2020 IGA Yearbook

HANDICAPPING & COURSE RATING I think it’s safe to say the launch of the World Handicap System will not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the year 2020. Rightfully so, the focus for most was on personal health and safety. That being said, our committee and the IGA staff tried to stay focused on the goal of educating club administrators and golfers on the changes in the new system. This was no small task and required every club that utilizes the WHS to attend a seminar and take a quiz to earn their certification. In total, over 215 clubs participated. The education plan was focused on “teaching the teacher”, enabling the club administrators to take the information learned during the seminar and pass it along to the members at their club. To supplement this, the IGA staff created content for the bi-monthly eNewsletters and the WHS homepage on iowagolf.org. With the introduction of anything new, feedback is crucial. In August the IGA sent out a survey to all active members to learn about the general awareness and favorability of the new system. The involvement was fantastic! Iowa had the highest survey participation in the country with 900 entries. From the information collected and summarized by the USGA we learned the following: • Majority prefer to seek or receive information about the WHS from the Allied Golf Association (AGA), USGA or their club/course. • Net promoter Score for WHS awareness level nationally was 10.8 (Good). In Iowa the NPS was 13.1. • 79% view Net Double Bogey as either easy or moderately easy to understand. • Only 31% understand that Course Handicap now represents the number of strokes received relative to Par of the tees being played. • 77% either posted on the same day of play before WHS or now post more promptly because of daily revisions. • Only 39% recognize that the Playing Conditions Calculation is automatically calculated within the system, based on scores posted for the day. • Only 36% were aware that a player does not need to apply an adjustment anymore to their Course Handicap when playing from different tees (as long as par is the same). For those of you subscribed to the eNewsletter you may have noticed an educational focus on the items just mentioned that scored, percentage wise, in the 30’s. This will continue through the off-season and into next year as we carry on with our education efforts. Course Rating has always been the foundation of handicapping and is the reason your Handicap Index can travel from course to course. Luckily, in the United States, we were not required to re-rate all of our golf courses with the switch to a WHS because the world decided to utilize the USGA Course Rating System in its entirety. I can tell you there was a universal sigh of relief in the AGA community when that decision was announced. Although we were not required to re-rate all the courses in our region, we BILL EBY, COMMITTEE CHAIR