An Extraordinary General Meeting of the European Golf Association (EGA) took place on Wednesday 19 June in Amsterdam.
35 Member National Golf Federations/Associations were represented by officials or by proxy at the meeting, the primary subject of which was the new World Handicap System (WHS).
During the meeting, the representatives unanimously voted to accept an agreement between the EGA and the World Handicap Authority (WHA), comprising The R&A and United States Golf Association (USGA), regarding the adoption and operation of the World Handicap System for all EGA members outside of Great Britain & Ireland (where WHS implementation will be overseen under a separate Authorised Handicapping Body).
The agreement acknowledges the EGA as the Authorised Handicapping Body in continental Europe, and states the EGA's responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the system in the territories of its members (outside of Great Britain & Ireland).
The agreement allows EGA member federations to be granted limited additional time, past the planned 1 January 2020 global implementation date, to adopt the new system.
The representatives also voted to accept the Rules of Handicapping proposed by the WHA, with discretions permitted on certain matters for each authorised association.
EGA General Secretary, Richard Heath stated: “The positive and unanimous agreement at the Extraordinary General Meeting yesterday was encouraging as a sign of solidarity to move from the well-accepted EGA Handicap System to the WHS, with its many benefits, including, of course, having only one system to serve golf worldwide. The EGA has worked with its members to ensure that their requirements for system robustness and security in system governance have been met.”