Here is all you need to know about the “soft lids”.
courtesy
A few weeks ago, a Golf player in California who sought to remain unknown took what he thought of as a “symbol of dishonor”.
She appeared in his Ghin appwhere he holds his tracks handicapin the form of something called “soft lid”.
“It felt like someone there didn’t believe me,” the golf said.
This is not the goal.
“A soft lid is not meant to be a punishment of any kind,” said Lee Rainwater, Director of Education with Hendikap and Extension for Usga. “On the contrary, it is a disabled protection to ensure that your index (handicap index) represents your demonstrated ability.”
How exactly does it work?
True for his name, a soft lid is a mechanism that starts automatically to limit how quickly a player handicap can grow. It is caused when the difference between the newly calculated index of a player and their low handicap index (within 12 months of their latest result posted) is greater than 3.0 strokes. In those cases, any increase above 3.0 is limited to 50 percent of that increase. If, for example, your low index 13.5.
A soft lid is not the only type of lid. There is also a protection called a solid lid, which limits each movement up to a player’s handicap to a maximum of 5 strokes over their low handicap index.
By their nature, soft lids and strong lids can obstruct sand. But the purpose behind them is not to aim for fraud.
They were designed with the vast majority of players in mind. Most players are not out to play the system. They want to hold an accurate record of their performance. The fact is, however, even the best players can suffer through a poor form during which they post a series of bad results that do not loyally reflect their basic ability.
This is where the automatic lids enter. They fit for those deviations.
In 2024, 21 percent of the players were affected by the soft lid at some point during their season, and 1.5 percent were affected by the strong lid.
Caught, in other words, is not uncommon. If you happen, don’t think about it as a symbol of dishonor. Think about it as the handicap system continuing with the way you really play.
Don’t have a handicap? You can Start the process here.
