MSGA: Certification of clubs key to standardized handicaps

loading...

A day of reckoning may be coming July 1 for some of Maine’s golfers.

No, nongolfing wives and husbands won’t be mailing their spouses’ clubs to Tibet. Not that I know of, anyway.

It’s worse. Some golfers may have to play in tournaments at scratch no matter what scores they normally shoot.

The United States Golf Association has been working to standardize handicapping around the country and the deadline for the country’s clubs to be certified is July 1.

“If clubs are not compliant, then their handicaps are no longer valid,” said Nancy DeFrancesco, executive director of the Maine State Golf Association. The MSGA is the state’s official representative of the USGA.

“[Players] can still compete, just without handicaps,” said MSGA tournament director Romeo Laberge.

“Thirty-five clubs [out of approximately 130 MSGA member clubs] still need to be registered by July 1,” said Laberge.

It had been more than 50, he said, but a recent handicap certification seminar helped reduce that number. The MSGA Web site (www.mesga.org) lists clubs that are certified and the ones that aren’t.

“If a club wants to be certified, there are a couple of options,” said Laberge. “There is a seminar at Bucksport Golf Club on May 23 at 4 p.m. Nancy will run that one.

“So far, that’s the only scheduled one. Maybe we’ll have one in June.”

The other option, he said, is to do it online.

“Go to the USGA Web site [www.usga.org]. There is a handicaps link on the right side,” said Laberge. Clicking on that link brings up a site where a club representative can click into the online seminar.

“It probably takes a couple of hours,” said Laberge.

“Portage Hills [in Ashland] did it online. They’re compliant now,” said DeFrancesco.

“A lot of clubs that aren’t compliant yet are from Downeast, the Bangor area, and Aroostook County,” said DeFrancesco.

“About half of the 35 [that are noncompliant] have signed up for the Bucksport seminar,” she said. “It’s easy to get to from Downeast and the Bangor area. People from Aroostook County are used to traveling long distances, but if several of them decided to get together, I’d hold one up there, too.”

Some clubs, said DeFrancesco, may have been resistant to certification because they thought they would have to change handicap services.

“The USGA a couple of years ago instituted a certification procedure,” said DeFrancesco. “This is in no way an attempt on their part to push GHIN [Golf Handicap and Information Network, a service the USGA offers]. They wanted to standardize the handicapping system no matter what computation service was used.”

GHIN (pronounced gin) is just one of several computation services available, said DeFrancesco, but the USGA wants them to apply the rules for handling scores the same way.

“[The USGA] is trying to ensure the integrity of the handicap system,” said DeFrancesco. “The handicapper is the least liked person at the golf course. [But] he’s just trying to make the game more equitable for everyone.”

Amateur status changes

The USGA has made adjustments to the rules of amateur status.

The one that may affect most golfers is the hole-in-one prize.

Often, a vehicle or a large cash prize is offered for an ace during a charity golf tournament. It usually far exceeded the prize limit allowed by the USGA, and winners who accepted the prize would lose their amateur status for a certain amount of time.

That has changed this year.

“As long as it’s part of a round of golf, you get to keep your amateur status,” said Laberge.

“If it’s part of a hole-in-one shootout, like if you get a number of chances for a fee, then you’d lose your amateur status [by accepting the prize],” said Laberge. Other special contests such as putting contests would fall under the same limitation as well, he said.

Mother’s Day special at VaJoWa

VaJoWa Golf Course in Island Falls is offering a Mother’s Day special on May 14.

Women get to play for free.

Not to leave out the men, the club has scheduled a father-son or -daughter tournament for Father’s Day, June 18.

Dave Barber can be reached at 990-8170, 1-800-310-8600, or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.