All members are required to establish and maintain a current and valid USGA Handicap Index in order to be members of the Torrey Pines Women's Golf Club and participate in Sweeps and Tournament winnings.
If you already have an established a USGA Handicap Index, scroll down to “Maintaining a Handicap Index”
Establishing a Handicap Index
If you don’t have a handicap Index established, don’t worry, your membership to TPWGC comes with a membership to SCGA which provides you with a GHIN number. This number is used to post scores. Our Handicap Director will be in contact with you to ensure that you receive your GHIN number as quickly as possible.
To establish a handicap index you must play and post a total of 54 holes. These can be three 18-hole scores, six 9-hole scores or a combination of the two. These rounds can be rounds played with TPWGC group or on your own at any USGA rated course but you must have at least one other person present during your round who can attest to your score.
Please see the “Reporting Scores“ section below for additional instructions on posting scores.
Maintaining a Handicap Index
Keeping a current and accurate Handicap Index is necessary in the interest of fair play. That means posting ALL eligible rounds regardless of whether or not the round was played with the club. The process below must be followed AFTER you have established your handicap Index.
Reporting scores
Rounds played as part of the TPWGC
Scores for TPWGC rounds, including tournaments and Roam from Home events, will be reported as described on the Day Of Play Procedures page. This page contains detailed instructions, downloadable guide and links to download the USGA GHIN app.
Be sure to review the Day Of Play Procedures and download the USGA GHIN app before you get to the golf course.
Rounds played as non TPWGC rounds
Members are required to post scores for ALL eligible rounds played, whether or not they were played with the club.
If you play with other clubs, follow their instructions on how to post scores for their rounds. All other eligible rounds should be reported through the GHIN website or via the GHIN App. When registering to use the GHIN system, please be sure to use the same email address as the one used to register with TPWGC
Download the free app
click on one of the buttons below to download the app for iOS or Android.
You must post your unadjusted gross scores using the hole-by-hole option when using the GHIN app. This method will automatically calculate the adjusted scores. There is no other valid method of posting unless you are keeping score through the Golf Genius app.
Your handicap index is revised daily so it is important that you post your scores as soon as possible after a round.
Failure to post a score
Keeping a current and accurate Handicap Index is necessary in the interest of fair play. That means posting ALL eligible rounds regardless of whether or not the round was played with the club.
Failing to follow the posting requirements as outlined in the Day of Play Procedures will exclude you, as well and those in your group, from sweeps or tournament prizes. Repeated offenses of this rule could result in suspension of play with the club.
Members who are found to fail to post ALL scores for eligible rounds could face disciplinary action including handicap adjustments, sweeps and tournament ineligibility and/or the cancellation of their membership.
Handicap FAQ's
If you play less than 9 holes then you do not have to post a score.
You have to post an 18 hole score if you play 10 or more holes.
Please follow the instructions in the next tabs to determine the score you should post for the holes that you did not play at all or did not finish.
Post Net Par. That is par plus any Handicap strokes received on the hole.
For example, if your course handicap is an 18, and you skipped a par 4, you would post a 5. That is 4 (par on the hole) +1 for the handicap strokes received.
Please note that skipping a hole can only be done for acceptable reasons. It is NOT acceptable to not play a hole simply because you want to avoid submitting a high score (if playing badly) or a low score (if playing well).
You should a post a net double bogey OR post the score you most likely would have made, whichever is lower.
The most likely score is the number of strokes already taken plus the number of strokes the player would most likely require to complete the hole from that position, plus any penalty strokes incurred during the play of the whole.
The likely number of strokes to complete the hole should be based on the following guidelines:
The ball is on the putting green within 5 feet of the hole – Add one additional stroke
The ball is between 5ft and 20 yards from the hole- Add 2 or 3 strokes depending on the position of the ball, the difficulty of the green and the ability of the player
The ball is more than 20 yards from the hole- Add 3 to 4 strokes depending on the position of the ball, the difficulty of the green and the ability of the player
You must always post your actual score on each hole completed. Golf Genius and GHIN systems will make the required adjustments for handicap purposes.
For handicap purposes. The maximum score allowed for a hole that was completed or started but not finished is a Net Double Bogey.
That is par for that hole plus 2 strokes plus any handicap strokes (pops) based on your course handicap.
For example, If your course handicap is an 18 and and you get an 8 on a par 4, then your score will be adjusted to a 7. That is a 4 (hole par rating) +2+1 for pops.
Contact the Handicap Director and explain the situation so that your score can be corrected.
Your handicap index and course handicap is established using the World Handicap System (WHS) which was adopted by USGA in 2020. This system looks at your most recent 20 rounds and averages the lowest 8 scoring differentials to establish your index. The system has safeguards in place to keep your index from moving up too much as well as to keep it from dropping too much after an exceptionally low score.
Find out more about the Rules of Handicapping by visitng the USGA website HERE or contact our Handicap Director