A decision was taken to revise and update the handicapping used for the Tallon Trophy with effect from the start of the new competition year on 1st July 2014.
Henceforth each player's handicap will be calculated automatically at the end of each calendar month using that player's results over the previous twelve months. We will aggregate all of the percentage results achieved by a player in normal club pairs during the previous twelve months. The resultant total divided by the number of sessions involved will give us a mean average percentage. This average when taken away from 50% will give us the handicap for the ensuing month. In some cases the handicap will be positive and in other cases it will be negative.
For each partnership playing in a handicap session the handicap that will be the applied will be the average of the two individual handicaps. This will be added or subtracted to their score for that particular session to produce the handicapped result.
Players who are producing above average results will have a negative handicap effectively reducing their scores. Less experienced players will have a positive handicap effectively increasing their scores.
Handicaps will therefore be based on a rolling twelve month average which will be updated monthly. At the end of each calendar month an updated handicap will be calculated which will apply for the ensuing month. This will again be based on the percentage scores from standard pairs events in the previous twelve months with the scores from the month just ended now entering into the calculation in place of the scores from thirteen months ago which fall out of the calculation.
This new system is in its infancy and we will be reviewing the position to determine how we need to handle situations when new players join without an existing handicap. In most cases we anticipate that new players, other than those with an existing EBU record, will start without any handicap and will effectively generate their own handicap by the beginning of their second month.
Results from non-standard events such as the Eileen Webster, Preece Rose Bowl, teaching or introductory sessions will not be included in the handicap calculation.
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