No matter where or when you play the wonderful game of golf, in competitions you have given to you a handicap in the UK it is the CONGU system and they are allocated to golfers who are members of clubs or organisations affiliated to a National Union.

Here in Spain we have the EGA (European Golf Association) Slope System, this is administered by the RFEG (Real Federación Española) which is system used by The Vega Baja Premier Golf League and allows players of all levels of golfing ability to compete against each other on a fair and equal basis at various Courses.

There are always discussions as to the accuracy of an individual’s handicap and no matter how hard you work towards perfection, there are also comments made to its relevance.

So it was with a great deal of interest as to the effectiveness of the handicaps used in the Vega Baja Premier Golf League and the control of them, that a check of the scores over the 2009/10 season was made for all the players that represented their respective Societies, this included single handicaps and those of teaching professionals that play off zero.

The total number of rounds played up to the 19^th March is 640. These were played over five totally different Courses.

Now to produce some meaningful percentages the upper end of scores is used, as that’s where the effect matters most, 36 points being Par. Depending on the Category of player, where there is no handicap change, this is called the Buffer Zone, for mid handicap players (11.5 – 18.4) its 33 to 36, anything below this is an increase of 0.1 and above 36 points means a reduction in a players handicap.

To establish how well the handicapping in the VBPGL has functioned, the Buffer Zone has been used in the calculations, and then any scores over 36 points as this is usually the biggest indicator of how accurate the handicaps are.

TOTAL ROUNDS: 640

TOTAL SCORES OVER 30 Points: 221 34.53%

TOTAL IN THE BUFFER ZONE: 108 16.88%

TOTAL SCORES TO PAR = 36 Points: 19 2.97%

TOTAL SCORES OVER 36 Points: 20 3.13%

You can generally use figures to prove whatever you want to, but in this case all we are looking at is like for like, how many scores are within handicaps and how many are better than handicaps, from the figures shown it appears that the handicaps provided to the registered players are quite accurate and monitored well, with just 6.10% playing to Par and over. In any competition there is going to be that exceptional score but in the VBPGL and bearing in mind the quantity of rounds, it’s down to a minimum.

As far as the “zero” handicaps being Teaching Professionals or PGA are concerned, there are just four and they are all registered mainly in the “A” Division and over the five matches the scores have been at the highest (once) 36, others 34, 30, 29, 25, 23, and 22. It is also a fact that they played off the Tee of the day.

SUMMARY

To summarise, indications are that all players’ handicaps can be accessed and are being controlled and this is possibly due to the respective Societies knowing that results are available and their diligence in recording the handicaps from their Society competitions, utilising the EGA Handicapping System. (This can be accessed on the League website, www.vegabajapremiergolfleague.com)

The fact that handicaps for the League are capped for both men and ladies helps.

It should not mean the VBPGL can be complacent, all the time handicaps have to be monitored and this is being done, it does show a great deal of fairness and closely meets the reasoning behind the handicap system, which is to “allow players of all levels of golfing ability to compete against each other on a fair and equal basis”