Thursday, June 27, 2013

Fore! Finding Club Memberships in the Golf Handicap System

One thing we have going for us as prospect researchers is our own individuality.  We all bring different perspectives and experiences that inform our work.  In my case, I play golf.  (I didn’t say I play well, but I do play.)  In order to compete in local tournaments, I participate in the handicap system, which is public so that anyone I’m competing against can confirm my handicap.  In entering scores into the system recently, I realized that my membership in the Two Rivers Golf Association (annual membership dues:  $50) is associated with my handicap.  That’s public as well.  And if it’s public for me, it’s public for everyone.  If you go to the website http://www.ghin.com, you can find club membership information for anyone in the system.  Click “Handicap Lookup,” then go to the “Name & State” tab.  


Enter the state and name of the person you’re researching and boom, you’ll find country club memberships -- a valuable thing to know about when estimating someone’s wealth.  What hobbies or interests of yours apply in some way to prospect research?  Please share in the comments!

Mitch Roberson, Communications Director, APRA MidSouth
communications@apramidsouth.org

4 comments:

  1. This is a great resource! Thanks for sharing.

    My father, cousin, and brother are all deeply interested in private aviation so I can often go to them for help on airplane valuation.

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  2. problem is it's not public to everyone in that you have to have USGA Handicap Index to see the information.
    Site says: "Please note use of the GHIN Mobile app requires the golfer to have a USGA Handicap Index issued by a State or Regional Golf Association subscribing to the GHIN service."
    So when I go to site it wants me to enter my GHIN number before i see anything else. Is there a go around to this?

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  3. I've never tried to use the GHIN mobile app. If you go to the website in a standard browser, you should be able to do searches without even having to register. Thx, Mitch

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