Choose the update path that matches your roster

ClubForge has two handicap-maintenance paths. Which one you should use is determined by the organization's roster authority.

Complete external roster

When your organization maintains a complete active roster externally, that roster is authoritative for both active membership and Handicap Indexes. Refresh Handicap Indexes by importing the current complete roster through Import Roster. The separate Update Handicaps workflow is not used in this mode.

ClubForge-managed roster

When ClubForge maintains the active roster, Handicap Indexes can be refreshed by a roster import or by manually editing a member. If Allow standalone handicap updates is enabled in Organization Preferences, you can also use Update Handicaps from the Members page or Tournament Handicap Review.

Using Update Handicaps

The standalone workflow accepts CSV or Excel files containing Player ID/GHIN and Handicap Index. An effective or revision date is optional.

1. Choose the file. ClubForge recognizes the relevant columns and reports any file-level issues.
2. Review the matches. The preview shows the current and incoming Handicap Index for each recognized member, along with the effective date and status.
3. Check members not included. Active members missing from a standalone handicap file are listed for information only. Their Handicap Index and active status are not changed.
4. Apply updates. ClubForge does not change member records until you select Apply Updates. Blocking issues must be resolved first.

Handicap freshness

The Members page tracks when handicap information was refreshed. Depending on your organization's settings, freshness can be updated by an authoritative roster import, an ordinary roster import, the standalone Update Handicaps workflow, or a manual Handicap Index change.