WHS - Understanding - Score Differentials

Thank you for contacting Golf Link regarding the calculation of a Score Differential under the World Handicapping System (WHS).

We would strongly suggest reading the article published by GA on their website, in particular PART D: Operational Guide, item 18. How your GA is calculated under the WHS, and the importance of your Score Differentials - https://www.golf.org.au/whs/

The ‘Score Differential’ for a round is our calculation of the handicap you actually played to in that round. 

To generate a ‘Score Differential’ we use the global method to standardise your score to what it would have been had you played from a set of tees with neutral difficulty. (A set of tees with neutral difficulty has a Slope Rating of 113.)

What this means is that a score on a difficult course will be made a little better by the standardisation process.

And a score on a less-challenging course will be made a little higher. Because of this standardisation process, your ‘Score Differential’ for a round can be directly compared with a ‘Score Differential’ for any other player on any other golf course.

But the most important outcome of the standardisation process is that your GA Handicap can be directly compared with any other person’s GA Handicap (and anyone else who has a handicap calculated under the World Handicap System), regardless of the course and tees where they play most of their golf. 

This is what makes handicaps portable around the world and handicap competitions fair.

‘Score Differentials’ are calculated to one decimal place.

The result of the calculation is rounded to the nearest tenth.)

0.35 rounds to 0.4, 0.3501 rounds to 0.4, 0.55 rounds to 0.6, 0.5501 rounds to 0.6, 5.35 rounds to 5.4, 5.3501 rounds to 5.4, 5.55 rounds to 5.6, 5.5501 rounds to 5.6, etc.

+0.35 rounds to +0.3, +0.3501 rounds to +0.4, +0.55 rounds to +0.5, +0.5501 rounds to +0.6, +5.35 rounds to +5.3, +5.3501 rounds to +5.4, +5.55 rounds to +5.5, +5.5501 rounds to +5.6, etc.

There is no upper limit or lower limit for the calculation of a ‘Score Differential’.

We hope this explains how the calculations are done and if after checking your handicap using the correct values for each field you still believe there is an issue, please email help@golf.com.au.

We will require your Golf Link number, date of play, the Club and Course you played on, if you could please include this in your reply.