England Golf Launches World Handicap System Education Campaign

Ahead of the World Handicap System launching in November, England Golf has sought to educate golfers by revealing its new 'Know the Score' campaign to help increase wider understanding of the process.

Designed to help golfers understand the new system through eye-catching and easy-to-understand resources, intends to bring together the different elements of the new WHS and provide a consistent message in the lead up to the new system being implemented.

Know the Score messaging will be rolled out via national, local and online media platforms as well as directly from golf clubs to their members.

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Developed by The R&A and USGA, the WHS represents a major shift in handicapping for the first time in modern history and will unite six handicapping bodies across the globe under one standardised system. 

This will allow handicaps to be truly portable and make for a fairer and more equitable system of accurately calculating a golfer’s current playing ability.

To support the launch of Know the Score, yesterday England Golf issued a comprehensive WHS toolkit to all golf clubs.

This toolkit allows clubs to deliver a positive, progressive message to golfers about the benefits of  WHS. In particular, it should help those golfers who are starting from scratch and yet to familiarise themselves with any of the upcoming changes.

Through the Know the Score education resources, golfers can discover the following: 

• Why WHS is being adopted
• Key information on Course and Slope Rating
• Details on the Handicap Index and Course Handicap
• Acceptable formats for scoring

In time, golfers will also have access to a new WHS platform and App created by England Golf. This makes it easy for golfers to regularly check on the progress of their Handicap Index.

Speaking about the launch of the new campaign, England Golf CEO, Jeremy Tomlinson, said: “Know the Score will act as a vital part of a golfer’s overall education journey on the new WHS. By creating a national campaign, and fully educating golfers on all the key elements, we hope to take the pressure off Handicap Committees and minimise the time required to answer queries on basic aspects of the WHS.”

England Golf’s Head of Handicapping & Course Rating, Gemma Hunter, added: “We’re really excited to launch this new campaign to golfers across the country. We want golfers to understand all the key elements of the new WHS before it is launched by providing a consistent message, in clear language that is easy to digest.

“We encourage golf clubs to use all the resources provided in the recently-launched education toolkit so that golfers have the best possible opportunity to take on board everything they need to know about the WHS ahead of 2nd November.”

As well as looking out for the resources at their golf clubs, golfers can also head to the dedicated WHS pages on the England Golf website at www.englandgolf.org/whs or by following England Golf on social media:

Twitter: @EnglandGolf

Instagram: @england.golf

Facebook: @EnglandGolf