It is designed to welcome more players, to make golf easier to understand and to provide all golfers with a handicap, which is portable all around the globe. The system is expected to be launched in January 2020 and its features will include:

• A minimal number of scores needed to obtain a new handicap
• Allowing both competitive and recreational rounds to count for handicap purposes so a golfer’s handicap is more reflective of current ability
• A consistent handicap that is portable from course to course and country to country through worldwide use of the USGA Course and Slope Rating System, already successfully used in more than 80 countries
• An average-based calculation of a handicap, taken from the best eight out of the last 20 scores. The system will also be able to ‘remember’ good scores, even when they have dropped out of the last 20
• A calculation that considers the impact that abnormal course and weather conditions on a player’s performance each day
• Daily handicap revisions, taking account of the course and weather conditions calculation
• A limit of net double bogey on the maximum hole score (for handicapping purposes only)
• A maximum handicap limit of 54.0, regardless of gender, to encourage more golfers to measure and track their performance and so increase their enjoyment of the game

England Golf is working closely with The R&A and the USGA to help introduce the new system and is running workshops for golf clubs this spring to outline the proposals and their impact. More detailed workshops will be run in the autumn.