Chapter 1
Important Dates and General Information
Important Dates
Score Posting Sheets (Paper), Green Diamond Envelopes (Paper) and revised USGA Handicap Indexes (Paper and GHIN Handicap Program) will be sent to your clubs and your Golf Association TWO DAYS PRIOR TO THE FIRST POSTING DATE.
The first club billing (if GHIN produces invoices for your clubs) will be sent to your Association after the THIRD REVISION.
Association invoices will be produced the first weekend of the month AFTER THE THIRD REVISION and will continue through the end of the season or year.
The second club billing (if GHIN produces invoices for your clubs) will be sent to your Association after the EIGHTH REVISION.
The final club billing (if GHIN produces invoices for your clubs) will be sent to your Association after the LAST REVISION.
All logo changes MUST BE AT GHIN BY THE MONTH OF AUGUST. All revision schedule changes and Association name changes for the upcoming year MUST BE AT GHIN BY THE MONTH OF OCTOBER.
USGA Holiday Schedule
GHIN Staff may not be available for Golf Association calls on the following holidays:
§ New Year's Day
§ Martin L. King, Jr. Day
§ Presidents' Day
§ Memorial Day
§ Independence Day
§ Day After Independence Day
§ Labor Day
§ Columbus Day
§ Thanksgiving Day
§ Day after Thanksgiving
§ Day Before Christmas Eve
§ Day After Christmas
§ Day Before New Year's Eve
Paper clubs to be updated during a week with a Monday holiday should be encouraged to mail their Score Posting Sheets and other information at least one day earlier than usual. This will greatly ease the problem of processing every club on one day.
Please note that there may be times during the winter months when inclement weather will make it necessary for GHIN to either close early or to have a delayed opening. At such times, GHIN will send all Golf Associations an e-mail advising them as to the status of these openings and closings. In addition, the main GHIN Telephone number will contain a message providing you with the most up-to-date information on the status of GHIN office hours.
General Information
GHIN Address, Telephone/Fax No./E-Mail/USGA Headquarters Address
GHIN’s mailing address is as follows: P.O. Box 6908, Bridgewater, NJ 08807-0908. For UPS or Federal Express purposes, the street address is: 20 County Line Road, Branchburg, NJ 08876. GHIN’s main telephone number is: (908) 253-8800 and the fax number is: (908) 253-8829.
The USGA’s Handicap Department is located at the main headquarters address, which is as follows: Golf House, P.O. Box 708, Far Hills, NJ 07931-0708. The telephone number is: (908) 234-2300 and the fax number is: (908) 234-1513.
Please note that the USGA is connected to the Internet and receives and sends e-mail. For further information on individual staff /e-mail addresses, please refer to Chapter 10, “Frequently Called GHIN Staff and Their Duties.”
Revision Schedules
GHIN provides for six different types of revision schedules (sub-associations). They are coded one through six and are listed below:
Sub-association #1 - 12 or less revisions every two weeks
Sub-association #2 - 13 revisions every two weeks
Sub-association #3 - 14 or more revisions every two weeks
Sub-association #4 - 13 revisions every four weeks
Sub-association #5 - 12 or less revisions every four weeks
*Sub-association #6 - Varying frequency and varying number of revisions
*Sub-association 6 is also known as the "4-2-4" schedule, when clubs will have some two-week revisions and some four-week revisions.
USGA Handicap Indexes can be revised no more often than every two weeks and no less often than once a month as per the USGA Handicap System Manual. All clubs are updated on prescribed revision dates. As a Golf Association, you establish the golf season and the revision schedule that best suits your Association for the area you service.
Thirteen (13) revisions are included in the base price of our service. Additional revisions are available at an additional cost per golfer, per extra revision.
Club “Services”
A “Service” is a sub-group of golfers at each club. Each “Service” is comprised of golfers with the same gender and type (nine or 18-hole) handicap. GHIN provides you with the option of having up to 98 different “Services” at each club. The GHIN Handicap Program software will allow these “Service” groups, which can be defined by the Golf Association, to accommodate varying club needs. The first six services GHIN provides are predefined as follows:
Service 1 - Men’s 18-Hole
Service 2 - Juniors’ 18-Hole
Service 3 - Women’s 18-Hole
Service 4 - Women’s 9-Hole
Service 5 - Seniors’ 18-Hole
Service 6 - Men’s 9-Hole
Although these services are predefined, they can be used differently, if desired, on a club-by-club basis. The different services allow for flexibility and separation of handicap groups. Furthermore, clubs can have more than one club, group or league operate on the same club’s personal computer (PC) and can further subdivide the groups for local report generation.
Record Retention
The physical deletion of computer records after a specified amount of time is done to conserve computer resources. GHIN retains the records for an individual golfer, who is inactive, at an active club for two years, unless that golfer is a multi-member at another club using GHIN. In that case, the retention is for one year. If a golfer is presenting what looks like a valid GHIN number to be transferred or reinstated and GHIN has no record of the number, the record has been deleted. If this situation arises, please consult a GHIN Technical Support team member for assistance.
Special Requests
Requests for regularly sent special reports or something out of the ordinary should always be sent to GHIN in writing. This will ensure that the request is performed correctly.
GHIN Training Seminars
For Golf Associations whose representatives would like training on the GHIN service, a two-day training seminar is available at GHIN Headquarters in Branchburg, New Jersey. Both the GHIN Handicap Program and the Paper Option are covered in the training. Travel, hotel expenses, and meals are the responsibility of the Golf Association. Please contact Kathy Abbott, Coordinator, GHIN Liaison Production, for additional information.
Club Numbers
Club numbers 990 through 999 may not be used by Golf Associations, as GHIN creates clubs in this range for testing purposes.
GHIN Pricing Structure
GHIN has instituted a new pricing structure to allow Golf Associations to take advantage of longer-term commitments to the GHIN service. There are several choices in the type of service a Golf Association can choose. Those choices are as follows:
1. Signature Service – This is a club using the GHIN Handicap Program that receives reports from GHIN for each Revision.
2. Report-Less – This is a club using the GHIN Handicap Program that runs its own reports at the club and does not receive any paper or materials from the GHIN service.
3. Paper and Pencil – This is the club that writes its own scores on GHIN Score Posting Sheets and then mails the sheets back to GHIN to be keyed in by Data Entry.
4. Value-Added Service Provider (VASP) – This is for the Golf Association that uses another vendor’s software, but still has all its golfers’ information stored on the GHIN Enterprise Server.