FOUR BALL ALLOWANCE 90%

For those of you unable to attend the England Golf Handicap Roadshow on Monday of this week, I would like to try and add some clarification around the specific change to the handicap allowance in Betterball events.

It was made clear to attendees in respect of the Four Ball Better Ball Handicap Allowance: In both stroke play and match play the back marker will concede strokes to the other three players based on 90% of the difference between the full handicaps rather than 75% (3/4) as at present. This is mandatory.

Within the Rules of Golf in respect of match play a Four-Ball is defined as a match in which two players play their better ball against the better ball of two other players.

In respect of stroke play it is defined as a competition  in which two competitors play as partners. The lower score of the partners is the score for the hole.

The 90% allowance only applies to Four Ball formats so for example it does not apply to three or four man team events for which a club or governing authority can determine its own conditions.

A competition commenced in 2015 and still running beyond the implementation date in 2016 can still continue to exist outside of these conditions but thereafter will have to apply the mandatory changes. This of course may necessitate changes to your competition conditions for 2016.

Many have asked – why 90%? The only explanation I can pass on is that provided to the Roadshow.

•  Since the ¾ allowance was introduced in 2008, the CONGU Handicap Research Group have been investigating all options to find the best solution.
• Over the subsequent three years research was carried out using men’s and ladies singles scores combined as theoretical 4BBB pairings using full, 7/8 and 3/4 allowances. – The results indicated that 3/4 was too harsh and full was too generous.
• Further research was carried out to look at the impact that 7/8 and 90% would have on the top 4 leader board positions, 90% allowance was found to produce the most equitable results.
• In 2015 analysis of data from actual 4BBB events in England was used to test the potential change to 90%, this actual score data confirmed the theoretical and simulation analyses - that a change to a 90% allowance would have negligible impact on the leader boards.
• The findings included the observation that a high percentage of the top 10 teams were Cat 1 & Cat 2 players; that the top 4 teams typically remained in the top 4 positions with occasional shuffling of position; that 8 out of the top 10 teams remained in the top 10.
• The change to 90% stroke allowance would not have a great impact who wins competitions, however it is hoped that the medium and high handicap players will be encouraged to participate in such competitions more often.

Overall it was suggested to attendees that restricting handicap allowances is against the spirit and intent of the CONGU system but this will remain a matter for individual clubs, Unions and Associations to determine for their own events.

I am sure some will have queries - if so please get in touch with me.

John Hirst Devon CGU Secretary

(My thanks to Chris Pountney, Cornwall CGU for the body of this report)

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