Monday, July 2, 2012

Ask Linda #482-Playing off wrong handicap


Hi Linda

Can you clarify the position further for people inadvertently playing off wrong handicaps?

We have a winter golfing society made up of members who have national handicaps from their own golf club - they also have separate handicaps for our society, which can be different, and this is where confusion comes in.

As a committee we have taken the view that if players play off a higher handicap (i.e. giving themselves an advantage) then they are disqualified  - if they play off a lower handicap then we let their score stand.

Is this the correct procedure?

Also, if we are running a scratch competition at the same time would this be unaffected by wrong handicaps?  In other words, can a player who is disqualified for using a higher handicap still use his scratch score?

I am a recent subscriber to your rules and will be recommending it to all our society members when we start our new season after the summer.

Best regards from the home of golf.
Lou from Scotland

Dear Lou,

Your procedure is correct, Lou.

A player is responsible to ensure that the handicap recorded on his scorecard is correct. If it is higher than his handicap, and that affects the number of strokes he receives, he is disqualified from the competition. If it is lower than his handicap, his score stands [Rule 6-2b].

If you run gross (scratch) and net tournaments concurrently, a player who has recorded an incorrect handicap would not be disqualified from the gross event. His handicap has no effect on his gross score.

Linda
Copyright © 2012 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.