It's my first year of being a member and getting my handicap and, after a pretty decent year, I worked my way down from 18 to 14.8. The last medal I played was the start of October, where I finished with an 83 and 14 over par.

I recently received an email from HowdidIdo saying my handicap had been revised to 17.2, even though I haven't played and my last 5 rounds I averaged less than 14 over gross.

I know I will probably not be playing to that level now, but I'd like to think if I get back to the range and the course soon then I will be back at that level by March, when I'm planning on getting back into the medals again. I know this could work to my advantage and give me a false head start, but I wanted to try and build on where I left off and get out of the teens in 2012, and now I'm almost back to where I started.

Is this a normal change that happens and can your handicap get quickly adjusted in the new season if it has had an end of year amendment? Thanks in advance

Stephen under the CONGU rules clubs have a annual review towards the end of the year. All your results during that year are looked at by the "computer" and it spits out names and cuts as it sees fit, exactly what the criteria are that decides if you get cut or not is known only to Harry Potter and Dumbldorf but it appears that there has been some sort of glitch for you to be given 2 .4 back as far as I know you can only be given 2 shots and then in fairly stringent circumstances... HOWEVER there is a appeals procedure so you could go to that and have your say.. failing that sit back and wait for the handicap sec to ask you to play in the summer knockouts with him...

Thanks MTP. My results at the start of the year were 90+, but that's when I was just getting back into the game and I have improved a lot since then and was very consistent towards the end. I guess I was just a bit surprised at such a big increase as it had taken me about 4 months to lose 2.4 shots, then 2 months of not playing to get them back!

Maybe I will just have to look out for that doubles invite from the handicap sec

The other thing to check is - are there two of you with the same name. Happened to me when I first joined my club. Took the secretary 18 months to realise that he was applying both our scores to just one name. Not very likely in the computer age but you never know. 

Whatever has happened your club is surely grossly negligent to just "apply the recommendations of the annual review" without consulting you first.

To just recieve an email from HDID informing you of the change is not acceptable in my opinion.

Another error is that you have been given back a fraction of a shot....the annual review (which is largely software driven) will only recommend whole shot increases or decreases.

The way I used to run the AR procfess was that as H'cap Secretary I'd run the report off the computer that would generate the recommended changes. 

Myself and the rest of the committee would then formally discuss the results of the report based on our own knowledge of the players involved and either agree the changes, ignore them or adjust them.

We would also consider other players who we knew had played consistently well in general play and matchplay comps and also consider if they should be adjusted.

Before applying the adjustments though, we would allways talk directly with the players concerned explaining why we felt adjustment was necessary and asking for their agreement before implementing. In three years I dont ever remember one person objecting the the proprosed adjustment.

To me that's laziness on behalf of the handicap committee.  Every club gets a list of suggested handicap revisions but it is up to the committee to go through each one and decide whether to implement those changes.

You can appeal.  I wrote a letter to our handicap committee a couple of years ago to get cut after winning our knockout matchplay competition.  It was accepted no problem.  Most committees will appreciate your honesty.

Tried to upload my HDID graph, but can't seem to do it. Basically shows the downward trend from May to October, plus shows how it now says 17.2 exact handicap.

JimP - Definitely no one with the same name, don't think there's another one of me in the world never mind the UK.

Ossie/Robster - have to say I'm not that impressed with the handicap committee myself if this is the approach they take. Was rather surprised by the fraction of shots applied as I would have expected (at worst) to go to a rounded 16 or even just a whole shot increase to, say, 15.8.

Think I'll just have to contact them in the new year and see what they say. It could work to my advantage in the medals, but had my own targets for next year handicap-wise and also don't want to seem like a handicap cheat when it wasn't my own doing.

Stephen, there is no way you've been put up 2.4, as stated above, adjustments must be whole integers.

This happened to me a couple of years back, and there had been no actual adjustment, just that at year end HDID had sent out some funky emails after annual review.

I would check with the club, I'd be amazed if you'd been cut.

Ossie (6.7) wrote (see)

Before applying the adjustments though, we would allways talk directly with the players concerned explaining why we felt adjustment was necessary and asking for their agreement before implementing. In three years I dont ever remember one person objecting the the proprosed adjustment.

Agree with all Ossies points as I am also currently on the handicap commoitte, except this paragraph.

This is not something to be done with the agreement of the players, if it is deemed they need adjusting, then a player gets adjusted.

...Ossie does say "ask".....they might not get the option to decline!

fatshaft wrote (see)

Stephen, there is no way you've been put up 2.4, as stated above, adjustments must be whole integers.

This happened to me a couple of years back, and there had been no actual adjustment, just that at year end HDID had sent out some funky emails after annual review.

I would check with the club, I'd be amazed if you'd been cut.

Cheers Fatshaft. I think there might be a disconnect between HDID and the club, though HDID profile does show the change as per the email, so they're definitely of the opinion that I'm now up to 17.2. Note I'm up rather than cut, I might not have complained at being 2.4 closer to single figures without swinging a club!

Hopefully a quick word with the club in the new year will sort it all out. Thanks for all the help guys.

Seems a bit harsh after the year you've had. Normally dropping that many shots over the course of a season is a sign that you are more capable than your handicap suggests, so to see them revise your handicap the other way is a bit of a shock. I thought that the people who's handicaps increased after a review were the sort of people that went up .1 every saturday. Bit bizarre.

bigeasy94 wrote (see)

Seems a bit harsh after the year you've had. Normally dropping that many shots over the course of a season is a sign that you are more capable than your handicap suggests, so to see them revise your handicap the other way is a bit of a shock. I thought that the people who's handicaps increased after a review were the sort of people that went up .1 every saturday. Bit bizarre.

Indeed, hence why I think this is just HDID doing what they do best, not being very good basically. By the sound sof it, if anything Stephen will be on the end of a year end cut.

Just thinking on, all the handicap computer systems are updating their software to co-ordinate with the new Central Database of Handicaps (CDH) so maybe something 'odd' has happened whilst this was going on.

Well as most of you thought it was in fact an error on HDID's part. I contacted my club and they said I should not have been changed at all and, lo and behold, I received an email from HDID saying that my exact handicap was now 14.8 once again.

Can't wait until I can get back out again and wish I was back up at 17! Cheers for all the advice guys. Next time I'll know just to wait it out until HDID sort themselves.

fatshaft wrote (see)

Ossie (6.7) wrote (see)

Before applying the adjustments though, we would allways talk directly with the players concerned explaining why we felt adjustment was necessary and asking for their agreement before implementing. In three years I dont ever remember one person objecting the the proprosed adjustment.

Agree with all Ossies points as I am also currently on the handicap commoitte, except this paragraph.

This is not something to be done with the agreement of the players, if it is deemed they need adjusting, then a player gets adjusted.

I take your point for handicap cuts - but we would still allways inform the player of the cut before actually publicly applying it, the player wouldnt suddenly get an email out of the blue from a non-official body like HDID - perhaps to imply that we sought agreement to implement the cut was misleading on my part!

However for a player (as an example) who suffered an injury/illness which prevented them from playing to their ability for the majority of the year, but were well on their way to recovery by year end and starting to play close to their normal level, a different approach should be taken.

The computer would no doubt spit out an upwards adjustment for this player which might not actually be warranted....discussion with the player in question should at least be entered into in my opinion.