CONGU Rule 19

[3offTheTee]

The handicap Committee at our club has let power go to their head. In addition to the Annual Review they have just had a mid term review and cut about 15 players for performing well in 4BB Competitions and Mixed Comps.

One Category 2 golfer had 2 excellent weeks where he won 1 comp and came 2nd in another. His handicap was adjusted accordingly BUT the Committee wanted more and deducted a further 2 shots.

Is this the norm at other clubs and any insight/ experience at other clubs along with players' right to appeal would be appreciated

 

[birdieman]

Hi 3offthetee,
I'm match and handicap secretary at my club and I would say regarding your first point your handicap committee are competely wrong to cut handicaps on the basis of doubles events - how you play in doubles events has nothing to do with your own handicap.
On the second point they are quite right, I would not take extra shots off from one good round but if a player was well below css on a subsequent round then you would be looking to cut him to an appropriate level - no-one wants handicap bandits. This is often the case with new golfers whose scoring ability improves very quickly.
Can I ask if your club operates the club2000 software for handicapping? If not and they are working out handicaps manually they may well be neglecting to use 19.8 stableford adjusted scoring for calculating handicaps. This is essential to maintain accurate handicaps as it reduces all the silly scores like 8's, 10's etc back down to double bogey for the purposes of handicapping. You should check that your handicap committee factor this in.
Regarding an appeal, you could appeal against point 1, not point 2.
Personally I'd be delighted to get my handicap down, sounds like some of your members want to keep a higher handicap to win comps - this is poor form in my book!

 

[John_Findlay]

Couldn't agree more, birdieman. It should be every golfer's aim to reduce their handicap, not to keep it unrealistically high in order to give themselves a better chance of winning the trophies.

When you're in the pub and someone asks you your handicap would you rather be able to tell them you're off 5 or 15 ? No brainer.

 

[3offTheTee]

Thanks for the comments Birdieman which is appreciated. I may not have expressed myself and it is NOT myself who I am talking about.

WE are on Club 2000 and hav just changed the categories for 1, 2 and 3 to ensure a more even spread of numbers in each Category. The guy in question at the star of the year was off 13 and had been playing 15 years, no way a bandit, and had a Net 63 and Net 67 in consecutive weeks for which he was cut in the normal way. He then lost a further 2 shots at the review and he handicap now is 8.3.

Perhaps I should have been more explicit but I trust you both agree that he was not trying to keep a high handicap and may I also agree with John Findlay's comment but with respect that was not the point of my original comment

 

[birdieman]

3offthetee, out of interest what is the sss of the course? If it is 70 or thereabout I can see why he was cut. If he was cut to 10 in the normal way, 2 extra doesn't seem extreme to me. I know it wasn't yourself you were talking about, that's why I said 'some of your members' in my earlier response. Regardless of the above all doubles events are non-qualifying for handicapping.

 

[3offTheTee]

Bidieman SSS is 70. What I find difficult to understand is he was cut for 2 good rounds and I just thought a further 2 shots was somewhat subjective. Also thought somthing new was coming in this year about Congu Rule 19. If you know of changes any help would be appreciated.

Also your comments re double are helpful. Incidentally the Couple which win The Clubs Knockout 4BBB are cut 2 and Runners Up 1 every year.

 

[furyk_or_unique]

Quite ridiculous to cut someone so much for two good rounds.

That's not how the handicap system works and it would seem that someone on your committee has a personal vendetta perhaps stemming from a mauling by a so-called "bandit" in the club matchplay.

We need to remember that golfers are massively inconsistent before wantonly labelling every low shooter as a bandit. Top pros can shoot 65 one day and 80 the next, so how much more likely is it that we will have an even wider range of potential scores.

The guy should simply have been cut the 3 or 4 shots the system would normally have pruned him, and then disappeared back into the chorus line for a few months while he struggled to play to his new handicap, thus paving the way for someone else to have their two weeks in the golfing sun.