CAP PATROL PEER REVIEW HANDICAP SYSTEM

The new World Handicap System guidelines ask that all member clubs monitor for peer review all players at their club to ensure that a player’s handicap index is reflective of that players potential. The process of gathering all the individual data of each player at the club would be extremely difficult to do efficiently considering a typical club has on average hundreds of members who play thousands of rounds throughout the year. 

Cap Patrol is a tool that allows a golf club to easily gather all of the data to monitor its players handicaps and scores to present to a handicap committee the background data needed to make, in those rare instances, an adjustments to a players GHIN index. 

Beyond the gathering of the data Cap Patrol runs a proprietary algorithm against the data of each player to look for indicators that may mean a player is manipulating their handicap index. The algorithm monitors 45 data points 24/7 on all players including five known areas that they manipulate their index.

After gathering and analyzing the data that Cap Patrol uses to monitor a player’s potential the system creates an overall Cap Score for every player. The Cap Score is arrived at by deducting points for data that is out of the norm or shows exceptional play compared to all other players in the system in each of the monitored data points. These points are then deducted off a players starting Cap Score of 100 to arrive at a final Cap Score number for each player at the club. When a player’s Cap Score gets to a level that the system flags that player for an adjustment the system will suggest the index a player’s handicap should be adjusted to in order to promote fair play.

High and Low Index over the last 12 months: This shows a player playing potential over a recent history. This could be an indicator of an issue if they are on the high end of their index over the last 12 months since they have shown the ability to play better recently

Home vs. Away Scores: It is more difficult for a club to follow a players’ play at away courses. We look at the club to see what players of the same ability score at away courses compared to the player in question. This may indicate that a player is managing their handicap index by turning in scores outside of the norm at away courses compared to players of similar ability

​Potential: We monitor a player’s scores in tournament play since a player under pressure, playing by the rules and having their score attested is one of the best indicators of their potential. We look at a player’s tournament data over the last 24 months to calculate what their potential index should be. This is a one of the more highly weighted pieces of data since it is data that has been peer reviewed and played under more difficult playing conditions

​Rounds Turned In: We monitor when a player plays a round of golf and if that player turns in a score for that round. This indicates if the data we are looking at is complete as well as if the player is recording his play for every opportunity. We also alert the next day what a player turns in for their round score to the other players in their group they played with that day for peer review

​Tournament Point System: This is based on research by USGA handicap senior director Dean Knuth. His system is based on awarding points for first (5 points) thru fifth (1 Point) finishes at net events over the last two years. His research shows the anything beyond a player accumulating seven points in that period is above the norm. His system then adjusts a player’s tournament handicap for future events according to the number of points they have above seven. This is part of our system because it shows a player having success beyond what has been researched as the norm at a club no matter how they accomplished getting there. This, like tournament scores under Potential, is a more highly weighted piece of data because it shows who is “on the podium” more than what is statistically the norm.
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