Team Joseph avenged their 2018 loss with a 24.5 to 19.5 victory over Team John in the 2019 Winter Cup. The course was in great shape, the weather was wonderful, and a great time was had by all 44 players. If the experience of my group was representative of the other 10 foursomes the trash talk and camaraderie were superb, even if the level of play sometimes left a little to be desired. It’s amazing how tough a fast, breaking, 18-inch downhill putt can be.
The members of Team Joseph can rest assured that Team John will be ready to even the score next year. We’ll be sharpening our wedges like Phil and bulking up like Bryson, although the bulk might settle a bit differently on us than on DeChambeau. Don’t let that 5-point win go to your head, Team Joseph. We’ll be coming to get you next year!
And while we’re on the topic of next year, the new World Handicapping System will replace the current handicapping system on January 1, 2020. Although the basics of the new system are like the old one, there are a few important, noticeable changes. I will be writing a series of posts over the next several weeks about the new handicap system and the changes you will notice.
The biggest difference you will notice is that course rating and par are both a part of the new course handicap calculation. Par was not a part of the old system even though we all tended to think of course handicap as an index of expected strokes above par. It wasn’t. It was expected strokes above course rating. I’ll elaborate on that and more in the series of posts.
Stay tuned, and I’ll try to make sense of things the best I can. I’ll also try to make the posts as short and entertaining as possible. The system really isn’t so bad if you can avoid all the lawyer-speak you find in the official manuals.