The Club May Invoke the Following Disciplinary Actions: 1. USGA no longer requires that scorecards be turned in. So you cannot penalize a player for not turning in a scorecard. You can request that they be turned in from "time-to-time", USGA leaves that gray area of what time to time is. So the club decides when you would like them turned in for auditing. Now you still cannot penalize for scorecards not being turned in BUT you can still adjust an index or freeze an index if you feel a score file is being manipulated and the player will not show the card for "proof".
2. If scores are not being posted at all, you need to post a penalty round AND also post the round for the player. If the player continues to not post their scores I would freeze the member’s index until you see a difference in their actions.
You do not want to post net pars because of this..... If my index is a 4 and I’m out there shooting 72's, I’m not going to care if you post a net par score for me, its not going to hurt me at all. But if your index is a 16 and you shoot up in the 80's and 90's, posting that net par score will hurt you. So this is not a fair way of doing things, its not equitable. But if you post a penalty round, this will duplicate the lowest differential in the player’s score file, so it will make a similar impact on their index. You can also adjust an index either locally or officially. If you adjust the index locally this means that whenever he/she plays at your course you have assigned a handicap for them to play to just for your events. You do not need to notify the SCGA, you just need to let the player know before he tees off. If you would like to adjust it officially you would send us a letter letting us know his name and membership number and what index you would like him adjusted to for the month, and we will go ahead and change that. You can also freeze an index. Freezing an index will calculate to the same index that you froze it to every month but the player will continue to post their rounds. So the score file changes every month and shows the last 20 rounds but it will be frozen at the index you asked for. When making any type of adjustment or when freezing an index you MUST notify the member of what is going on and you MUST also allow the member to speak for him/herself in front of your committee or write a letter explaining their "side of the story". You can still follow through with the adjustments but you must allow them to share what they believe is really the story. All information is included in the SCGA/USGA Handicap Manual and starts on page 36 if you would like to refer to that.
Example Penalty Letter Dear _____:
After reviewing your scoring record, the Handicap Committee of __________________ Club has determined that your SCGA/USGA Handicap Index does not accurately reflect your potential playing ability. We have concluded that {your rapid improvement, your numerous away scores, your recent injury, your failure to post scores, your posting of erroneous scores} has produced a Handicap Index that is not accurate. In the interest of fair play, the Handicap Committee is going to modify your SCGA/USGA Handicap Index in accordance with Section 8-4 of "The USGA Handicap System" manual. Your SCGA/USGA Handicap Index will become _____. Before the adjustment becomes effective, you may appeal to the Handicap Committee either by letter or in person by {date}. If the committee does not hear from you or determines that the reasons for modification are still valid, the modified Handicap Index will become effective on {date}. The Handicap Committee will review this adjustment at each revision date to determine if your Handicap Index should revert to the normal SCGA/USGA Handicap formula computation. In the meantime, continue to post all of your scores and observe all aspects of the USGA Handicap System.
Sincerely,
______________ Handicap Chairman - Updated: August 10, 2005
