Linda, our club is in the middle of its match play and a
curious ruling has been made. Player A plays from the Gold tees (senior) and Player
B from the White tees. The Gold slope is 126 and rating is 67.1. The White
is 131 and 69.0.
When looking at the GHIN system for this course Player A has
a 25 handicap from the gold tees and Player B is a 21 from the white tees, a 4-stroke
differential. However our pro rules that Player A must give up two of his four
strokes, since he is playing from different tees. Even though the GHIN system
supports a 4-stroke differential for the match, it is only two. Is this correct
and why?
Regards,
Lou from Dawsonville, Georgia
Dear Lou,
The pro’s calculation was correct. When players compete from
different tees, there is a two-step process to calculate how many strokes one
player must give the other.
The first step is to find out each player’s Course Handicap
(CH) from his respective tee. Player A has a CH of 25 from the Gold tees;
Player B has a CH of 21 from the White tees. At this stage, the difference is
four strokes.
The second step is to look at the Course Rating for each
tee. The Gold rating is 67.1; the White rating is 69.0. The White tees are
rated two strokes harder than the Gold tees (69–67.1=1.9, rounded to 2). The
player hitting from the Gold tees must subtract two strokes from the handicap
difference between the two players, since the course he is playing is two
strokes easier.
4–2=2: Player A, playing from the Gold tees with a 25 CH, is
entitled to two handicap strokes from Player B with a 21 CH, who is playing
from the White tees.
Linda
Copyright © 2015 Linda Miller. All rights reserved.
