Can I see your handicap certificates please?

JohnnyDee

JohnnyDee

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From time to time on the forum we read about 5.5 hour + rounds, caused by groups of 'hackers' who have been allowed on the course ahead of us by "greedy money-grabbing" clubs.

This got me thinking that there is a way to mitigate against this blight on our game. Allegedly it exists currently - the handicap certificate!

But here's the thing, in 20 years playing I have been asked to present one only once and that was for a course abroad.

Why do clubs (and in my experience some pretty high profile clubs too) waive or simply ignore this? It might just stop the hellish frustration felt on what should be enjoyable society days if the presentation of a current certificate was always required.

The other thing it might help stop is that group who win first prize some 10 shots ahead of the field

(And yes, I remember Camberly Heath just before Xmas :mmm::mmm:)
 
I expect by enforcing it clubs would lose a lot of society revenue as plenty of those playing arent club members and dont have handicaps. Most places use it as a fall back to use in exceptional circumstances I think (or at least used to). Lets be honest too, being a club member and having a handicap doesnt promise that a society group, often on a strange course wont be slow anyway (you only have to look at some forum meets!)
 
JohnnyDee said:
From time to time on the forum we read about 5.5 hour + rounds, caused by groups of 'hackers' who have been allowed on the course ahead of us by "greedy money-grabbing" clubs.

This got me thinking that there is a way to mitigate against this blight on our game. Allegedly it exists currently - the handicap certificate!

But here's the thing, in 20 years playing I have been asked to present one only once and that was for a course abroad.

Why do clubs (and in my experience some pretty high profile clubs too) waive or simply ignore this? It might just stop the hellish frustration felt on what should be enjoyable society days if the presentation of a current certificate was always required.

The other thing it might help stop is that group who win first prize some 10 shots ahead of the field

(And yes, I remember Camberly Heath just before Xmas :mmm::mmm:)
Click to expand...

So you are saying as I am not a member of a club I can't go on any Forum meets which lets face it are mostly society days then?
 
HawkeyeMS said:
Slow play isn't related to handicap. I know some very slow low handicappers and some very quick high handicappers
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Couldnt agree more.

When I started playing I would rush in fear of holding others up which in reality was the worst thing I could have done at the time.

Have witnessed some seriously slow mid to low hc'ers.
 
Yet another thread that makes me out to be the cause of the death of golf!

I am a society golfer, with a 20+ handicap so I heartily apologise for all the problems with the great game. Within our society, which has a spread of handicaps and ages, we always brief on pace of play before each meet and encourage picking up when unable to score and most do this. I personally do not take practice swings as a norm and usually just find it and hit it ( maybe if I took more time I would have a lower handicap :() unlike the prima donna single figure players you see who think they are playing for the Claret Jug every round and take a dozen swings and look at every put from all over the green.

Snobbery like that shown in the OP is more likely to be the reason people are not playing as much - but this is a totally different thread.
 
The trouble with a handicap certificate is that all it proves is that you've paid your subs....
It doesn't prove anything else.
Just because you've paid your money it doesn't automatically mean you know how to play or how to behave on the course
HCs are used to try and keep the riff raff away.......
 
I'm not sure a handicap cert would help pace of place, as someone else said just proves you are a member of a club and have a handicap.

We ask for them and some of our visitors are slow to say the least.
 
I don't think you could be further away from solving any issues - the problem with slow play isn't any relation to HC
 
In Germany it is quite common that you have to provide your membership card (which resembles the handicap certificate) when you want to play another course. If you are not a member of any golf club (or the VCG, an official association of club free golfers which also gives you a handicap), you don't get to play on most courses. Does it speed things up? Hell, no. On average, German players are way slower then British ones. So, no, handicap does not guarantee swifter pace of play. If anything, it makes people feel more entitled to be on the course and take their time.
 
Do we want cheap golf or quicker golf? With the best will in the world, on busy days, you aren't going to get both.

ok, let's bash society golfers, and low handicappers, and seniors, and juniors, and women. I'm sure most of us recognise that slow play has very little to do with age, gender, society golf or handicap.

7 minute time intervals between groups is ok early in the day, but as the number of players out on the course increases so should the timings.

I went from a club with 7 minute intervals that by mid morning could become mind numbingly slow to a club with 10 minute intervals - bliss. I sat on committee when the decision was made to go from 8 to 7, and then a few years later to remove the blank hour slots... madness!
 
sawtooth said:
The game needs an 'etiquette certificate'
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Would have to agree. It's normally an ignorance of etiquette that is the cause.

And no, I'm not suggesting that non-club members or society players should be banned. I was asking the question to promote discussion.

However I do think that clubs should be more active in marshalling pace of play for all abilities. A starter is just that. Get someone out in a buggy and spot queues and gaps and then chivvy, chivvy and chivvy again.

I too too know many players who should know better. Problem is they get into the zone and are oblivious to what's happening ahead of them or behind them.
 
I think if there are prizes and prize money on the table as you say, then a handicap certificate should be required or you can still play but not for prizes. But you cannot just stop people playing a course because they have no handicap or it really would be the death of golf.
 
Tiger man said:
I think if there are prizes and prize money on the table as you say, then a handicap certificate should be required or you can still play but not for prizes. But you cannot just stop people playing a course because they have no handicap or it really would be the death of golf.
Click to expand...
30 years ago it was pretty much the norm in the UK - it was only in the 80s and 90s when a huge number of additional courses and driving ranges were built that the various dynamics changed. They will continue to change.
 
We were 3rd group out in a pairs betterball today, the 4 in front were on the 9th green and the 4 in front of them were teeing off 11 and the 10th is a par 5 ! One seemingly had lost his ball off the tee on 10 and one of our group called to one of the group in front, who he knew, and asked if they were going to call us through - not a chance, not then and not for the rest of that 9 either!

They all could have produced a handicap certificate!
 
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