SLOPE SYSTEM!

All, 

Sorry to burden your brains with significant detail & maths so soon after the holiday season, but Capt Greg has put together some info on the Slope System which will be in force towards the end of Jan.  You need to get your heads around it to avoid giving Greg any more grey hairs so early in the year!

SLOPE SYSTEM

On 23 January, 2014, the Slope portion of the Australian Handicapping system comes into force. The Slope system basically rates each course throughout Australia on the degree of difficulty with the rating ranging from 55 to 155. The lower the rating, the easier the course. A rating of 113 is classed as a Neutral Rating. e.g. Atherton has a Slope rating of 108 and Cairns a rating of 122, which indicates that Cairns is a harder course than Atherton.

As a result of changes to the Australian Handicap system, including the Slope component, players will have a Golf Australia Handicap and a Daily Handicap.

A Golf Australia Handicap is the players EXACT Home Club Handicap found on Golf Link. The Daily Handicap is the one used at the course on which the player is competing on the day. A player's Daily Handicap will change in relationship to the difficulty of his Home Course compared to the Away course being played.

When the Slope system comes into operation on 23 January, 2014, what do I need to know?

EACH TIME YOU PLAY AWAY FROM YOUR HOME CLUB YOU MUST KNOW YOUR EXACT GOLF AUSTRALIA HANDICAP. AS FOUND ON THE GOLFLINK SITE e.g., 12.7, 24.3, etc.

This is particularly important as far as our Members are concerned as without it, you cannot accurately determine your Daily Handicap, i.e., the Handicap you will play off at that particular course on that particular day.

Every time before you play a round, you should check what your Daily Handicap will be. How can you do this?

Firstly, you must determine your EXACT Golf Australia Handicap. Even playing at your Home Club, unless the Club has a computer system for producing cards with your correct Daily handicap, you will need to check your GA Handicap and then determine your Daily Handicap for the tees from which you are playing. This is because your handicap may vary depending on whether you are playing off the normal competition tees or the Championship tees.

Different clubs will use different methods to communicate Daily Handicaps to golfers, including computers. Generally, as far as the FNQ Veteran Golfers are concerned, each Club should display an easy-to-use Daily Handicap look-up poster from which a player can determine his Daily Handicap.

The Golf Australia website and the GOLF Link website will also feature Daily Handicap calculators.

What is the formula that GOLF Link will use to calculate a Daily Handicap?

Daily Handicap = GA Handicap x Slope Rating ÷ Neutral Slope Rating (ie.,113)

Example:

If you are a member of Cairns (Slope Rating 122) and have a Golf Australia Handicap of 22.3 and you travel to Atherton (Slope Rating of 108) your Daily Handicap will be: 22.3 x 108 divided by 113 = 21.3 or 21. In other words you would play off a lower handicap at Atherton as it has been rated an easier course than Cairns.

Conversely, if you played off 22.3 as a member of Atherton and you play at Cairns, your Daily Handicap would be: 22.3 x 122 divided by 113 = 24.07 or 24.

I will endeavour to obtain some look-up posters additional to those that will be delivered to the individual Clubs. The Committee will endeavour to make the change as seamless as possible and will assist members where needed.

Captain Greg