Arizona Golf Association 
WHS Update-Score Transfer & Index Assignment
Dual US/Canada Handicap Members – Score Transfer Update
For any members who host a formal WHS handicap record in both the United States and Canada, it is required to assure that ALL eligible scores are present on BOTH official records in order to generate a mutually valid WHS Handicap Index assignment. This may be accomplished by logging all scores independently to each record, or taking advantage of an automated score transfer process now in place that will allow you to only post once and have the entry shared with your secondary out-of-country account (recommended). If you would like to take advantage of this score sharing option, continue reading.
For any members who host a formal WHS handicap record in both the United States and Canada, it is required to assure that ALL eligible scores are present on BOTH official records in order to generate a mutually valid WHS Handicap Index assignment. This may be accomplished by logging all scores independently to each record, or taking advantage of an automated score transfer process now in place that will allow you to only post once and have the entry shared with your secondary out-of-country account (recommended). If you would like to take advantage of this score sharing option, please see below.
Launched over the past several months is the ability to mutually share each score entry with both of your WHS records: US/Canada, without the need to manually post to each independently. Please review the following scenarios to find out the necessary action to get this score sharing process in place for your account(s) moving forward.
Prospective Scenarios You May be Experiencing:
1) When you post a score to your local handicap record (either account), the score automatically shows up on the secondary out-of-country account as well, typically within 24 hours. Action necessary = If this is occurring for you, ‘Links’ are already in place within both of your accounts to share all scores and no additional setup is necessary.
2) When you post a score to the local handicap record, the score is only displayed on that account and never shared with your secondary record. This is the case regardless of which account you are directly posting the new score. Action necessary= In this instance, it would appear no ‘links’ are yet in place to facilitate the score sharing. Contact the Arizona Golf Association and supply us with your Golf Canada ‘Netwok ID’ which once in place will route all new postings logged to Arizona back to Canada. Then, you will ALSO need to contact Golf Canada or your Provincial Association staff and provide them with your Arizona (GHIN) member number which will facilitate any scores logged in Canada properly routing back to Arizona. Please note- Links need to be setup within BOTH records to afford score routing in BOTH directions.
3) When you post a score to your Arizona (US) record it is then properly being routed to your Canada account, but when you post directly to your Canadian account it does not route back to Arizona (or vice versa).Action necessary= When a score posting is routing in one direction only but entries logged directly to the second account do not come back the opposite direction, this would indicate you only having one of the two necessary account Links in place so far. Identify in which direction the scores are NOT routing and contact the local association to input the secondary link. For example- if you are posting to Golf Canada and the score is not coming back to Arizona, contact Golf Canada or your Provincial Association in that region and supply them with your Arizona (GHIN) member number assigned.
In summary, provided these Links are present in the background of BOTH your handicap accounts, any scores logged to either should be also reflected on the secondary record within a day of the original posting. If your scores are not being shared whatsoever, you will need to get BOTH links setup via Arizona Golf and Golf Canada staff contacts. If scores are routing one direction but not in return, contact the Association managing the record where direct postings are not flowing out and request for a Link to be setup.
WHS Handicap Index Assignment Staying the Same?
Does your WHS Handicap Index assignment seem to continually stay the same, even after having logged new score postings? There are two components of the new WHS handicap formula to be mindful, at least one of which is the likely cause for your Handicap Index not experiencing anticipated fluctuation. See below for insight why this may be occurring.
1) WHS Handicap Index Formula – The Handicap Index assigned is intended to represent a player’s demonstrated ability. To project this, the WHS formula will only materially use the ‘best’ 8 of your most recent 20 score postings in the final Handicap Index calculation (lowest 8 differential values averaged). As a result, when you post a new score entry the updated Handicap Index assigned the following day will only be expected to change if:
The new score entry falls into the category of being among the ‘best’ 8 of the remaining most recent 20 scores present (low 8 differentials), or,
The new score entry, despite not meeting the threshold to be considered within the batch of ‘best’ 8, has bumped out a posting from your most recent 20-score history that was previously classified in this category.
2) Soft or Hard ‘Cap’ application – If you are posting new score entries that appear to fall into the category of ‘best 8’ but still are seeing limited or no change to your Handicap assignment, you may be experiencing an automatic ‘CAP’ being applied to your record. There are two versions of the automatic CAP application in the new WHS formula:
Soft Cap – As a final step in the WHS formula, your initial Handicap Index (#1, above) will be compared against your Lowest Handicap Index issued since Jan. 1st, 2020, when the World Handicap System was launched (will become rolling 12-month window as we get into 2021 and beyond). Provided the comparison of these values reveals the new Handicap outcome to be within +3.0 strokes of your ‘Low Handicap Index’ reference point, it will be issued to you unadjusted as your new official Handicap Index. However, if the new outcome is +3.0 or greater than your ‘Low H.I.’ anchor point, the extent of upward movement afforded will decrease to only a 50% rate after the initial 3.0 strokes of increase. For example- A golfer was assigned a Handicap Index of (22.0) back on March 1st. They have played numerous times since and their raw Handicap outcome is now a 26.0. As the final step in the calculation, this 26.0 is compared against the ‘Low H.I.’ of 22.0 from March, and in this instance reveals there to be more than a +3.0-stroke increase. As a result, any amount beyond these initial +3.0 stroke increase will only be afforded at a 50% rate: +1.0 reduced to +0.5 (50%) increase in this example. When automatically applied by the WHS software, this player’s new Handicap Index would become: 25.5 (22.0+3.0+0.5), instead of the initial outcome of 26.0, by way of the Soft Cap being applied.
Hard Cap – If the initial Handicap Index outcome is +5.0 strokes or more above your Low H.I. reference point, the WHS formula will apply a ‘Hard Cap’, meaning the assignment is not allowed to escalate beyond a +5.0 stroke increase from the lowest assigned Handicap Index over the previous 12-months. For example- Joe Golfer was assigned a Handicap Index of 22.0 back on March 1st. Since then he has posted numerous scores and the new calculation inclusive of the Soft Cap being applied comes out at 28.0. Because this is more than a +5.0 increase, the system will automatically revert the player’s assignment back to the Hard Cap maximum allowed: 27.0 (22.0 + 5.0) as his official Handicap Index.
Click to read more about:
Click to read more about:
