The World Handicap System (WHS) came into effect three months ago, but of course not many of us have had the opportunity to play with our WHS handicap yet.
It’s new to us all, but the question is: do your juniors truly understand the topic? Let’s be honest, it’s a very complicated system and not even many adult members can claim to understand it thoroughly, but there are certain things that every player must understand. You wouldn’t want your juniors, representing your club, arriving at an external tournament without an understanding as to why their course handicap is different to the one they use at their home course, would you? There are plenty of resources available to help you and your juniors understand WHS on the websites of both The R&A and England Golf, as well as the official WHS website. Can you set up a meeting on Zoom or Microsoft Teams to help them understand the basic concepts of WHS before they start using the system in the 2021 season?
Understanding the Rules of Golf is vital for anyone who plays the game competitively; don’t we all want to maximise fairness? Understanding the rules can also benefit, (YES! BENEFIT!) a player’s score! Take this story from Young Ambassador Sam as an example.
“I was refereeing at the Derbyshire Boys’ Championship last year and was called over for a ruling. The player’s ball had interference by a group of branches that had been piled for later removal, and he wanted to take unplayable ball relief for a one stroke penalty due to this. I said, “the pile of branches is classed as ground under repair, so you are entitled to free relief.” I’ve never seen a player so delighted! If I wasn’t there, he would have taken unplayable ball relief for a penalty.”
So, what activities could you encourage your juniors to do, in order to improve their rules knowledge? Here are some of our ideas:
- Read one of the 24 rules each day until the courses reopen.
- Use The R&A’s Rules Resource Centre, which contains infographics that simplify rules and present them in an engaging way.
- Download The R&A Rules of Golf app and complete one quiz per day – shouldn’t take more than five minutes!
- Watch The R&A’s Rules Skool Open on YouTube.
These are just some of our recommendations for your juniors to try, but we would like you to be creative and innovative… come up with your own ideas!
The courses are closed at the moment, and whilst it is not ideal, it presents the perfect opportunity to enhance your juniors’ understanding of WHS and the Rules of Golf. This will maximise fairness in the game and ultimately benefit your juniors during the 2021 season and beyond!
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