The RFEG announces that on Monday, June 8, the World Handicap System (WHS) will officially come into force in Spain. This new system replaces the EGA Handicap System that has been in force since 2000 and will cease to be in force at the end of June 7.
Since May 27th, members have the possibility of knowing what the SMH Handicap would be by consulting the RFEG APP or the Player’s Area on the RFEG website for which it is necessary to be previously registered.
This SMH Handicap will have only informative character until June 7th (until then the EGA Handicap must be used). From June 8 onwards, only the SMH Handicap will be available, which is the only one to be used.
Therefore, in the competitions and Out of Competition Results played during this week, the EGA Handicap System will be used and, in parallel, the SMH calculations will be performed. The Central Handicap Server, which has been disabled during the lockout, is now configured to receive and calculate handicaps in both EGA and SMH. Clubs are now able to process rounds if their situation permits.
Given the complexity of the new system, the RFEG has prepared a document, explaining step by step and with the data of each player, how the SMH Handicap is calculated.
Both in the Player’s Area of the website (new section) and in the APP (by clicking on the player’s handicap) this document can be consulted. We hope this document will help to understand the new SMH. If you need any further clarification, you can write an email to the following address handicap@rfegolf.es.
In case of a claim, players will have a period of 3 months from Monday, June 8. After this period, no claims will be processed.
The RFEG has followed the recommendations issued by the World Handicap Authority to make the transition from the EGA Handicap System to the SMH. These rules have been followed to perform the recalculation:
. A todos los jugadores se les ha asignado un Hándicap SMH con fecha 01/01/2014 igual a su Hándicap EGA en esa fecha.
. A partir de esa fecha se han aplicado las Reglas del SMH, teniendo en cuenta sólo las vueltas válidas individuales y Copa Canadá con resultados entregados (es decir, no se han tenido en cuenta ni las vueltas en modalidad Mejor Bola, ni las vueltas No Entregadas o Descalificaciones sin Resultado)
. Los resultados anteriores al 01/01/2014 no se han recalculado.
. A partir del 01/01/2020 se han incluido las vueltas jugadas bajo la modalidad Mejor Bola, las vueltas No Entregadas y las Descalificaciones sin Resultado.
Since the new handicap has been recalculated since 01/01/2014, the data that members can see in the aforementioned document and that are used to calculate the new SMH handicap may differ from those they had at the time of playing.
It must be taken into account that the procedure applied calculates the new handicap after each round and is applied to the following round, and there may be a change in the handicap of the game and, therefore, in the result obtained.
The idea of a single handicap system emerged from a meeting held between the R&A and the USGA on the occasion of the 2011 British Open. In 2014 work began on its development, in which all the handicap systems that were in operation at that time (USGA, EGA, CONGU, GA, SAGA and FAA) were involved. The RFEG has taken an active part in this development, contributing its knowledge and experience in different areas.
Leave a Reply