Handicap | golf

Handicap Policies

Handicap System

The Club will be using the USGA GHIN system for the 2018 season. The cost of having a GHIN number will be included as part of your membership fee for the 2018 season.

If you do not have a GHIN number you will be assigned one by the USGA when you are added to the Club roster on the GHIN system. If you were a member of the Club last year, the Club will take care of getting your last 20 scores from our old system to the GHIN system.

If you already have a GHIN number, through another club or as an individual, there are a couple of things that will happen. If you belong to another club and that club does not charge for your GHIN number you only need to provide our club with your GHIN number and you will be added to our Club roster. If the other club charges a fee for your GHIN number you will no longer have to pay that fee. You will continue to use the same GHIN number, but the cost will be covered by your Hamburg fees. We will add you to our club roster. If you have obtained a GHIN number as an individual, that is your number is not associated with any club, you will be asked to renew after April 1st. You will not have to do this. You will provide us with your existing GHIN number and we will add it to our club roster and your cost will be included in the Hamburg fees.

Establishing a Handicap

If you were a member of the the Club last year we will submit your last 20 scores to the USGA from our old system and they will be entered into the new system to establish an index for you to use.

If you do not have a handicap prior to the first event, you will be assigned a handicap by the Chairman of the Handicap Committee. If you have accumulated and posted (see below for posting scores) five (5) 18-hole rounds, you will be given a temporary handicap for events. Once you have accumulated and posted 20 18-hole rounds an official handicap has been established for all Club events.

Posting Scores

Every Club member is responsbile for entering every score into the GHIN system. If you have a smart phone please add the GHIN app to your phone to make it easy to add scores immediately after you complete your round. If you do not have a smart phone you may enter your score on any computer with internet access. The Club is working towards enabling the course computer for internet access to allow members without computer access to enter their scores at the course.

Handicaps for Competition at 18 Mile Creek

The GHIN system will update your handicap/index based on your most recent scores on the 1st and 15th of every month. The tournament committee will notify all participants which handicap should be used for a specific tournament.

Last season (2017) the Club experimented with allowing certain players to play from the bronze tees if their age plus handicap exceeded 80. Although the course is rated differently from the black and bronze tees, members have found that these ratings do not fully account for the differences in scoring between the two tees. To address this issue, if a player is playing from the bronze tees, their handicap at 18 Mile Creek will be reduced by 2 strokes. For example, if playing from the bronze tees and your official handicap is 15, during your competative round (tournament or match) your handicap will be 13. If you are an 11, your handicap will be reduced to a 9. In this instance you would move from the B class to the A class for the specific tournament or competion if based on classes.

Therefore:

If your handicap plus your age is less than 78 - Play from the black tees with your full handicap as calculated. From this full handicap you will calculate the handicap to be used as noted for each event.

For example: You have a calculated handicap of 16 and you are 40 years old. You would play from the black tees. If the specific event calls for using 80% of your handicap you would play from the black tees and your handicap would be 13 (0.80x16=12.8 round up to 13).

If your handicap plus your age is equal to 78 or above, or your handicap puts you in the C Class - You may choose to play from the bronze tees, but you must reduce your calculated handicap by 2 strokes. From this handicap you will calculate the handicap to be used as noted for each event.

For example: You have a calculated handicap of 16 and you are 65 years old or you are in the C Class. You have the option to play from the bronze tees or black tees. If you choose to play from the bronze tees you would reduce your handicap from 16 to 14 (16-2=14) If the specific event calls for using 80% of your handicap and you choose to play from the bronze tees your handicap would be 13 (0.80x14=11.2 round down to 11). If you choose to play from the black tees then your handicap would be calculated as shown above.

Maximum Scores

For purposes of your handicap calculation the USGA allows a player to record a score no higher than noted in the table below. When posting your score adjust the score taken on each hole so as not to exceed the maximum allowable. In the handicap computer program this will be your "Adjusted Score". These maximum allowable strokes are for handicap calculation purposes only and are NOT to be used when scoring for a stroke play event.

COURSE HANDICAP PAR 3 PAR 4 PAR 5

9 OR LESS 5 6 7

10 TO 19 7 7 7

20 AND ABOVE 8 8 8

Handicap Adjustment

In every club there are those players that play one way for score posting purposes and another way for tournaments. These players are affectionately known as "Sandbaggers." Consequently, the Board of Directors and the Handicap Committee reserve the right to adjust handicaps prior to Club events.

Competitive Class

Certain tournaments and events held by the Club are broken out by class. The class a member will play in depends on their handicap. In general the classes are based on the following breakdown. However, during certain events class breakdown may be adjusted to equalize class size.

CLASS HANDICAP

A 9 OR LESS

B1 10 TO 14

B2 15 TO 19

C 20 AND ABOVE