It's a parallel with the old approach (still maintained in many clubs) that people need to have returned cards in three competitions in the 12 months prior to a board/trophy event.
"So, it's ok for the normal run of the mill club comps that don't matter too much ?"
Bob,
As hamshanker has just posted, and as I would be happy to bet, there are a large number of clubs who have an element of differential qualification between board/trophy events and 'others'. It can include handicap status, membership period, number of returns in previous year/rolling 12 months/current year or for new handicap allocations, play in at least one 'other' event prior.
All have their routes in something that happened at the club, or previous club for the rule makers. Few are reviewed and, when new things like 'inactive handicap status' come along there's rarely rational consideration of what's trying to be achieved.
Our club, as set out previously, starts from a policy of 'inclusion' and works back from there. We accept that most of the above eligibility steps are mere hurdles, rather than barriers, to anyone wishing to circumvent the system and attempt to manipulate their chances of a win. We choose to place more hurdles in the case of board/trophy events, but accept that they are only such.
In the case of inactive handicaps, there is very little risk associated with their inclusion per se; at the end of a calendar year people can still have an active handicap without returning a Q score (or an S) for nearly 2 years, whilst at the beginning they could have returned 3 in the last 13 months ie it's a technicality.
