APL
GOLF LEAGUE HANDICAP SYSTEM
Overview
A
player must have a Current League Handicap Index to participate in 9-hole
Flight Play. For League Tournament Play,
if a player does not have a Current League Handicap Index, the player will be considered
a “scratch” (zero handicap) golfer until a League Handicap Index is
established.
The
USGA Handicap System uses differentials between adjusted gross scores and the
"USGA COURSE RATINGS" (not course par) as well as the “USGA COURSE
SLOPE” in handicap index calculations. The APL Handicap System uses the same
values and formulas as the USGA System, except in two circumstances. APL uses a different number of scores in the
calculations and APL uses ONLY rounds of golf played in the APL League. This will include league match rounds,
tournament rounds, and rounds play as a substitute. A description of the USGA Handicap System can
be found online at: http://www.usga.org/Handicapping.aspx?id=7792
Differentials are
obtained by subtracting the adjusted gross scores from the course rating, then
multiplying by (113 / course slope).
This makes the differential independent of the difficulty of the course
played. The formula is shown in TABLE I.
Handicap indexes
are calculated by averaging a number of differentials (based on how many scores
are available, up to 10), and rounding off to the nearest tenth. This formula is also shown in TABLE I.
Course
Handicap and Adjusted Course Handicap
When
playing a match in the league, you must compute your Adjusted Course Handicap
for the particular course you are going to play. To calculate the Course Handicap, you must
multiply your Handicap Index by the Course Slope and divide by 113, rounded to
the nearest integer. To compute your
Adjusted Course Handicap, you add the difference in course ratings (rounded to
the nearest integer) between the tees you will be playing and the rating of the
middle tees. This computation and
examples are shown in TABLE II. The USGA
has a very good publication describing this calculation and why it exists
at: http://www.usga.org/playing/handicaps/understanding_handicap/section_3-5_Brochure.pdf
For league golfers
who have scores on record (last two years), handicap determination will be in
accordance with this formula using the differentials already recorded. All
differentials are restricted on a per hole basis according to the U.S.G.A.
Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) System given in TABLE III. When fewer than 10
differentials are available, determine the number of differentials to be used
from Table I.
Tee
Box Rating and Slope
In the APL Golf
League, men play from the ‘middle’ tees, women play from the ‘forward’ tees,
seniors (men 60 and over) play from the ‘senior’ tees, and super seniors (men
80 and over) play from the ‘forward’ tees.
These three tee boxes are determined individually for each course played
(i.e. many courses have more than three tee boxes), but are generally the front
three tee-boxes available.
Tee box ratings and
slopes are generally available for men from the Middle and Senior tees and for
women from the Forward tees. Tee-box
ratings are generally not available for men from the Forward tees (which
is required for the super seniors).
Therefore a rating and slope must be calculated for the super seniors
using a table provided by the USGA (http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Handicap-System-Manual/Rule-05/ Section 5-2g). This table
computes ratings and slopes for ‘temporary tees’ based on the difference in
yardage between the nearest rated tees and the tees being played. These computed rating and slope values are
used for super seniors.
Definitions
of and Establishing a League Handicap
Definitions:
Current League Handicap
Index – The
League Handicap Index on record for the current year or from the previous two
years.
Current USGA Handicap Index - A USGA Handicap Index is
issued through licensed golf clubs that follow all the procedures of the
established USGA Handicap System™,* (for example www.msga.org, www.pagolf.org, www.vsga.org, etc…) AND must be publically verifiable.
* http://www.usga.org/handicapping/get_handicap/Getting-A-Handicap/, retrieved on 5/30/2013
Establishing a League Handicap Index:
Note: If you have a
Current League Handicap Index, this section is not applicable.
9-hole
Flight Play – To establish a League Handicap Index for 9-hole Flight Play,
a player is required to have a current USGA Handicap Index (as defined above) OR may submit the scores and course
information (slope, rating, and tees played from) for two nine-hole qualifying
rounds (where the lower of these two scores will be used to establish the
golfer's handicap index for the first league match).
Substitutes
(Flight Play) - To establish a League Handicap Index for play as a
Substitute, a player is required to have a current USGA Handicap Index (as
defined above) OR must participate
in an APL Individual Stroke Play tournament**.
League
Tournament Play – To establish a League Handicap Index for League
Tournament Play, a player is required to have a current USGA Handicap Index (as
defined above) OR must participate
in an APL Individual Stroke Play tournament**.
In the event of a dispute or a special consideration involving the
establishment of a player’s league handicap, the Executive Committee shall be
responsible for making the final determination.
** The resulting
scores from the APL Individual Stroke Play tournament will be used to establish
the player’s League Handicap Index in the same manner as 9-hole Flight Play (as
defined above) with the tournament scores used in lieu of “qualifying rounds”.
Handicap Updates
Since many golfers
are now playing in multiple flights, it was determined that golfers should have
a single handicap across all flights played in.
(At one time, golfers maintained a different handicap for each flight
and they were sometimes quite disparate from flight to flight). In order to maintain a single handicap for
each golfer, all scores for each flight are used in this computation.
In order to
maintain some type of synchronization, it was then decided to update handicaps
on a periodic basis (as opposed to updating them after every match
played). It should be fairly clear why
this is necessary. Say a golfer is
playing in two flights and plays one match on Monday for flight A and on
Tuesday plays another match in flight B.
How does this golfer know what handicap to use on Tuesday?
Short of requiring
all golfers maintain their own handicaps, it was decided to update league
handicaps periodically. Specifically,
handicaps are updated every Sunday at midnight.
Therefore, when a golfer plays in more than one match in a particular
week (independent of when the match was scheduled), they will use the same
handicap index for each of these matches.
Of course, for each match you must compute your Adjusted Course Handicap
(based on course slope and the difference between the rating for the middle
tees and the tees being played).
A
note for players with newly established league indexes; for the first handicap
index update, the lower of the low qualifying round and the score of the first
league match will be used for determining the handicap index. After the second
league match has been played, the low qualifying round is dropped from any
further consideration and from then on TABLE I is used as the basis for
handicap updates.
This Handicap System is
designed to accomplish the following things:
A.
Provide
fair handicaps for as many golfers as possible, even though their
abilities vary widely.
B.
Reflect
the player's inherent ability as well as his recent scoring trends.
C.
Automatically
adjust the playing handicap down or up as his game changes.
D.
Disregard
freak high scores or holes that bear little relation to the player's normal
ability.
E.
Make
it difficult for the player to obtain an unfairly large handicap increase at
any revision period.
F.
Establish
handicaps useful for all golf from formal league play to informal games.
TABLE I
HANDICAP INDEX COMPUTATION
|
# rounds |
1-3 |
4-5 |
6-7 |
8-9 |
10 |
|
#differentials |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Differential
= (Adj Gross Score – Crs
Rating) * (113 / Crs Slope) Handicap index = 0.96 *
differential average (truncated to nearest tenth) Example 1: Last 10 Differentials =
4.5, 5.6, 3.4, 8.7, 6.8, 10.2, 4.3, 8.8, 6.2, 4.8 Lowest 5 Differentials =
4.5, 5.6, 3.4, 4.3, 4.8 Handicap Index = 0.96 * (22.6
/ 5) = 4.3 Example 2: Only 4 Differentials =
13.4, 16.7, 21.2, 13.9 Lowest 2 Differentials =
13.4, 13.9 Handicap Index = 0.96 * (27.3 / 2) = 13.1 |
|||||
MAXIMUM HANDICAP INDEX =
30.0
TABLE II
ADJUSTED COURSE HANDICAP COMPUTATIONS
|
Course Handicap = Handicap Index * ( Crs Slope / 113 ) (Rounded to nearest integer) Adjusted Course Handicap = Course Handicap + (Tee Rating
– Middle Rating) Example 1: Female
golfer with an index of 4.2
playing on a course with a rating of 35.6 from the middle tees and a rating
and slope of 36.7 and 123 from the forward tees. Handicap index = 4.2. Example 2: Senior
golfer with an index of 13.1 playing
on a course with a rating of 35.6 from the middle tees and a rating and slope
of 34.7 and 134 from the senior tees. Handicap index = 13.1. |
TABLE III
USGA Handicap System : Equitable Stroke Control
|
9-hole Course Handicap |
Maximum Score on Any Hole |
|
4 or less |
Double Bogey |
|
5 through 9 |
7 |
|
10 through 14 |
8 |
|
15 through 19 |
9 |
|
20 or more |
10 |
Last
Updated: 22-MAR-2014