R&A reveal ‘negative’ response to World Handicap System survey

A large-scale questionnaire about golfers’ thoughts on WHS has led to GB&I being ‘an outlier’, according to the governing body.

The R&A say results from a World Handicap System survey issued to golfers in Great Britain and Ireland are “more negative than the rest of the world”.

The online questionnaire – which was sent out to players across the Home Nations by independent research company Sporting Insights on behalf of the R&A last summer – was designed to gather honest feedback on the new global handicap order and attracted more than 70,000 responses.

But while the governing body used the results to launch a campaign reminding golfers of their roles and responsibilities under WHS as they look to clamp down on what they referred to as “cheating” in the amateur ranks, they also have no “concrete plans” to release them to the public.

Speaking on The NCG Podcast, Grant Moir, the R&A’s executive director of governance, said the response was “different” to other countries who use the system.

“Generally speaking, the global response was very, very positive,” he said. “What it did do – and this is part of why we’re doing this campaign with the home associations – is that it highlighted that some of the negative perceptions that are heard and seen in GB&I weren’t common to the rest of the world.

“We’re something of an outlier here, and that’s why we feel the need to try and push forward with greater education and a call to arms around responsibilities.”

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Moir explained that the main reason is because the R&A simply “viewed this as market research that would serve to inform” as they look to make changes to WHS in 2028 and beyond, but did confirm that they may “consider releasing some information in relation to the survey going forward”.

When asked by host Steve Carroll if he was concerned about a likely backlash for keeping the feedback under wraps, Moir added that he is “making it pretty clear that GB&I results were different and more negative than the rest of the world”.

He continued: “It highlighted two clear themes that I am happy to share.

“One was the concern around handicap manipulation through general play scores, which is something that we’re looking to again address in this communication, and that handicap committees need more support to carry out their role effectively.

“So the feedback that we received is certainly serving to guide our actions at this precise moment in time.”