Handicap capped competitions.

[Diamond]

Myself and a friend are high handicappers 29 and 32 HI. We play in the weekend competitions and on Saturday we found out the medal had capped the handicap to 32. The previous week there was no cap and a quick check showed the midweek afternoon roll up was also capped.
There has been no communication about this and all comps are £5.00 entry so we were literally walking to the 1st tee when we realised. To put it into context the 32 HI player was playing a medal with 5 less shots than normal handicap. (That includes 95% of handicap based on the competition rules.)

1) Does anyone else’s club cap the handicap for all competitions and if so was it communicated to all members?
2) How is the decision made on a cap when the new system sets the maximum to 54?

For 2 new golfers to the game and paying a 7 day membership it doesn’t seem right in how it has been implemented.

 

[rulefan]

It is not unusual for clubs to limit Playing Handicaps particularly for honours board comps (often an historic aberration when the establishment thought no one should get more that one shot a hole).

However, they cannot limit a player's Course Handicap for subsequent handicap calculations.

 

[Diamond]

It is not unusual for clubs to limit Playing Handicaps particularly for honours board comps (often an historic aberration when the establishment thought no one should get more that one shot a hole).

However, they cannot limit a player's Course Handicap for subsequent handicap calculations.

I don’t have a problem with it if I knew before I entered. This has just been brought in and no comms, it also looks like it is a cap across the board.

 

[NearHull]

We cap most of our Competitions. Each competition is listed in our Terms of Competition with its entry criteria, format, tees etc including maximum HI that is applied.

The Terms of Competition are held on the club website and the membership has been informed a few times where they are and asked to read them……..but you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink!

 

[Diamond]

We cap most of our Competitions. Each competition is listed in our Terms of Competition with its entry criteria, format, tees etc including maximum HI that is applied.

The Terms of Competition are held on the club website and the membership has been informed a few times where they are and asked to read them……..but you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink!

That’s the proper way of doing it. Not adding caps part way through a season.

 

[NearHull]

The club championship is capped at an HI that gives a maximum Course Handicap of 12 off whites, following issues last year (or was it 2019) when some members with realistic chances of winning the gross couldn’t get a tee time as it was oversubscribed. We do have a Nett prize but the Club Champion is really about the Scratch winner.

 

[Diamond]

The club championship is capped at an HI that gives a maximum Course Handicap of 12 off whites, following issues last year (or was it 2019) when some members with realistic chances of winning the gross couldn’t get a tee time as it was oversubscribed. We do have a Nett prize but the Club Champion is really about the Scratch winner.

That is the same as my club and the only competition that is advertised with a handicap limit.

 

[NearHull]

The club championship is capped at an HI that gives a maximum Course Handicap of 12 off whites, following issues last year (or was it 2019) when some members with realistic chances of winning the gross couldn’t get a tee time as it was oversubscribed. We do have a Nett prize but the Club Champion is really about the Scratch winner.

I’ve just double checked the Terms of Competition ( which I drafted) to find it is an HI of 15.7 to give a Course Handicap of 18. Memory failure!

 

[Neilds]

I think a few places are getting caught out by not making it clear whether the limit is playing handicap or HI, certainly been a few threads about a leagues etc on here

 

[NearHull]

I think a few places are getting caught out by not making it clear whether the limit is playing handicap or HI, certainly been a few threads about a leagues etc on here

We went through every competition and where there was an handicap limit using the old system, we extrapolated back from Course Handicap to determine the Handicap Index for that tee. Whilst it is accurate, it certainly looks a bit ‘clunky’ on the entry criteria notices.

 

[rulefan]

I hope those clubs that have capped strokeplay rounds as eliminators leading to knockout rounds remember that England Golf (or CONGU) ruled that capping of the KO matches was not permitted.

 

[D-S]

I hope those clubs that have capped strokeplay rounds as eliminators leading to knockout rounds remember that England Golf (or CONGU) ruled that capping of the KO matches was not permitted.

Is that published anywhere?

 

[rulefan]

Is that published anywhere?

It was originally published here https://www.englandgolf.org/article/qualifying-scores-and-competitions/ but it seems to have been moved.

 

[jim8flog]

The only comps we cap are Opens and set our knockouts with handicap groupings.

In my view all members pay the same fee and should be entitled to play in all club normal medals. If you want to segregate different handicap levels do it by divisions or having a separate comp on the same day for higher handicaps.

Our club championship is a Scratch Championship and it is very rare for anybody above a single figure handicap to enter it . We have a separate Handicap Championship.

 

[Diamond]

Is that published anywhere?

Yes on England Golf I read it last night. KO's are not to be capped and they recommend that all comps that are capped are clearly stated.
I also realized that a cap of 32 in our board comps and roll ups is a handicap index of 28. So that means if you play off 32 HI currently you need to get down to 28 which works out at 5 shots on actual handicap and I would argue that giving 5 shots to a field of 200 players is tough especially when you are trying to get into a new sport. To bring it in across all comps a week into June without any communication is quite frankly piss poor.

 

[wjemather]

Yes on England Golf I read it last night. KO's are not to be capped and they recommend that all comps that are capped are clearly stated.

Do you have the link please? The current "Defining Handicap Limits in Competitions" guidance does not mention this.

 

[rulefan]

Do you have the link please? The current "Defining Handicap Limits in Competitions" guidance does not mention this.

Interesting. When I queried EG about the missing link I mentioned in #13 I was pointed to the link you have above. Although I specifically asked about KO caps there was no direct answer to the question.

However, I wonder if the final paragraph is supposed to mean anything relevant.

It should be noted that all the percentage allowances listed in the Rules of Handicapping, used for calculating the playing handicap for competition purposes, are mandatory within the CONGU jurisdiction.

 

[rulefan]

I have now received a response from EG.
To paraphrase:- "WHS does not forbid the capping of the Playing handicap, however it is EG's belief that it is against the spirit of the game and should be avoided if possible".

 

[LincolnShep]

2) How is the decision made on a cap when the new system sets the maximum to 54?

The old handicap system had a max of 54 too - it changed from 28 (for men) on 1st Jan 2018. I realise that's pedantic and doesn't answer your question, but there does seem to be a belief that 54 handicaps and WHS went hand-in-hand.

 

[IanM]

I have now received a response from EG.
To paraphrase:- "WHS does not forbid the capping of the Playing handicap, however it is EG's belief that it is against the spirit of the game and should be avoided if possible".

I can understand the sentiment. But no one wants the Club Championship won with a gross score of 136 (unless that's 36 holes!) I know our "plus handicappers" are better than me, let them get on with it!

We have all sorts of comps for different playing categories, all comps are in Divisions, all very biggies are scratch - we even have one called "The Ages Cup" - under 40, 40-60 and over 60. Seems to work nicely.