1/1/2020 - The New Handicap System

Here's what you need to know about the new handicap system that is in place as of today:

• The most noticeable thing about the new system is that your handicap will update after every round.  Previously, your handicap would only change twice a month.  Now it changes with every round you post.  That means that your handicap chair will need to indicate exactly when your handicap locks for a club event.
• Instead of using the old ESC Scoring, system, the max score you can post for any given hole is net double-bogey.  So if you're getting a stroke on a par 5, the highest score you can post for that hole is an 8.
• Your handicap is now based on your best 8 rounds of your last 20, instead of your best 10 rounds.  That should make your handicap go down a touch.

Here's some stuff that's new, but probably doesn't matter as much:

• The new max is 54 (previously 36).
• The handicap calculation now includes a factor for par (it didn't before).
• Weather is now a factor.  If everyone playing a particular course on a particular day shoots higher than normal, then those scores will be adjusted.  This can also be due to pin placements, or other factors, like the height of the rough (think Torrey Pines just before or after The Farmers Insurance Open).
• An exceptional score (7 strokes better than your handicap) will immediately knock a full point off of your handicap.  If you score 10 strokes better than your handicap, then it's two full points.  So if your scores vary widely (like mine), then your handicap will be impacted more by this.
• You're not going to be able to post scores for the next ~5 days while they get the new system in place.

Here are some of my thoughts:

• Everything I've read says that the difference between one set of tees and another (on the same course) is going to result in a bigger handicap differential.
• The only way in which the old system needed to be changed was when you were trying to post a score from another country.  I'm pretty sure that only accounts for about 0.000001% of the rounds that are posted.
• I think the new system will be more error-prone.  I'm pretty sure that a lot of people were not properly calculating based on ESC scoring, and the new system requires you to know which holes you are getting a stroke (or two, or now even three!) on.

Sources:
http://www.scga.org/whs-hub
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/five-keys-to-the-new-world-handicap-system
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/voices-the-flaw-in-the-new-world-handicap-system-dean-knuth