This new year, the EGA (European Golf Association) published a document covering the changes to the handicap system for all you golfers. All European golf federations have accepted and approved these changes apart from the British federation, which will continue to use the C.O.N.G.U. handicap system.
Furthermore, there is also an initiative to unify al handicap system in order to create one, easily transportable handicap for golfers around the world. The following changes have been made bearing this plan in mind.
According to the official document, the changes include:
There is now the option to stop the increasing of the handicap for players within category 5 with results under the neutral zone. After talks with different EGA federations, a shortage of competition results is due to the fact that golfers do not want their handicap to go up, not only to maintain their golfing status but also to gain access to certain golf courses. This new system means that player’s handicaps would not increase each time they had a bad result, they would just decrease. For those who want their handicap to increase, you can submit it for review to your competition committee.
Handicap reviews for players in the 5th category, will take place on the 1st of April, the 1st of July, the 1st of October and the 1st of January every year. Players that want this review must hand in at least 4 valid rounds since their last review.
Other notable modifications include the changing of the maximum handicap of the EGA which will now be 54. There will also be a new 6th handicap category which will use the rules of the club.
But it is also important to remember that a national federation can lower the maximum handicap as well as establish a maximum for golfers from other national federations with higher maximum handicaps.
From now on 9 holes competitions are valid from and including 2nd category handicap players. This change has been made with the intention of leading to more rounds on activity sheets (and thus more information about the player).
Changes have been made to the algorithms to make handicaps more reliable. These are now available on the RFEG site.
If a federation want to award the first handicap, they must present a latter to justify the given handicap. The handicap is not valid until the player had presented 3 rounds.
Make sure that all you golfers read these changes and ensure that your handicap is correct! If you would like more information regarding the new changes to handicap system, click here.
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