Here a a couple links that explain
Its possible, but unlikely. You’d have to look at the oldest score (differential really, but score is faster to type), the one that got replaced, and compare it to the score that became part of the “best 8”, which would be either the #9 score from before, or the newest score entered. If the oldest score was the lowest, and it was 10 strokes lower than its replacement in the “best 8”, that would make a difference of 1.2 to the HI.
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Shot another 5 over 41 on the morning 9. Now I moved to a 11.7 from a 12.9. So interesting…I’ll need to spend some time to figure it out (or just ignore it). My last two 9 hole postings were both 41 on the same course…the first moved me from an 11.7 to a 12.9…the second did just the opposite (moving me from a 12.9 back to an 11.7). Granted, one was the front and the other was the back, but it’s fascinating that my handicap moved that much.
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Did you post another 9-hole score from another course in between those two? That’s the only way your most recent score should even count in the last 20. Otherwise there wouldn’t be another 9-hole score in your record waiting to be combined.
That does seem strange. Did the latest 41’s pair together?
Any PCC shown with your scores? It’s usually zero with my scores, but a handful of times this year I saw some +1 and +2 rounds when apparently scoring was higher than average. I don’t think that goes higher than +3 though so I wouldn’t think it would make much difference overall.
He said the first 41 made his HI change, which means (in the US) that it had to have been paired with a previous 9-hole score. The only way the newest 9-hole score could cause a change is if it was paired with an intervening 9-holer. And you’re right, the PCC is a max of 3, and is halved when it is applied to 9-hole scores.
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I’ve heard of players dropping a stroke with 1 score (a good score), but I’ve never heard of anyone going back up a stroke with 1 score. I can shoot well above average and it moves me up about 0.1 for each high score. Makes sense with only the 8 best scores used out of 20.
My club is 35 + 34 = 69 and as a 16 my handicap is split 7 + 9. At times I was playing the back 9 regularly (only option) and it will pair two back 9 scores (even from 2 different courses). I am assuming I get 2 extra strokes because of the “harder” holes? Not sure if those scores really affected anything.
Nothing in between the two 9 hole outings.
I don’t show any indication of PCC on the app I’m using…
And yes…it looks like it is pairing the 41’s together.
So I just now see this disclaimer on the app:
" Perfect tool to manage handicaps for a group or league. However, it does NOT provide a USGA “official” handicap index."
So perhaps it is not a good indicator of the WHS?
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That just doesn’t seem to be working properly. You have all the scores, you could try a different free app, either on the phone or online, and see if you get more reasonable results.
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Yeah, looks like they kinda got their own version going on there tbf.
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I’ve always been a great judge of how/where to spend money online… 
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There are several free un-official index calculator online.
Free but can not be used for official index validation. I’d imagine someone had the software ( invented or copied ) then post it online.
Here everything is linked back to England Golf who set the HCI. That did initially cause a problem in that rounds played in other parts of the UK (Wales, Scotland etc) couldn’t count. Thankfully that stupidity has been solved.
You either need to be a member of EG or of an affiliated club for this to work though. EG membership is I believe £40 per year so not much and the app is pretty good, surprisingly. This finally means non club members can get official handicaps I would imagine there is something similar over there?
The calculation is easily done with a pretty simple spreadsheet. Its just a few steps:
- Calculate the differential for each round, based on score, Slope, and Course Rating
- Combine 9-hole scores as appropriate to make 18-hole differentials
- Sort the most recent 20 differentials
- Average the best 8 of the last 20 differentials.
That’s the Handicap Index. Unofficial calculators will probably not be able to access the PCC, but that’s been pretty rare, and has a very minor impact.
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Thanks.
I’m with most the golfers I know. We just want to plug in the score number , select the golf course and hit the enter.
Most of the guys play a weekly rounds with their local club, and since they have beer money on the table, all of the weekly competition require a GHIN index, some will accept the USGA index but most will only accept the GHIN for some reason.
There should not be any deviation from one system to another one?
GHIN is owned and run by the USGA. At one point, Individual State or Regional Handicapping Associations could choose not to use GHIN, to use another system, but they had to do things in accordance with USGA Handicapping Rules. If I remember right, Maryland and Michigan were two states that ran their own systems, but they were still official USGA Handicaps. With the advent of the WHS, I believe most, maybe all, Handicapping Associations in the US use GHIN. A big driver for the change-over is the PCC, the system needs to evaluate all appropriate scores on a timely basis in order to calculate the PCC properly. I believe that even pay sites like the Grint coordinate scoring with GHIN, and even issue GHIN numbers to their users. I don’t entirely understand a refusal to accept an Official USGA Handicap, and not sure where someone would get one.
Long ago, there was free site which use the USGA handicap system. Online membership with guidelines. A few members were refused of their index at the check in desk for local tournament. The USGA index could be verified easily at the club house but they refuse to recognize the USGA index. Later on this free site starting to implement paid membership. A few local brick and mortar golf shops also ran the USGA system ( paid service ) without any rejection from local tournament organizations.
Besides if there is deviation of the two system, the only explanation I could think of for the rejection was this free site was offering free index at the time. Later they sold it to a larger organization and probably is defunct by now.
That makes more sense, I think many organizations were resistant to most types of Electronic Clubs, even though some were sanctioned by the USGA. I’d guess that authorized e-clubs outside of the GHIN system are pretty rare now. As I said, I believe I’ve read that the Grint now provides a GHIN number for those who pay to keep a handicap there.