A "Soft Cap" is triggered when a player has 20 scores in place and is a way of preventing their handicap from increasing too quickly, to ensure that a temporary loss of form does not cause a player’s Handicap Index® to move too far from a level consistent with their demonstrated ability.
A cap also serves as anti-abuse mechanism and will aid in minimising the potential for handicap manipulation.
Key points to remember:
- This favour’s the consistent player. The volatile player will be impacted more often, which is a good feature for a handicap system to have.
- A temporary loss of form should not cause a player’s H.I.™ to move too far from a level which is consistent with their underlying potential.
- A Low Handicap Index™ (or anchor) is the part of the system used to set the Soft Cap value.
The soft cap is applied if the change in the players Handicap Index is greater than 3 from the Low Handicap Index. It will suppress any rise above 3 by 50%.
Example:
If player A has a Low Handicap Index of 14.8, and the average of their best 8 scores is 19.71, the difference is 4.91. The following calculation is used when updating their Handicap Index:
| Low Handicap Index Calculation | |||||||
| Average of last 8 is 19.71 | |||||||
| Low Handicap Index (over last 365 days) | 14.8 | ||||||
| Difference between Low Handicap Index and avg Score Differential™ is 4.91: (19.71 - 14.8 = 4.91) | |||||||
| Accepted Increase (3) | 3.0 | ||||||
| Soft Cap (50% Reduction) |
| 4.91 - 3 = 1.91 - then reduced by 50% | |||||
| Handicap Index | 18.8 | ||||||
Further details are available via the WHS™ Rules of Handicapping and can be downloaded at THIS LINK.