Dear Members,

The Wisley’s seasonal competition calendar is renowned for the number of events held as well as the variety of formats and the professional approach to how they are conducted. A key element in this regard is a remit managed by the Handicap Committee (“HCC”) to provide a platform to compete from a fair and equitable base for both competitive and social golf.

England Golf (EG) mandates that every Golf Club must have a HCC, that it be made up of a majority of Members, and that an annual review as well as result based reviews are held. In addition to this base end of year review The Wisley conducts a second review on the 30th of June. For absolute clarity, every Member that holds an EG index, is reviewed individually based upon all scores that they have posted during the period 1st January – 30th June as well as over an extended period should that be warranted.

The chart below highlights the data that is reviewed –

This table allows for one of the most important review criteria i.e. is a player regularly achieving a better score in a competition environment versus General Play scorecards recorded. If this pattern stands out, the HCC conducts further analysis to fully understand the reasons behind this pattern.

Using the same thinking allows you to review the other players listed in the table. Thank you for taking your time to read this section (and possibly reread), if you’re wondering how many members were reviewed over the six month period the answer is 484 (not being reviewed is due to no scores being posted).

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Before we move to some of the facts and figures, the table below is a reminder of the odds of shooting an improved differential versus playing handicap when playing in a competition.

The Wisley’s HCC has performed 38 reviews YTD of which there were 17 downward adjustments and 2 upward adjustments. Please click here to visit the Club’s dedicated HCC page. This proactive and real time approach to handicap reviews continues to be a success. This is evident by the wide variety of competition winners as well as the news that the HCC’s six monthly review resulted in no adjustments being necessary.

As a reminder a review is performed whenever a member betters their index by more than three in any Club competition as well as when an EG report highlights a score or pattern that should be scrutinised. The criteria that EG request be followed is:

• Has the golfer demonstrated a new level of ability
• Is the player demonstrating a new scoring pattern
• Is there a difference in scoring in the various forms of play
• Peer review

Whilst the WHS software effectively manages Handicap Indexes the vast majority of the time there are occasions when the software is not able to act quickly enough, or a golfer’s ability has changed significantly (whether for better or worse); it is for these reasons that EG mandate that every club has a HCC.

 

2025 Competition Eligibility

As stated in the opening paragraph, EG mandate that each Club must have a HCC the purpose of which is to provide a platform to compete from a fair and equitable base for both competitive and social golf.

Given the importance that Members place on competitive golf the HCC and CYC are determined that an index should represent a golfers current demonstrated ability. To achieve this requires that a golfer’s index is up to date, something achieved best by posting regular score cards. As such from 1st January 2025 eligibility will require that a golfer is required to post –

Four competition score cards in the previous twelve months, AND;
Two score cards in the previous six months, of which at least one must be a competition score.
This Competition Eligibility requirement will apply on the date of play and for knock out competitions it is the responsibility of the competitors to ensure they are eligible at the time they play their match.

 

Multi Tee Competitions

On April 1st 2024 EG adopted the CR minus par approach to calculating a player’s course handicap. As a result of this change, The Wisley played two pilot competitions in July allowing Members to choose which “tee to play from” which in turn influenced that days playing handicap. The data from the July competitions is being reviewed. No further tests are planned for 2024 competitions. It may be deemed appropriate to conduct a further test in 2025, though at this time the feedback received strongly supports the historical same tee approach.

 

General Play Scorecards

England Golf now offer HCCs the option to consider a scorecard from a round that was not pre-registered. Whilst EG have not shared why they are offering this option it is well known (in golf administration circles) that many clubs felt frustrated that a golfer who played a very good round could not post the score. You may remember that under the prior (CONGU) system a golfer always had the option to submit a general play card for review. So, should you have a round that you did not pre-register though wanted to post the score you can now submit that card to the Pro Shop who will then forward the card to the HCC for consideration with the caveat that the score to be posted is better than one’s current playing handicap i.e. the score to be posted will lower your handicap.

The HCC is committed to providing the fairest and most equitable platform to enjoy your golf. Should you receive a review email over the remainder of the season – well played, you’ve earned it!

 

Best regards,
The Wisley HCC
Stuart Owens, Keith Fleming, Martin Botha & Ian Cox