CONGU announceS CHANGES to handicap system

The Council of National Golf Unions has announced that the Unified Handicapping System has been revised, with the changes taking effect on Jan 1, 2016.

They are the result of a four-year review cycle which aims to assist club members to have handicaps which truly reflect their playing ability.

The changes include:

• Four Ball Better Ball Handicap Allowance: In both stroke play and match play the back marker will concede strokes to the other three players based on 90% of the difference between the full handicaps rather than 75% (3/4) as at present.
• Continuous Handicap Review: The introduction of a process to flag players with seven consecutive 0.1 handicap increases so that Handicap Committees can review and apply an immediate handicap increase if required.
• Club handicaps: A new ‘Club Handicap’ of up to 54 will be introduced for adults as well as juniors. Handicaps higher than 28/36 will only be valid at the player’s home club for use in club-run events and cannot be used in opens etc.
• Nine holes: It will be possible to put in Supplementary Scores over nine holes for handicaps. Nine-hole scores will also be taken into account for an Exceptional Scoring Reduction.
• Reinstatement of Handicap Status: The reinstatement of a competition status handicap requires a player to submit three qualifying scores, which could be 18-hole competitions, 9-hole competitions or Supplementary Scores both at home and/or away.
• Dates: The handicap year will now follow the calendar year of 1 January to 31 December, and a player’s handicap will be based on scores returned within that period.

The new CONGU manual is in the process of being published. A pre-publication version of the revised manual can be viewed at www.congu.com

Jim McArthur, CONGU chairman, said: “The Unified Handicapping System does not stand still and, as a result, we again have a number of further refinements to the system reflecting both experience and new evidence. We continually review the system to encourage participation in both competitive golf and social golf whilst at the same time trying to ensure that the system is fair for players of all abilities.”

England Golf will host a series of Handicap Roadshows in January and February to help clubs understand and implement the changes by the deadline of 1 March 2016. The two-hour sessions will be led by Gemma Hunter, England Golf’s Handicap and Course Rating Manager, and are free to attend for up to three delegates.

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