Scottish handicap chief: We should have used Course Rating minus Par from the start
As clubs and golfers get to grips with the latest WHS moves, Scottish Golf’s David Kernohan believes one big change should always have been a part of the system in GB&I
Scotland’s leading handicap chief has said Course Rating minus Par (CR-Par) should have been brought in from the start of the World Handicap System.
As golfers now get used to a new way of calculating Course Handicaps, some three and a half years after WHS was introduced in November 2020, David Kernohan, Scottish Golf’s head of VMS and handicapping, conceded it should have been employed from the beginning.
CR-Par is an adjustment for the difference between the Course Rating and par of the course being played.
Simply, if the par of the course is lower than the course rating, players receive extra strokes. If the par is higher, players lose strokes. It’s a measure that applies to every handicap.
Many handicapping authorities used it from the onset of the global handicapping system, but chiefs in GB&I opted against.
The result was a golfer’s target score (for example 36 points in Stableford) was not a measure of the par of the course being played but was dependent on the Course Rating.
That led to confusion in some clubs with players erroneously believing they had hit handicap when, in fact, they had not.
With golfers almost universally thinking 36 points equals par, moving to CR-Par from April 1 once again establishes that – rather than Course Rating – as the target.
Course Rating minus Par changes: ‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing’
At WHS workshops across GB&I setting out the 2024 changes, a frequent question of handicap bosses was why it hadn’t been included in the first place.
Asked this on an episode of The NCG Golf Podcast, Kernohan said: “I think hindsight is a wonderful thing. Had we known back then what we know now, I think – 100 per cent – we would have made that decision (to use CR-Par from the start).
“Looking back, holding my hands up here, we should have. That’s the honest answer.
“But in fairness to the decision-making process, the change from the CONGU UHS to WHS was such a big change, and we really did want to try and make it as seamless as possible for all our clubs and our golfers.
“So we felt we made that decision for the right reason. We felt we were doing the right thing for our members and it was maybe just one change too many.
“We realise now that we have a much better understanding of the system. We’ve had three- and a-bit years of data to look at and, speaking to other jurisdictions who did implement it, listening to our clubs and golfers about how potentially complicated they found certain calculations, and that this is going to simplify things for our members, we felt we’ve made this decision for the right reasons.
“It’s about improving handicapping and improving the experience for all our members and golfers. I guess that’s where we’re at. We appreciate that, once again, this is a change for our golfers but we really do feel we’re making these decisions for the right reasons.”
Listen to The NCG Golf Podcast
David Kernohan, Scottish Golf’s head of VMS and handicapping, joined the NCG team to go through the big World Handicap System changes. Listen to the episode right now.
Now have your say
What do you make of the Course Rating minus Par changes? Will it makes things simpler for you out on the course? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
