Handicap Reduction Policy (Revised 8/24/2016)
Club Members: Article II of our By-Laws state: “This organization is formed for the express purpose of promoting the sport of golf at Sun City Lincoln Hills Club in accordance with these By-Law and the Rules of the game of golf”. Your current board, as well as past boards, has had a responsibility to make sure that our members post their scores. The posting of scores is essential to have accurate GHIN index numbers for a club’s membership. Thus, the GHIN index is essential for maintaining equity in competition among members in both club tournaments and Tuesday sweeps.
If you have been reading the Handicap Chairman’s Linksletter reports this year, you probably understand that the Board wants to ensure that all of our members in all skill levels can compete against each other on an equitable basis. This action, mandated by the USGA, is to ensure that our Men’s Club is complying with the USGA Handicap System. Consequently, as directed by Article VI, section E, the Handicap Committee has the responsibility of making sure that each player has a Handicap Index that reflects potential ability. From time to time, the Handicap Committee, Board members, members of the Club, and even the NCGA may feel that there are exceptional scores being turned in during our events that may suggest that an individual’s index is in question. When this occurs, the Handicap Committee, with the Boards approval, will be initiating the following rules that are in agreement with the rules set by the USGA, as it pertains to a player’s Handicap Index. The Handicap Committee will use the following process to address and index concern as raised by the NCGA.
First, when the Board receives a letter from the NCGA about one of our members playing to their handicap with unusual regularity and/or outperforming their handicap by wide margins in NCGA events, the NCGA will reduce our member’s handicap for all NCGA competitions. Consequently, the Handicap Chairman will also make sure that this adjustment is also applied to any of our NCGA Tournaments.
Second, for those members that do not regularly play in NCGA events but also play consistently below their index in our events, the Handicap Committee, along with the Board’s approval, will follow the same standard that is set for the NCGA, by following the USGA formula for an index reduction. This reduction will remain in place for 90 days and will be reviewed every 90 days. The Handicap Committee will lift a modified Handicap Index when subsequent scores posted to a player’s scoring record produce a lower Handicap Index or is no longer needed.
In summary, this action being taken by the Handicap Committee, along with the Boards approval, is not to suggest that we have a serious problem within our Club. In fact, the opposite is true.
Dave Jansen,
Handicap Chairman
