The major reasons for moving to a multi tee course system were to:

The Tees will be set for the event.

If you do not wish to be part of the competition please select the “no” option on the kiosk screen and print a card for the coloured tee of your choice.

If you are unsure which course to play please choose a recommended course based on your current handicap (see below).

All tees are rated and available for Ladies and Men to play.

Choosing to play a different tee is just the same as playing a course at a different Club. Your score will count for handicap purposes with the appropriate adjustments being made.

Most golfers assume the handicap allocated for play off the chosen tee colour will produce a fair haggle result. In actual fact an additional calculation is necessary due to the way the USPCA Rating and Handicap system works.

Players in a haggle using different tee colours need to check the New Zealand Course Rating (printed on the scorecard “NZCR”) for the chosen tee colour. For example:

For the purposes of the haggle the Lady adds 3.5 shots to her handicap; rounded up to 4.

The adjustment needs to be made to keep the haggle play fair and equitable. The Lady is playing on the higher rated course which is a harder course and takes her additional strokes on her Yellow course.

The card handicap does not change and the result from the haggle handicap does not affect the golfer’s Golf Handicap Index.

The New Zealand Golf Handicap Index is portable: from course to course, as well as from one set of tees to other tee colours on the same course.

A golfer converts their Handicap Index to a Course Handicap based on the Slope Number of the tee colour being played.

In some cases our Yellow course is just as difficult as the conventional White tees on other New Zealand courses. Just think about playing our Yellow, Red or Purple Courses as if you were at another course elsewhere.

For the Napier Club multi tee courses the computer calculates the handicap when the golfer’s card is printed. The printed course card includes the Slope figure as well as a NZCR figure. The higher the NZCR and Slope figures; the harder the course.

While the Stroke Holes are set to reflect the degree of difficulty of the holes on the course there are other considerations as well.

The Stroke Holes are spaced out so a low handicapper does not give their shots all in a row.

The Napier courses follow the ideal: the number one and number two shot holes should not be on holes one and ten; one side should have all of the odd number Stroke Holes and the other side should have all the even number Stroke Holes.

Data is constantly being analysed to ensure that the stroke hole rating is correct for each course.

It may take a few rounds for you to gain your “local knowledge” as you will be in different positions in the fairway and be using different golf clubs into the greens.

There may be some learning to do as to which golf club to use.

Perhaps you are a straight hitter but do not reach green in regulation on the longer course but on the short course you now might be reaching in regulation and putt well, or are close enough for accurate chipping.