C O N G U MOVE TO HAVE NINE-HOLE SCORES
COUNT FOR HANDICAP PURPOSES

In the following article on the Daily Telegraph's website, www.telegraph.co.uk, LEWINE MAIR reveals that a major change in the handicapping system is in the pipeline.

In a move which could in theory affect 1½-million of Britain's golfers, club golf competitions played over nine holes are set to count for handicap purposes as from January. The proposal is a welcome innovation in the Council of National Golf Unions' new Unified Handicapping System, drafts of which have been handed to The Daily Telegraph by a source.
The new nine-hole competitions are born of today's busy lifestyles. Like Peter McEvoy, the former Amateur champion who opened the six-hole course at Northwick Park, CONGU have pointed to how work and family life are making ever more inroads into a man's (and woman's) time on the course.
"It is envisaged," the Union said, "that Nine-Hole Qualifying Competitions will be particularly attractive to clubs and their members on summer evenings and in the restricted daylight hours of winter weekends."
They also noted that the half-round "could be the means by which a greater number of senior golfers are encouraged to make returns for handicap purposes".
No mention is made of schoolchildren and mothers of young families but, in the case of the latter, it is a fact that more women are lost to the game at this stage than any other. Nine-hole competitions would help a golfer to keep in the swing for longer before the birth of a child - and allow her to resume rather sooner after the big event.
On learning of the proposals, Alison Nicholas, the former British and US Open champion, said that the innovation was just what the modern woman needed. "As the pace of life has increased, so a full round has for become just too time-consuming for some people," she said. "To be able to keep a handicap going with nine-hole scores could keep people in the game for longer."
Since there is no desire to change the traditional way in which competitive golf is played - ie, over 18 holes - it appears that golfers will not be allowed to acquire their initial handicaps over nine holes. Also, the number of nine-hole competitions is to be restricted, with the clubs limited to 10 per year, all of them in Stableford format. Players in Division One, in other words those with handicaps of five or better, will be free to enter the relevant events but will not have the handicap option.
Overall, the idea of the new Unified Handicapping System is an entirely worthy attempt "to enable golfers of differing abilities, men and ladies alike, to compete on a fair and equitable basis".
What comes across as rather less than fair and equitable are the demands CONGU seem to be making of the various computer software companies who will be incorporating the new regulations in the handicap service they provide to the clubs.
Until now, CONGU have charged the companies £10 for every club they handle. As from next year, they will be asking for £22.
In an intriguing little twist, the software companies, all of whom are shying away from talking to the press, have been told that they may on no account give the clubs any details of these new charges.