By FRANCES NEE

SCGA Director of Handicap

Part of the licensing agreement your club signed (on file at the SCGA office) with the United States Golf Association requires that your club have a handicap chair and that the club has been represented at a handicap seminar. In addition, a club representative must have attended a handicap certification class and passed an exam with a minimum of 80 percent proficiency. The SCGA has taken this a step further and has required the handicap chair to attend an SCGA Handicap Certification class and pass the exam in order for club members to participate in SCGA Net events, including Team Play.

The purpose of the certification class is to teach the handicap chair what their responsibilities are and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to perform their duties.

Each golfer is expected to try to make the best Score he or she can at each and every hole during every round of golf regardless of where the round is played (home or away). When this basic premise is not met, then it is the handicap chair's responsibility to make certain that the golfer's Handicap Index reflects their playing potential.

No one has an inherent right to a Handicap Index. It must be earned, and part of the handicap chair's responsibility is making certain that club members' Handicap Indexes are reflective of their playing potential.

If these indexes are not indicative of the golfer's potential then it is the handicap chair's responsibility to make adjustment to those indices. A few examples as to why your handicap chair may make an adjustment include a player not posting their scores (either high or low scores) or a player recovering from an injury.

The handicap chair is also responsible for performing all of the file maintenance for the club (processing new member applications, score corrections), ensuring that all scores are transmitted to the SCGA prior to the month-end revision, and answering all handicap-related questions from their members. With more than 165,000 individual members in the Southern California Golf Association, the SCGA handicap department relies on the club handicap chair to help educate the members on items such as online score posting, Equitable Stroke Control and what a reduced Handicap Index is.

When each of you joined your SCGA club, part of your membership benefit at that club is receiving a Handicap Index through the club's association with the SCGA.

Your handicap chair is a fellow member of your golf club (as required by the USGA). They are offering their time and service to make sure your club is in compliance and running efficiently. So, get to know your handicap chair
and thank them for the time and effort they put in to help run your golf club. Your club couldn't exist without them!

Copied from the SCGA FORE Magazine July/August 2007