Golf Handicaps - The system briefly explained

It goes too far to explain the entire EGA handicap system and Stableford calculations, so we briefly describe how the system works and how the Cha-Am Golf Club applies this system. 

If you have an EGA handicap, this is your 'exact handicap'. Normally your exact handicap has to be adjusted to the difficultly of the Golf course you are playing. This is your so-called 'playing handicap' for that course. 

Because in Thailand most courses don't publish their slope ratings, Cha-Am Golf Club only uses your exact handicap. After your round of golf, the Stableford points you have gained will be calculated. 

These Stableford points, along with your exact handicap, define the new handicap that you will get. In the Handicap calculator you use your last exact handicap and the Stableford points you scored. Your new handicap will automatically be processed. 

Since not everyone plays always stable (e.g. by wind, lack of concentration, fatigue, etc…) there is a handicap for each 'buffer zone' in which your Stableford score may deviate from the score that you would have if you would play according to your handicap on that course. If the achieved Stableford score fall within this zone, your handicap will not change. 

As a player with a high handicap (i.e. towards 36) scores often slightly more unstable than a player with a lower handicap (anything towards a single handicap), the deviation he is allowed before the exact handicap changes, is bigger. Besides that the handicap for players with a high handicap changes faster than that for a player with a low handicap. The buffer zones and the change that a handicap makes after processing the qualifying card, depends on the 'handicap category' in which one sits.