Handing Cards and Score Additions

Question
QUESTION: We held an Open Amateur Golf tournament where we told players that they must player on their AGU抯 and if they did not have a AGU we will verify their social clubs handicaps before allowing them to play.

Before tee-off we made an announcement to the effect that before cards are handed into the pro shop, the player MUST verify and check his handicap and change it with the Pro shop if he feels his handicap is wrongly recorded on the card.

We have a situation where a player had 12 on his card but his AGU is actually 18. Before handing his card in, he asked the pro shop (via golf link) to check his handicap. The pro shop did that, verified his handicap and then changed it to 18 before accepting the card in as handed.

Another player is now contesting this saying that since the player and marker had signed off his gross score based on a 12 handicap that should stand.
We are saying that a player or marker is only authorised to sign off on the individual hole scores and not the total or nor are they responsible for any handicap application.

The player did as was asked that he must verify and advise the pro shop before handing his card in if he feels his handicap is wrong.

Hence we as the committee have allowed the change and taken his agu handicap (18) and re-calculated his net score.
Who is correct?



ANSWER: Unfortunatley for you, the player that claims that the handicapp is 12 is correct.  It is a strict policy in ANY kinds of organization whether stated or not that once a score is signed, it is what it is.  To avoid this problem, the player should have verified his score BEFORE he got his scorecard signed off and prove that his handicap is actually 18.  Nothing can be changed once the score card is signed.  If it was signed, then it was an act of verification.  It does not even matter if he had not handed the scorecard in yet.  It is what it is and his handicapp should remain to be 12.  the clubhouse certainly did not have the power to change that.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi there stanley,
Did you get any further with this question.

Rgds


ANSWER: Hello Vic.  First of all, you still didn't answer my question.  It seems like you have not even read it yet.  I asked you about the application that the player had turned in.  Is the application the average of his different scores? Or is the application just one score alone?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The commitee (the orgainsers) issued the player with a handicap (just one number) based on what we thought his handicap was.
The player played the game and his marker signed his card, however BEFORE handing his card in he asked the Pro shop to change his handicap on the card as it was incorrect.
This was done by the proshop.

So the answer to your question is that he only had one handicap not a series of handicaps

Vik

Answer
Hello Vic.  Its clear to me now.  By the way I checked with several club pros about this.  I had a mix of response.  one said that since the commitee allowed the players to check, then it should be fine.  the others agreed with me.  once its signed, then its permanent.  accept it or bann it.  and honestly, this policy makes sense.  he signed it and that means he verified it.  he can't just change his mind like that.  just think about other players.  you have to keep the game fair.  he should have checked with the proshop before he signed the form.