Annual Review of Handicaps

The WHS Rules of Handicapping (RoH) paragraph 7.1a and Appendix D require that a Handicap Review is done at least annually, and England Golf state in their Handicap Review Guidance that it should be done between in October to December).  At Purley Downs we will generally do this each November ~ December.

The factors to be taken into account in reviewing players’ handicaps will include:

• Requests to increase or decrease handicap
• Performance in match play where they have regularly outperformed their handicap
• Performance in casual play (including swindles) where they have regularly out- or under-performed their handicap.  (Swindle organisers will be asked to provide names of players in these categories)
• Scoring trends in their handicap history  (this can be seen in England Golf's WHS Platform as the Handicap Review Report)
• Extent to which general play scores have caused their handicap to increase or decrease (this can be seen in England Golf's WHS Platform as the Competition vs General Scores Report)
• Any other knowledge that the Handicap Committee has relative to players’ golfing ability which may not be reflected in their current handicap, eg declining scoring potential due to frequency of playing, ageing, incapacitating injuries or illness, etc.

The RoH require that players are made aware of, and be given the opportunity to contribute towards, the review process, and have recourse to an appeals process.

Therefore the annual review will be a four stage process:

1. Players whose handicaps will come under review will be identified by the Handicap Committee
2. Players whose handicaps will be discussed at the Annual Review will be notified in advance and asked for any comments they may wish to contribute
3. The results of the review will be made known to the players affected and they will be given one week to appeal before the adjustments to handicap indexes are put into effect
4. Handicap adjustments will be published to the full Club playing membership

Review of players’ handicaps may be made at any time of the year where there is a strong case for more immediate adjustment based on the factors listed above.

Prepared 30/10/2021 to bring into line with WHS Rules of Handicapping