The World Handicap System (WHS) will be launched in Kenya on February 5 to replace the six existing systems around the world including ‘CONGU,’ currently used in the country.
According to Kenya Golf Union chairman Ben Omuodo, the WHS aims at broadening the handicap bracket, encouraging more people to take up the game and enabling golfers of differing abilities, gender and nationalities to compete on a fair basis anywhere in the world.
WHS was initially scheduled to be launched in Kenya in September 2020 as it had been already been launched in the USA, South Africa and a few other countries in January 2020.
Omuodo explained, “We could not launch it in September due to the delays occasioned by the movement restrictions instituted by the Government of Kenya from March to September of the same year to curb the spread of Covid-19.”
He thanked a dedicated course rating team that visited all the golf clubs in Kenya to take all the measurements required in preparation for the new handicap system.
“Unlike the USA and South Africa, Kenya was using the CONGU Handicapping system that did not require a Slope Rating. We needed to re-rate all the golf courses in Kenya to provide a slope rating that is the basis of playing golf using the WHS. We owe gratitude to the dedicated team of volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make this happen,” said Omuodo.
The Slope Rating refers to a numerical value that indicates the relative difficulty of a golf course for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer.
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