From Bill Geisler, SoHG Handicap Chair
June 2020
Here is an update on the status of the SoHG handicap system that is provided for the benefit of the membership. As you know, as of 2020 the majority of state golf associations, in conjunction with the USGA, moved to a new and improved GHIN handicap system based around The World Handicap System. Currently, the SoHG handicap system and mathematical calculator is similarly based on (but not identical to) the old GHIN handicap system. Scores posted on the SoHG website are updated immediately, and a player’s handicap is adjusted accordingly.
One drawback is that the SoHG system allows for only 18-hole scores to be posted. Nine-hole scores must be combined with another nine-hole score and be posted as one 18-hole round. Most courses have a nine-hole USGA Course Rating available in the pro shop or online. Noted below is the USGA statement on posting nine-hole scores. The details below are of no real importance to your SoHG posting, only that two nines can be combined from two different courses and from different tees played.
The most important point is to obtain the nine-hole slope and rating to enable combined nine-hole scores for an 18-hole posting. Please note Section 5-2d(ii) for the simple math calculation. Use the date of the last nine played as the 18-hole “play date” for posting
Note: From Section 5-2 of USGA Handicap System:
c. Posting Nine-Hole Scores
To be acceptable for handicap purposes, nine-hole scores must meet the following conditions:
(i) The course must have a nine-hole USGA Course Rating and Slope Rating;
(ii) At least seven holes must be played.
There is no restriction on the number of nine-hole scores posted to a player’s scoring record. Even if a player plays a majority of nine-hole rounds, that player can still utilize a Handicap Index (See Section 10-2) rather than a Handicap Index (N). (See Section 10-5 for computation of a Handicap Index (N).) (See Decision 5-2c/1.)
d. Treatment of Nine-Hole Scores
Once posted, a nine-hole score will be treated as follows:
(i) Nine-hole scores must not be designated as T-Scores;
(ii) When two nine-hole scores are combined, the USGA Course Rating is the sum of each nine-hole USGA Course Rating and the Slope Rating is the average of the Slope Rating of the two nines (if the average is .5, it is rounded upward to the next whole number);
(iii) Two nine-hole scores combined to create an 18-hole score should be designated with the letter C (e.g., 85C). If either of the two nine-hole scores was posted via Internet (See Section 5-2a(vi)), the score should be designated CI;
(iv) Nine-hole scores are combined in the order that they are received into the player’s scoring record from any club or from any combination of nines, regardless of score type. For example, a front nine middle tee score could combine with a front nine back tee score made from any course.
An 18-hole score created by the combination of two nine-hole scores will display the date and course name (if applicable) of the latest nine-hole score (e.g., April 29 and May 4 = May 4).
A nine-hole score will be retained for combination with another nine-hole score until it is older than the twentieth oldest eighteen-hole score in the scoring record, and nine-hole scores will be combined in the order they are received in the player’s record, and “not necessarily by date.”
As many of you may be playing nine holes as a normal schedule for golf each day, I encourage the use of combining nine-hole scores to keep an updated handicap. Many of our members are not keeping up with their postings of scores that keep handicaps current. We encourage all members to use the SoHG handicap system for keeping a current and reliable hickory handicap for their next hickory event. It’s the most equitable thing we can do while participating in your next SoHG or local hickory tournament. When posting scores, please use the utmost care in entering the slope and rating within the right “box”. On many occasions, a member will complain that the system is mathematically wrong, only to find on audit that the slope and rating entries were reversed. It’s a common mistake.
I hope that everyone is back to the links by now and is planning to play a local playing group event in the near future.
Best wishes to everyone, and for the love of hickory golf,
Bill Geisler