The Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN) is a system for tracking players’ scores and assigning a handicap based on the player’s most recent golf rounds. All VSWGA members are required to keep a handicap through the GHIN system in order to be eligible to play in State Days or tournaments. You can register with the GHIN system through your home club. The VSWGA will post all State Day Scores and Championship tournament scores (Amateur, Mid-Amateur, Senior, etc.). You are responsible for posting scores for any other golf rounds you play on your own. The following are guidelines for posting your scores.
The World Handicap System, to be instituted in 2020, requires every VSWGA member to have THEIR OWN (individual) email address in their GHIN account. If you currently share an email address with another individual or do not have an email address in your account, you need to establish your own individual email address and fill out this survey to update your information as soon as possible!
The Vermont Golf Association is responsible for maintaining handicaps for all Vermont golfers, including women. It is the official Vermont source for information. You can find great resources for the changes coming with the new World Handicap system here, or visit this youtube channel to learn about the changes through the videos provided.
Posting Your Scores
- Post all scores no matter where you play.
- Post your 18-hole score when you play at least 13 holes. Post your 9-hole score when you play at least 7 holes. On the holes you didn’t play, record a par plus any handicap strokes you would have received.
- All 9-hole scores are to be posted. At a club where you have a handicap index, non-consecutive 9-hole rounds will be combined with other 9-hole rounds posted at that club, and may be any combination of nine (i.e., a front nine middle tee score combined with a front nine back tee score).
- 9-hole rounds posted at a club where a golfer does not receive a handicap index will be combined with other 9-hole rounds posted in the same manner.
- A 9-hole round will be retained in the GHIN system for an indefinite time until it can be combined with another 9- hole round. Once combined, the score should be identified with a score type C, but are not to be designated T-scores.
Don’t Post These Scores:
- Don’t post a 9-hole score if you play fewer than 7 holes or an 18-hole score if you play fewer than 13 holes.
- When you play in a competition limiting the types of clubs used, such as a one-club or irons-only tournament.
- When an 18-hole course is less than 3000 yards.
- When a majority of the holes aren’t played under the Rules of Golf, as in a “scramble”.
- Don’t post “out of season” scores. Each regional golf association has its own season. If you’re traveling, check to see if you’re playing in an active season at the Course you visit. Scores made in the “Sunbelt” are always to be posted because the season is year round.