Seniors’ League Rules and Procedures
Last Updated February 2026
1. The rules herein are particular to the Linlithgowshire Golf Association (LGA) Seniors League. Accordingly, they should be read in conjunction with the LGA Generic League Rules.
2. All players must be a Gents member of the club they are representing and be 55 years old or above on the day of play.
3. All matches shall consist of 5 4 Ball Better Ball (4BBB) handicapped matchplay games. (See procedure for calculating strokes received below)
4. Playing Handicaps shall be capped at 18.
5. The dates of all matches shall be determined by the Secretary and will normally be on Thursdays between May and August.
6. Matches shall commence at 1pm.
7. In the event of a player not being ready to play at their start time, the undernoted rules shall apply:
a. If a player presents himself for play within 5 minutes after his start time, his team will lose the first hole.
b. If a player fails to present himself for play within 5 minutes of his start time, his pair will lose the game OR his partner may elect to play the match as a single player, starting 1 down at the 2nd tee.
Procedure for Calculating Strokes Received
Scottish Golf has issued new guidelines (effective April 1st 2024) for team match play events where no computer software is in use. Happily, this guidance is completely compatible with the process used to date in the LGA Seniors’ League and with the 2023 AGM decision to cap Playing Handicaps at 18.
Note: To ensure transparency and to minimise the chance of an error, it is expected that team captains perform this entire procedure TOGETHER. You should only bring your pairings and their Handicap Indexes to the match.
- Using their current WHS Handicap Index, obtain each player’s rounded Course Handicap from the course WHS table. A player’s Playing Handicap is defined as 100% of this rounded Course Handicap. Any Playing Handicap greater than 18 will be set at 18.
- For each 4 Ball, the player(s) with the lowest Playing Handicap will receive no strokes and be considered the scratch player(s). Therefore all 4 players’ Playing Handicaps shall be reduced by the lowest Playing Handicap to give their ‘Relative’ Playing Handicap.
- These ‘Relative’ Playing Handicaps should then be multiplied by 90%, then rounded to the nearest whole number, to give the number of strokes received by each player for their 4 Ball.
Example of Calculating Stokes Received
Player A has WHS Handicap Index of 12.2
Player B has WHS Handicap Index of 9.9
Player C has WHS Handicap Index of 7.6
Player D has WHS Handicap Index of 17.5
From the Course Handicap Table, the rounded course handicaps (and therefore the Playing Handicaps) for each player are as follows:
Player A: 15
Player B: 12
Player C: 9
Player D: 21, capped at 18
Player C has the lowest Playing Handicap, so this is subtracted from all the Playing Handicaps to give a ‘Relative’ Playing Handicap for each player as follows:
Player A: 15 – 9 = 6
Player B: 12 – 9 = 3
Player C: 9 – 9 = 0
Player D: 18 – 9 = 9
Finally, the strokes received by each player are calculated by taking 90% of their ‘Relative’ Playing Handicap and rounding as follows:
Player A: 6 * 90% = 5.4, rounded to 5
Player B: 3 * 90% = 2.7, rounded to 3
Player C: 0 * 90% = 0
Player D: 9 * 90% = 8.1, rounded to 8