New Stroke Indices for Grange Courses
The Grange Match Committee has been busy reviewing the Stroke Indices for our courses. Following guidelines from Golf Australia, playing statistics over a 2 year period have been used to generate the new indices based on scores on the holes. This method for generating Stroke Play Handicap Indices has the advantage of allocating handicap strokes on the holes where they are needed based on the playing characteristics of golfers at various handicap levels. The total number of rounds counted for each course and tee were: West/Red: 7,118; West/Blue: 22,278; East/Red: 5,415; East/Blue: 18,661.
In the past, indexing holes for players with handicaps above 18 has been done by simply replicating the order used for players on handicaps 1-18, so the Index would be 1/19, 2/20, 3/21, .. etc. This method assumes that higher handicap players play holes in the same way as low handicap players and may not distribute the handicap strokes appropriately. To ensure that higher handicap players receive strokes where they are most likely to need them, a Split Index must be used and this has been implemented with the new indices. Many clubs use Split Indices and golfers are familiar with this concept. Furthermore, at The Grange, the number of handicap strokes given at each hole is printed on the score card so the use of Split Indices will be straightforward.
The new indices will come into play during the first week of August.