Hints and Tips

On this page we list a collection of tips that will help you navigate around the website easier. These hints and tips are the full collection of those that we publish one at a time in our monthly newsletter.

1	Documents	Have you found the documents sections? Look in the ‘Must Reads’ section of the Member home page. You will find sections for Newsletters, Minutes of Club Meetings, Policy and help documents. Let us know if you have ideas about what would be useful to add here.
2	Quick Links	Check out the quick links at the bottom of each web page. They are designed to get you quickly to sites for booking tee times, MyGolf at England Golf, the WHS handicap calculator and to any of our social media sites.
3	Search	Use search facilities: To find member contact details use the ‘Find member Contact Details’ option on the member home page, which only shows if you are logged in. You can search by surname or phone number amongst other things. Or, the ‘Search’ box at the bottom of every page finds which pages of the website contain the text you type in.
4	Master Scoreboard	By far the most popular website page for members is the competition calendar page. This is one of several pages that provides a ‘window’ through which you view Master Scoreboard (MS) data. Other examples are the ‘My Golf’ page and the ‘Handicaps’ page. MS is a separate website to ours; it just appears to be closely linked by this method of viewing its data. Our website tries to get you quickly to MS data by logging you in automatically – only for the first time does MS ask you to select your name and enter a password. After that our website automatically logs you in. You don’t have to use our website to get to MS – you can go directly to https:// www.masterscoreboard.co.uk. If you do it this way, you will have to login each time. Choose what is easiest for you. Remember, because MS and our website are separate, you have a different login for each.
5	Committee	Find your committee! Our members join the committee voluntarily, providing their services for free to ensure club activities enhance our golfing experience. If you haven’t already, take a look at the committee web page to find out who they are. You can quickly email a committee member using the links on this page too, if you have any questions. New blood is essential to keep the Club operating, so if you are someone who is keen to help out, read the section on how at the end of the committee page.
6	Responsive	Website is responsive – it knows the size of the screen. It adjusts the layout of the page to better fit the screen size. Items are re-ordered into a column for example for a phone screen. The other thing that changes is the top menu, becoming the the standard menu icon:
7	Public Home	Always get back to the public home page quickly. Click on the club logo in the top left of each page!
8		You don’t have to login to see latest tee times or to book tees – use the quick menu options at the top of the page.
9	Honours Board	Go back in history with the club lists of competition winners. You can see on the website the same lists of past winners that appear on the physical Boards mounted on the walls in the Downshire bar area. Choose ‘Honours Boards’ from the Member’s home page.
10		Complete your profile! Did you know you can easily add your own photo, to appear on your profile page? Once logged in, choose ‘My Details’. Look for the cog wheel as shown on the left. And click it to edit your profile. You will see a camera icon that allows you to upload a photo. Only sensible passport style photos please, the management reserves the right to remove anything unsuitable! …
11		Not so much a tip this month, more a reminder. We urge everyone to be aware of the Club’s Code of Conduct. You can find it on the website by following the menu item on the Member Home Page under the ‘Must Reads …’ section. These are short paragraphs, less than a page, highlighting both what the Club does for its members and equally how our Members are expected to behave.
12		This is a tip about tips. This tip is number 12, and in case you haven’t noticed to make sure none are missed, all tips can be found on the website. From the Member home page, under the ‘must reads’ section, click the light bulb!
13	HI	I have recently been asked about the accuracy of the number appearing after your name in the top right of the website page after login. This is always your current Handicap Index. As part of the login process, your current Handicap Index is looked up in real time from England Golf, and so for example will always reflect any overnight changes. Also, a hidden shortcut feature, if you click or tap your name you will be logged out!
14		Just to make sure you haven’t missed a useful feature, our competitions calendar page has a download feature, allowing you to automatically add competition dates to your phone or tablet (or PC) calendar. Check out the help document listed on the Competition Calendar page to see how it works.
15		Keep your contact details current! If you change a phone number, you can update it in your profile on the website. In the menu under your name, click ‘My Details’. You will see your profile page. Click the cog wheel ‘⚙️’ to enable editing of your phone numbers. If you change your email address, email webmaster@easthampsteadgolfclub.co.uk with details of the change.
16		Several times recently we have had requests for where on the website certain information is. We have attempted to make the menus and buttons obvious (Really!), but sometimes the navigation does seem to cause problems. If you cannot find something, always remember ‘Search’ at the bottom of every page: Try typing ‘Externals’ in the search box as an example, and you will find in the results the web page giving full details on the external competitions we enter teams in.
17		Passwords seem to cause problems every now and again. This tip is a refresher of the two passwords you need to access all the facilities of our website. Password 1: Your EGC website password. You choose this when you register for an account. You can change it at any time using ‘Change Password’ – one of the menu options listed under your name at the top of each page. If you have forgotten it,  choose ‘Forgot your password?’ on the Login page. Password 2: Master Scoreboard. You cannot choose or change this. It is usually a 4-digit PIN, and is first sent to you by email when you join the club. If you forget it contact webmaster@easthampsteadgolfclub.co.uk.
18		Club Clothing. A reminder that that very last option on the Member Home Page takes you to the website of our clothing supplier. You can purchase caps, fleeces, jumpers, shirts, towels and jackets all with the club logo, signifying clearly that you are a member of the best club in Berkshire!
19		The Sidebar: On the member’s home page we split the screen so that menu icons are on the right and down the left is a sidebar with some key items. This is where tee times and results are published, and where links to less used pages that are not shown as icons can be found. On a phone, the ‘sidebar’ does not appear because the screen is too small, but can be found at the end of the menu icons towards the bottom of the page.
20		Links to external websites. About every 3 months we do a review of links to other pages, such as references to England Golf information, or links to Downshire Complex information. There are a lot of links, and the review is fairly quick, meaning sometimes changes are missed and links to other websites stop working and are not noticed. Please let us know if you find any link that does not take you to the information you expect, by emailing webmaster@easthampsteadgolfclub.co.uk. If we don’t know, we can’t fix it!
	21	Recover from the ‘Too Many Redirects’ error: If your web browser shows this message while trying to connect to the EGC website, there is a workaround that will get you back up and running. Find the ‘Clear History’ option in your specific browser and select it. For example, on a iPhone you’ll find this at Settings->Safari->’Clear History and Website Data’. This error is being looked into so hopefully we can get a permanent fix!
	22	With certain committee role holders changing and new ones appearing in July, now is the time to refresh your knowledge of the committee page on the website. You can email any of the roles quickly just be clicking on their names – a shortcut to start a blank email to them. Also, please consider volunteering yourself. Please add yourself to our list of interested contributers by emailing either our secretary, the captain or our new strategy role.
	23	Using WhatsApp. Although much reduced over recent months, messages in our WhatsApp groups that break or come close to breaking our ‘good conduct’ rules still exist. Rules for posting messages to each of our Club groups exist to ensure discussion stays within topic boundaries and does not bring the Club into disrepute nor offends other club members. Please re-read the rules and abide by them.
	24	The public page is useful! From the Club’s home page before login, scroll down and click on ‘Mens Section’. This public page still has a lot of useful information in one place for you our member. Links to our Open Competitions can be found here, the Honours Board and news items also feature. Towards the bottom of the page we have links to course photos and a section showing the latest weather prediction for Bracknell.
	25	Mostly, members should have a ‘favourites’ link to our website to get there quickly. But the first time you may have to type the website name into the browser address bar. Typing easthampsteadgolfclub.co.uk can be a bit long for some of us, so there is now a shorter version: use egcgolf.co.uk instead. You’ll end up at the same website.
	26	As we approach the AGM in November, it is I think worth reminding everyone of our club constitution which has served us well since the Club’s inception in 1975. Unchanged since then, refresh your memory of this document or read it for this first time! It is of course on the website and can be found from the home page – click Policies in the ‘Must Reads’ section and it is the first document listed.
	27	Use your eye: If you’ve had trouble typing your password because the login page is ‘hiding’ the characters you type, there’s a new feature to help. You can expose your password by clicking the new ‘eye’ icon you will find at the end of the password entry field:
	28	Get Ready for April: In April, the way your Course and Playing Handicaps are calculated will change as England Golf introduce the first major change to WHS in the UK. To date, off the Yellow tees at Downshire, your course handicap was (Handicap Index X 125 / 113), so someone on 18 HI has a Course Handicap of 20. From April, a new factor will be added to this calculation: (Course Rating – Par). On Yellows at Downshire, Course Rating is 68.4 and Par is 72, so (Course Rating – Par) is -3.6. From April therefore, a Course Handicap of 20 will instead be 16. The change for playing off Whites is not so large. See the effect in more detail by trying out the new Handicap Calculator
	29	There have been more updates to the website in the last month ready for April WHS changes. In particular, the course information page has been updated. The WHS ratings for the Downshire are now given on this page (Slope Rating / Course Rating) and there is a new link to a page which contains handicap conversion tables for white, yellow and red tees.
	30	Member directory searches: the software we use searches all information attached to user accounts for the name you type in. This can result in confusing results, as ‘hidden’ names such as the person sponsoring a membership is included in the results. If you want to be sure of getting just the surname you type in, put the name in the ‘Last Name’ field (not the main search box), and then click ‘Search’.
	31	As the first major changes to WHS since its inception went ‘live’ in April, this tip constitutes a reminder of help on our website. First the WHS Calculator has been updated to account for the changes (the old calculator has now been retired). Second, a set of handicap tables has been published on the page describing the Downshire Course . Use either of these to help get to your Course Handicap quickly given your Handicap Index (which I’m sure none of you have trouble remembering – but if you do that’s always displayed on login next to your name).
	32	Online Honours: Behind the scenes over the last 2 months many changes have happened to the lists of competition winners we hold online. Mainly this has been to make it easier and quicker for us poor web administrators to update the data. For you the member, the layout has changed slightly, not really so you would notice, but treat this as a little reminder to see where you come on the lists. Just click ‘Honours Boards’ from the home page. Those skilled members who have achieved holes in one over the years has been added in the recent changes, so there is something new to look at too.
	33	Logging in to the website has caused a few people problems, because we have to be very strict over correct entry of usernames and passwords. We only allow a limited number of attempts at logging in successfully, after that you will be locked out for 15 minutes. Only ONE attempt is allowed to get your username right, and THREE attempts on the password. We do this because the wicked out there are continually (every few minutes) attempting to hack in. Annoying sometimes, but necessary. The device you are using (Phone / PC / Tablet) should ‘remember’ your details after successful login, automatically filling in your username/password on the login page. If this isn’t happening, check your settings on the browser you are using, as this feature may be turned off.
	34	Information for New Members – and as a reminder for those in the club for longer – take a look at our Member Handbook online. Choose ‘New Members Start Here’ from the home page after login. This takes you to a pdf version of the handbook which you can peruse online or print.
35		Looking forward to 2025 – new 50th Anniversary page. We have added a new section to the website that will be used to publicise events during 2025 and provide you with important information as soon as it is available. Click on the new icon on the home page to get to this new source of information.