Golf Croquet Handicapping

Golf Croquet Handicaps are in the range 0 to 12 as set out in Law 16 (see also Handicap Range Change below). Each player bears the final responsibility for playing at the correct handicap. Each player records every qualifying game on their handicap card to maintain automatically their correct handicap as described below.

Club Handicappers assign an intial handicap to players who do not have one, using table 3 or 4 below.

A player's index is changed after each qualifying game by increasing it after a win and decreasing it after a loss. For handicap games the winner's index increases by 10 and the loser's index decreases by 10. For level play games Table 1 below should be used to determine the number of points that are exchanged.

Table 1: index points in level play games

It should be noted that Table 1 is non-linear due to the points exchanged being calculated on the number of handicap steps not on the handicap difference. The number of handicap steps between handicap levels is shown in Table 2 below. The mathematics of the system is identical to the previous system used in England except for a change of 4 in the quoted handicap. A player's index cannot go below zero.

Table 2: Handicap, Steps and Trigger Points
Handicap	Trigger Point	Steps Difference	Points Change
0	1000
		4	200
1	800
		3	150
2	650
		3	150
3	500
		2	100
4	400
		1	50
5	350
		1	50
6	300
		1	50
7	250
		1	50
8	200
		1	50
9	150
		1	50
10	100
		1	50
11	50
		1	50
12	0

Qualifying games

Qualifying games are all singles games in CA Calendar Fixtures, Federation Leagues, inter-club contests (including friendlies) and internal club competitions played in accordance with the laws of the game. Friendly club games, walkovers and abandoned games are specifically excluded from the system. If a player reaches or passes through the trigger point for a particular handicap in either direction that player adopts the handicap for that trigger point as set out in Table 2. Depending on the player's existing handicap this may or may not involve a handicap change.

However, handicap changes do not become effective immediately. They only become effective at the end of the tournament if the tournament is a CA Calendar Fixture or any other tournament lasting no more than four days. In all other cases handicap changes become effective at the end of the day. In each case the handicap change should be implemented as if the player's index had moved in only one direction during the tournament or day in question. For instance a player's handicap remains unchanged if the player goes through a trigger point and returns back through the same trigger point during a tournament.

Allocation of Initial Handicaps

It is the Club Handicapper's duty to allocate a fair handicap for players who are new to golf croquet or who do not have an existing handicap. Tables 3 and 4 are provided as an aid to this process. This does not absolve the Club Handicapper from the need to watch new players carefully and adjust their handicap if necessary. Table 3 can be used for Association Croquet players with a handicap of less than 10.

Table 3: for Association Croquet players with handicap below 10
Association Croquet Handicap	Golf Croquet Handicap
Lower than -1 or extremely proven record in golf croquet	1
-1 to 0 or reasonable proven record in golf croquet	2
0.5 to 1.5	3
2 to 3	4
3.5 to 5	5
6 to 9	6

Table 4 below can be used for players new to croquet or for Association Croquet players with a handicap of 10 or more. The player starts from corner four and counts the number of strokes required to run hoops one to six inclusive, completing the exercise three times to the best of the player's ability. Table 4 is then used to convert the aggregate number of strokes taken for the three exercises into an initial handicap. If the player's aggregate is less than 50 the player's handicap should be separately assessed.

Table 4: for players new to croquet or Association Croquet players with handicap 10+
Strokes taken	Handicap	Index Awarded
50 - 54	7	250
55 - 60	8	200
61 - 64	9	150
64 - 70	10	100
71 - 78	11	50
>79	12	0

Handicap Range Change

On 15 March 2008, CA Golf Croquet handicaps changed from the range -4 to +6 to the WCF handicap range of 0 to 12 as set out in Law 16.

Players with old (pre-2008) handicap cards should transfer their index points to the new green handicap card as follows:

Players with an index of 51 or more should add 4 to their current handicap
Players with an index of 1–50 should adopt a handicap of 11
Players with a zero index should adopt a handicap of 12