While you have been in the lockdown period and, no doubt, itching to get out on the course to swing a club, GolfRSA has requested HNA to add an interesting new feature to the Score Entry screen – and it will be available to you when you enter your first score after the lockdown. We are sure you will find these new additions easy to use and intuitive.
The background to the change is that GolfRSA is busy with small amendments to ensure that the Handicap Committees of all users of the HNA Handicap system, namely South Africa and the SADC countries, have the necessary information to fulfil their obligations during the Handicap Review process.
Club Handicap Committees are one of the most important stakeholders to ensure that we can vouch that the Handicap Indexes (HI) of all golfers whose handicaps are managed by HNA are fully transportable and fully compliant to meet the requirements of the World Handicap System (WHS).
The slide below indicates the criteria that Handicap Committees need to consider during a Handicap Review of their members.
Based on the current understanding of the nature of rounds submitted for handicapping purposes, the default setting is for Individuals playing a social Stroke Play round, meaning that golfers can submit the majority of their scores with no need to supply any additional information.
The landing page when a golfer wants to enter a score on the App now looks like the image below:
If the golfer has played an Individual Social Round of Stroke Play (with a marker), they can enter their score as they have previously been doing.
Different Scenarios
1. Round was played in a team, not as an Individual
There are, however, certain circumstances where a golfer played in a team. The definition of a team is when a golfer plays with a partner/s (Better Ball or Alliance). Refer to the Rules of Golf, Rule 3.1b.
Should this be the case, the golfer should select the “Individual” tab and the option to select Team will come up. Select Team.
2. The round was not Social, but a Competition
Should the game not be a Social round, but a Competition round, the golfer should click on the “Social” tab and select Competition.
A Competition round is any round played against a clearly-defined field where a golfer is competing against other golfers within organised parameters.
Competition rounds include (but are not limited to):
- Club competitions
- Tournaments
- Championships
- League matches
- Corporate golf days
A Social round is any round where there is no clearly-defined field or competition.
3. Stroke Play or Match Play
Should the round played be a Match Play and not a Stroke Play round, click on the “Strokeplay” tab and select Match Play. The definition for Match Play and Stroke Play is as defined in the Rules of Golf, Rule 3.1a.
In summary, when the golfer has played a Social Match Play round he/she only has to change one of the tabs and it would look as follows:
We are a group of seniors (50+) who play every Tuesday. Every competition (game) is played as a competition and varies from a monthly singles (IPS) to a betterball and also alliance formats.
If I understand your newsletter correctly all scores entered, except for “illegal” rounds such as scramble drives, etc. should then be considered as strokeplay and as competition rounds.
The management team is very strict in applying the Rules of Golf and associated conduct on the course. We also encourage players to play out (nett bogey plus) and not to pick up when their partner(s) are in the hole.
I assume that all rounds should thus be treated as strokeplay and competition rounds in team format except for the monthly IPS which should then be individual competition.
I was informally requested to brief the players on this once we can start playing after the lockdown.
Hi Frans, I hope you’re keeping well. Your understanding is correct.