The play on the NCGA Junior Tour, you must be a member of the NCGA and have an established handicap index at the time of registration for a tournament.
Once you have become an NCGA member, you must have 5 or more scores posted to get a handicap index. Handicap indexes are updated on the 1st and 15th of the month. Your handicap will become official at the first update after 5 scores are posted. If you have an expired handicap index, but are not a member of an NCGA member club, you should make sure you give your new club your GHIN number. This way, your scores will become valid and your index will become active at the next update.
There are five ways to become an NCGA member:
1) Join an established NCGA member course or associate club. This could be a private or public course. Most public courses have men’s and women’s clubs that are open for membership. Joining one of these clubs allows you to play in their tournaments.
2) Join an NCGA E-Club. The NCGA E-Clubs are provided in major metropolitan areas throughout Northern California. You can learn more about E-Clubs at http://www.ncga.org/ncga-services/join/. There are special rates for juniors to join an e-club.
3) Join an authorized Youth on Course organization. The NCGA Foundation runs the Youth on Course program and provides many benefits for juniors join. To read more about this program and to find a local organization that support it go to http://www.ncgafoundation.org/youth_on_course/.
4) Join Youth on Course directly through the NCGA Foundation’s website. If you do not live in an area with a Youth on Course organization or just wish to join YOC directly, go to http://www.ncgafoundation.org/youth_on_course/ to find out how to do it.
5) If you are a member of another recognized association which provides handicaps such as the Southern California Golf Association, Northern Nevada GA, Women’s Golf Association of Northern California, or Pacific Women’s Golf Association, you can purchase an Association Membership to the NCGA. This provides all the benefits of NCGA membership except for a handicap index which will still be provided by your main organization. Learn more about Association Memberships at http://www.ncga.org/ncga-services/join/.