Dear Golfer
This month, following some great feedback from last month’s interview with a club handicap committee member, we bring you another interview with one of the most knowledgeable club administrators out there. We also revisit what the Registered Round Percentage means in your golf profile.
HANDICAP NEWS
You will notice that each player has a Registered Round Percentage listed on their profile. In summary, this indicates how many of a golfer’s last 20 scores were opened before play started. Rounds not opened before play will be considered non-registered rounds and will affect the percentage negatively.
A requirement of the World Handicap System™ and in terms of the Golf RSA Rules of Handicapping, golfers are obliged to ensure a round is opened before play.
To make sure a round is opened before play, some clubs have the ability to do this for you via their point of sale systems. Alternatively, the player can open a round for themselves via the phone apps or terminals situated at the club.
While this percentage has no effect on the player’s Handicap Index®, some club competition organizers only allow players with a minimum percentage (normally 75-80%) to compete in their competitions.
As a reminder the onus falls on the player to make sure their rounds are registered.
FEATURE: CLUB HANDICAPPER INTERVIEW
We continue our discussions with another club administrator who is involved with handicaps. In this issue of the newsletter, we are talking to Louis Du Plessis (LDP), who has long held this role at Akasia Golf Club in Pretoria.
As we commented in our first discussion with Eagle Canyon’s club handicap committee member, HNA is not an entirely robotic and ‘remote’ system, but relies on a ‘custodian’ at each golf club – the club’s golf handicapper, which brings us to this issue’s Q&A with Louis Du Plessis.
Louis was appointed in 2012 by the club as its handicapper, but this was not how he became involved with Akasia, as I soon discovered.
HNA: Are you a golfer, and what prompted you to take up the role as the handicapper at Akasia?
LDP: I would say that I was a former golfer, so although I don’t play golf now, I know my way around the game!
Being involved with the handicaps came about largely as the result of being asked to help out the club in another role.
In 2002, the club had been having some management ‘issues’, and the then club manager asked me if I would like to help out. I live near the club, had spare time available, and so this wasn’t an issue for me.
HNA: So, you crossed over the road to help out, and never came back!
LDP: Exactly, and the club has been most generous, (I am paid for my time), and over the years, and I have taken on other responsibilities, such as starting the competition fields, checking the cards, looking after the golf days, etc.
HNA: I presume that you still do not play, but have you ever been tempted to take up the game again?
LDP: I am a cancer survivor (no big deal, there are plenty of us), and I have my hands full with the work I do at the club, so I have never been tempted back out onto the fairways!!
HNA: Cancer is a ‘bad lie’ for anyone to get, to use a golfing analogy, so it’s great to hear that you are a survivor.
During our previous discussion with Cindy Merrington, we played around with various terms such as ‘policing’, and ‘custodian’, and whether handicappers need a bullet proof vest!
Does a handicapper need to be popular, and what do you see as your key functions?
LDP: I don’t see the need to be popular as such, but I think that if you are fair and consistent in how you apply the rules, then you should be able to avoid most of the snipers!
I am also always quick to point out, to those who are unhappy with decisions, especially those who like to make up their own rules, when a handicap index or scorecard is involved, that they should remember that I am only applying the required rules, not making them!
HNA: Absolutely! One of the things, when I was much younger, that drew me to golf. First the structure – the rules were there, you followed them and didn’t ‘make up stuff’, as you went along.
The other BIG plus for me was having the complete responsibility for everything that happened, with no team mates to blame or a fall back on – very character building, and one reason why I have always believed that golf should be a compulsory sport and schools, because one thing is for sure, life is going to be full of rules and it is not a team game, so what better tool-kit for someone young to have, as they start out in life?!
LDP: Yes, hasn’t life changed, and the rules are there to be followed, so really, they make life easier for everyone, because without that structure, as you call it, everything becomes much too loose and uncontrolled.
HNA: Knowing the club’s members is a key factor in the role, so do you think that continuity and some sort of legacy are important elements?
LDP: Yes, they are, and it is the only thing that worries me about how we are currently set-up at Akasia, in that I have not yet been able to persuade the committee to have at least 2 committee members, or other members understand how the handicap process functions – but I am working on it.
HNA: If you could play ‘King’ for a day, what changes, if any, would you like to see to in terms of how handicaps are monitored and or managed?
LDP: Overall, I am very happy with the HNA system. I mean they had a bit of a technical blip a few weeks ago, but they communicated well (they are always open to a discussion or to other comments, which I think is very good and important), and have sorted out the issues well, and seem to have made the system even more stable.
My wish refers back to the earlier point about legacy, because as the handicap index is such an important part of golf, I would like to see every club being able to have at least 3 people, including the handicapper, completely comfortable with the process, even if only one of them is actually active.
Here is the link to the Golf RSA Handicap Related Guidelines, which we suggest is a great resource for clubs and or committees to make use of.
GOLF NEWS AND TIPS
- Dutch golfers denied Olympics by their own country: ‘We don’t think you’re worthy’
- Lee Westwood: The watching fans are the losers in LIV Golf and PGA Tour disputes
- Miles Russell is technically not allowed to do this at Detroit GC during his PGA Tour debut because he’s so young
- Golf shop employee downs 3 beers, qualifies for PGA Tour debut via marathon playoff
- Golf’s most accurate driver shares 3 keys for hitting more fairways
SHARE YOUR GOLF STORIES AND WIN!
Thanks to everyone who took the time last month to share their funny and interesting golf stories. We’ll feature our favorite next month and send the winner their prize.
Please keep them coming! If you have any stories, send them to info@handicaps.co.za for a chance to be featured. If your story is selected, you’ll win a dozen Srixon golf balls!
Quote of the Month
“Placing the ball in the right position for the next shot is eighty percent of winning golf.” – Ben Hogan
Swing easy!
The Handicaps Team
