At Irish Golfer Events we already split our open competitions into three different categories to try keep players of similar handicap abilities competing against each other:
Cat 1 – Men up to 11 playing handicap
Cat 2 – Men from 12-24 playing handicap
Cat 3 – Women up to 36 playing handicap
We have also set a maximum playing handicap upper limit of 24 for men and 36 for women at our events. Players with handicaps in excess of these limits are welcome to play but will be reverted back to the maximum handicap limit for their category.
With over €5000 of prizes available across the three categories at every event, the category splits and handicap limits have been a huge success to date but to ensure continued fairness for all participants we have introduced a new modified local rule for 2024. This modified local rule (MLR) applies on all playing handicaps at Irish Golfer Events and is only applicable for exceptional scores posted in the prize-winning positions.
Below is a table where we have outlined the odds of shooting a net differential equal to or better than your handicap. The values in the below table were derived from an analysis of over 10 million scores posted by players with a Handicap Index globally in 2022 & 2023.
For 2024, if a player registers a prize-winning score in the red zone shown above at an Irish Golfer Event, it will be classed as an exceptional score for the purposes of Irish Golfer Events. If the same player has another prize-winning exceptional score in the same season (at another Irish Golfer Event) this would indicate that statistically that player has a better ability than their playing handicap.
The MLR will ONLY apply to any player who posts a second or subsequent round in an Irish Golfer Event in any one season in the highlighted red zone. If a player achieves a score for the second time in the red zone their returned score on Golf Ireland for handicap purposes will remain as returned on the day but the score for Irish Golfer Events purposes will be adjusted back out of the red zone to 36 points for our results and prizes.
Example
Player A, playing off 21 cards 44 points and wins a prize in his first Irish Golfer Event (odds of 1138/1). The same player, subsequently playing off 20, cards 42 points in another Irish Golfer Event the next month (odds of 523/1) and wins another prize.
This second score will be logged on Golf Ireland for handicap purposes at 42 points but will automatically revert to 36 points for the Irish Golfer Event results and prizes on the day. We feel the introduction of this MLR will reward the exceptional rounds that everybody is capable of while protecting the integrity of the competition, as it only affects players producing multiple exceptional scores in a single season.
For 2024 all prize winners must also have 20 registered scores with Golf Ireland and a full up to date Handicap Index.
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