I have been following various news letters, blogs and chats that have been discussing the new handicap system (used for almost 1 year now) in South Africa with a great deal of interest and noted 2 points specifically that I would like to comment on.

Firstly, many of the people who are complaining about the new system are laying the blame at the door of National Golf Network (“NGN”) because we run the handicap network is South Africa and several other countries. If you pay close attention to the words that I have used you should understand the reality of the situation a little better. NGN provides the network , hardware and software that the system runs on. The SAGA determines the rules, formulas and calculations to be used on the system.

I have sometimes referred to this as the Pen, Paper, Calculator principal: We provide clubs with the tools (could just as easy have been a pen, paper and a calculator) to calculate whatever handicap formulae they need to. Then all we did is link them all up together and viola! the worlds first 100% handicap network.

Secondly, many people ask me to decide what would be the perfect handicap system. On this I can say that I have recently travelled from to various countries, conferences and meetings where I came to understand (a little better) the formulas (systems) and networks used in Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Namibia, Australia, New Zealand and England. In each country some people love the system and some hate it. Many complain and other defend but very few people actually listen to what the other is saying.

I could certainly not tell you at this stage what I thought the perfect handicap system is but I can tell you what I would like to see happen to move our (or any of the other systems) in the right direction.

1.) I think the last 2 changes (which we have finally rolled out to be effective from November handicap calculations, will be interesting. They will see variable ratings for courses based on the actual performance of the field and also automatic and consistently applied penalty calculations. It might to add to the confusion initially but they are useful amendments;

2.) I think we should register every single round of golf to ensure that we have accurate industry stats and that we can require people to capture a score for every round played. That means more accurate handicaps whatever formula you use. This should be mandatory and supported by all clubs;

3.) I think we should confirm that the winners of every single competition, big or small, club or corporate, should put a score in (adjusted if need be for funny things like Mulligan's or scramble drives). The people taking home the prizes are more likely to have their handicaps affected than the poor sole coming in 10^th or worse. It is easy for any organiser to check the top 3 or so names have actually entered the correct score. Again it needs to be mandatory and supported by all club;

4.) I would like to see some guidelines on virtual clubs some of who (not all) are unethical and encourage internet score entry without the registration I suggested in point 1 above which obviously opens the door to easy manipulation (always possible but we don't have to make it easy for people); and

5.) I would like to see every round of golf, overseas or local, captured preferably to be taken into account in some way in determining the handicap but specifically for each golfers own purposes to accurately reflect your total golfing experience.

I certainly don't have all the answers, but my team and I at NGN would love to be part of making the handicap system better and better and we are always open to suggestions and comments about the network. Have you got the difference now?