CHANGES TO CONGU UNIFIED HANDICAPPING SYSTEM
Changes will take effect on 1 January 2016, with an implementation date for clubs of 1 March 2016.
The new CONGU manual is in the process of being published and is the
culmination of a four-year review cycle with the aim of assisting club
members to have handicaps which truly reflect their playing ability.
Among the most significant changes in the 2016 edition of the manual are the following:
•
Dates – The handicap year will now follow the calendar year,1 January
to 31 December, and a player’s handicap will be based on scores returned
within that period
•
Four Ball Better Ball Handicap Allowance: In both stroke play and match
play the back marker now concedes strokes to the other 3 players based
on 90% of the difference between the
full handicaps rather than 75% (3/4) as at present
•
Reinstatement of Handicap Status: The reinstatement of a competition
status handicap requires a player to submit 3 qualifying scores (which
could be 18 hole competitions,9 hole competitions
or Supplementary Scores both home and/or away)
•
Continuous Handicap Review: To assist with this process there will now
be a computer generated report which highlights those players
with 7 consecutive 0.1 increases. Handicap Committees are now
recommended to review the performance of such players and to give due
consideration to applying a handicap increase where applicable or
required.
• Exact Handicaps: In Ireland lowest exact handicap is now restricted to 1.0 stroke increase in a calendar year.
Various other changes have been made and a pre-publication version of the revised manual can be viewed at
www.congu.com
Jim
McArthur, CONGU Board Chairman, said: “The CONGU 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.”