing from tees with a higher par must add the difference in par to their Course Handicap.

By shifting the benchmark from Course Rating to par, a player’s Course Handicap today may differ significantly from their 2019 number. For example, on a set of tees with a Course Rating of 67.0 and par of 72, a player’s Course Handicap will be 5 strokes lower under the WHS. This does not mean the player will be expected to shoot 5 strokes better – it just means the player needs 5 fewer strokes to shoot a net 72 in place of the previous target of a net 67.