Changing National Association

[jim8flog]

I have a friend who moved from England to Scotland.

The club that he joined would not accept his England Golf handicap record and he has to start from scratch has gone from 7 handicap here to a 1 handicap there (no way is he 1 handicap player).

Anybody know of anything similar.

 

[fundy]

is this in olden times or under the new world handicap system?

 

[Colin L]

I have a friend who moved from England to Scotland.

The club that he joined would not accept his England Golf handicap record and he has to start from scratch has gone from 7 handicap here to a 1 handicap there (no way is he 1 handicap player).

Anybody know of anything similar.

I hope not. That is wrong and, I hope, uniquely wrong. He doesn't have an England Golf handicap record. He has a WHS handicap record which is held by England Golf and which should be transferred to Scottish Golf. His handicap index should be unchanged: the world of the World Handicap System incorporates both England and Scotland.

When you say he has had to start from scratch, do you mean by submitting the 54 holes worth of scores for a new handicap?

 

[jim8flog]

Colin I am not totally sure it came to me via another friend.

I have been meaning to email him to confirm. Knowing him very well he is not the type of person to make a fuss but will just put in loads of cards ASAP.

 

[Colin L]

This is the guidance given to players who go abroad for a month or more and are going to play competitive golf:

If the period is of a longer nature (e.g. the player regularly spends a month or more abroad) then they should take with them a copy of the last 20 scores supporting their Handicap Index. The foreign jurisdiction will take this and set up the handicap record locally. Typically in these situations the player is a member of an overseas club in that jurisdiction and plays competitively whilst resident there.

That's not for a permanent change of country, but I'd suggest the process is the same: your friend should hand over a copy of his last 20 score and ask for them to be entered in the WHS Index in order to continue his handicap.

 

[jim8flog]

Colin

Checked with him today and he was asked for 3 cards.

I have forwarded your info to him.

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 30522]

I have a friend who moved from England to Scotland.

The club that he joined would not accept his England Golf handicap record and he has to start from scratch has gone from 7 handicap here to a 1 handicap there (no way is he 1 handicap player).

Anybody know of anything similar.

Then all I can say is the Scottish Club have a match sec that needs to brush up a bit.

Yes he will have to get a new CDH number, but he should have got the last 20 scores from the English Club and input them in order so that his 'new' handicap started exactly where he was.

Look at it the other way around, say your mate puts in 3 cards, he plays poorly, gets a 20 handicap, and romps home in the first major of the season....how does the H'cap sec look then?

 

[jim8flog]

A further chat with him and he is not bothered about sorting it out he has already put in a load more cards and feels his latest handicap is fairly reflective of where he plays now which is an easier course with more consistent greens.

 

[Robster59]

Having myself moved from England to Scotland, I have to say that it's a new one on me. I appreciate your friend has put in plenty of cards, but it's perhaps something the handicap secretary still needs to be made aware of as I think he's got it wrong.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Sounds a right shambles but not surprising several of our away members whose home club is in Scotland had all sorts of problems getting scores onto their handicap record early season due to the England and Scottish golf incompetence.

Workaround in place is still a faff I believe, its about time the Golf Unions grew up and started talking to each other.

My mate played over the border last week and the comp score is still not on his record while the 2 away comps he has played in England are showing.

 

[Swango1980]

Well, one of the big selling points of WHS was that it meant handicaps were transferable between national authorities. The person in charge of handicaps at this Scottish club makes an absolute mockery of that.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Well, one of the big selling points of WHS was that it meant handicaps were transferable between national authorities. The person in charge of handicaps at this Scottish club makes an absolute mockery of that.

The problem is not the club's, it is the National Unions that are using incompatible systems and are doing nothing about it.

 

[Swango1980]

The problem is not the club's, it is the National Unions that are using incompatible systems and are doing nothing about it.

I agree that the software and compatibility is most likely still shocking. And, we've not directly heard what the club has said. If they said that the player's handicap should be compatible, but there is no easy way for them to transfer it, and so to make things easier just start again, then perhaps I'd have more sympathy (though I'd rather they harass the national authority to sort the issue out).

However, the OP implied that the club would simply not accept his previous scoring history when they perhaps could have done from a technical stand point. That would be wrong of them to do so.

 

[Deleted member 30522]

Well, one of the big selling points of WHS was that it meant handicaps were transferable between national authorities. The person in charge of handicaps at this Scottish club makes an absolute mockery of that.

it was, so how come no two countries in the world have systems that talk to each other? Absolute shambles, half arsed implementation.

 

[wjemather]

The problem is not the club's, it is the National Unions that are using incompatible systems and are doing nothing about it.

The club are absolutely at fault here - there is simply no excusing them. Although it would simplify the process for handicap committees, you plainly do not need the different systems to talk to each other in order to have transferability between jurisdictions - the process for doing so is very clearly laid out and it isn't arduous or time consuming.

 

[Colin L]

I agree that the software and compatibility is most likely still shocking. And, we've not directly heard what the club has said. If they said that the player's handicap should be compatible, but there is no easy way for them to transfer it, and so to make things easier just start again, then perhaps I'd have more sympathy (though I'd rather they harass the national authority to sort the issue out).

However, the OP implied that the club would simply not accept his previous scoring history when they perhaps could have done from a technical stand point. That would be wrong of them to do so.

The only "issue" in the situation that needs sorting out is at local club level. Jim has described a club which did not know how to deal with the handicap of a new member from an English club, a matter that doesn't surprise me at all, but which presumably didn't ask anyone who could have told it, something I do find surprising.

But all easily fixed and nothing to do with the national authority.

 

[D-S]

Is there a timescale for when EG and SG will not treat each other as ‘overseas’? Also will the ‘rounding versus exact’ anomaly be sorted out within CONGU ever or will it just be a permanent jurisdictional difference?

 

[Deleted member 3432]

My mate who played 'overseas' the other day has to submit his score manually for it to go on his handicap record.
Pre WHS it would has been on his record as soon as comp was closed.
Shambles.....he's not bothering and I don't blame him.

 

[Colin L]

I wouldn't know about a timescale but the CONGU guidance document states ,
There is currently no automatic post-back of scores between different jurisdictions and this facility will not be available in the short to medium term.

As to the anomaly of England, Wales and Ireland rounding course handicaps before applying handicap allowances instead of after, it will be of scant significance if it doesn't change.

 

[Colin L]

My mate who played 'overseas' the other day has to submit his score manually for it to go on his handicap record.
Pre WHS it would has been on his record as soon as comp was closed.
Shambles.....he's not bothering and I don't blame him.

I regularly get scores from a member who plays often in Ireland. A few moments for them to make and email a screen grab of their scorecard and less than half a minute for me to enter it in their WHS record.

There's an awful lot of exaggeration for effect going on in here.