Getting to Grips with the Rules of Golf and Handicapping
Explaining Rules of Golf and Rules of Handicapping for everyone
England Golf has issued guidance for clubs on the benefits of tee time booking following the lifting of restrictions as of 19 July 2021.
Within its document, other examples are also provided for clubs who wish to maintain roll-ups. Read more:
If you wish to download a personal copy, please click on the download button below:
Looks like the time you have all been waiting for is about to happen on Monday 19 July 2021.
Following the government’s planned removal of national COVID-19 restrictions, and subject to any further changes, England Golf’s current ‘Play Safe, Stay Safe’ guidance will be updated from 19 July.
It looks as if we can return to playing golf as we did pre-COVID, even to removing Flagsticks for those who have been frustrated by having no choice but to leave the flagstick in and enjoy the social side, again, at the same time.
Beware, however, that the CONGU rule changes during COVID-19, such as not raking bunkers, modified holes or preferred lies within bunkers, will no longer be in operation post 19 July 2021.
For more information read the document below:
If you wish to download a personal copy of the Framework, please click on the Download button below:
Enjoy getting back to playing golf as we know it, but be vigilant and still Stay Safe and Play Safe.
England Golf – Update on Independent Golfers 3 July 2021
Probably more for information than for anything else, but relevant to any of you are not members of any golf, yet.
The move to offer golfers in England, who are not members of Golf Clubs, official World Handicap System Handicap Indexes moves ever closer.
England Golf, in a recent update to Independent Golfers, is inviting players to pre-register for its digital platform offering World Handicap System indexes to non-club members.
This new digital community, which will offer official handicaps to non-club members, has opened for pre-registration.
England Golf is appealing to players to become one of the first subscribers to iGolf, which it calls a “historic progression for the amateur game in England”.
Branded as England Golf’s official digital community, it will give players the chance to receive an official WHS handicap index and personal liability insurance while connecting players who are not members of clubs across the country.
The scheme, which is expected to launch officially later this month, will cost subscribers £40 per year and follows the launch in Scotland of OpenPlay, the first scheme for independent golfers in the UK.
Wales and Ireland are expected to follow with similar initiatives in the coming months.
Independent golfer programmes have attracted much controversy but are a key feature of the R&A and USGA’s plans, following the launch of the World Handicap System, to make golf as inclusive as possible.
England Golf has projected that at least 25,000 golfers could sign up to the scheme within the first 12 months of its launch with 125,000 within five years.
That could bring in as much as £5 million to the organisation, with costs estimated at about £2 million. England Golf has pledged that they will shoulder the running costs and any surplus made would be reinvested back into golf.
Last month, Richard Flint, the England Golf’s chief operating officer, said clubs should back themselves and not worry about the independent golfer scheme as some concerns have persisted about whether it would provide a pathway or entice people to leave club membership.
He said that giving nomadic players an official handicap was “not competing with club membership” and asked whether handing non-club members a World Handicap System index was taking away a reason to be a member – harming both recruitment and retention – Flint said: “Handicap isn’t the biggest driver of why individuals join a golf club”.
To find out more about iGolf, and to pre-register an interest in joining the scheme, visit England Golf’s iGolf website.