Course Handicap

[wjemather]

Separately from 1st March all our tees become gender neutral and we have unified ladies/gents SIs. The latter has produced some SI changes that will no doubt be discussed and debated at length by members

The drive at some clubs to have a single set of pars and SIs comes from a misunderstanding of what is meant by gender neutral - which actually only means that tees are rated for both genders.

A single set of SIs across genders often makes little sense because the relative difficulty of many holes is completely different for each gender, particularly when the pars differ.

Misunderstanding what 'standardised pars' means (having the same par across all tees for a given gender, not both genders) and trying to create a single set of pars across genders is even more problematic.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

The drive at some clubs to have a single set of pars and SIs comes from a misunderstanding of what is meant by gender neutral - which actually only means that tees are rated for both genders.

A single set of SIs across genders often makes little sense because the relative difficulty of many holes is completely different for each gender, particularly when the pars differ.

Misunderstanding what 'standardised pars' means (having the same par across all tees for a given gender, not both genders) and trying to create a single set of pars across genders is even more problematic.

Our revised SIs were arrived at with the Ladies Committee plus our better Ladies 100% involved throughout the revision. So for instance we have one hole that was previously SI 1 for ladies and 6 for men. It’s new SI is 2 for all. N.b. it was a v tough 6 so many men will the revision. We have not changed the par (ladies or gents) of any hole.

 

[D-S]

I think the use of the phrase ‘gender neutral’ is part of the problem.
Tees are not gender neutral, one tee set means a different thing (slope and CR) to Women than to Men.
Some tees now are rated for both Women and Men, that is all.

 

[D-S]

We have a club in the County where the incoming Lady Captain did not like the SIs of the course and believed she had a lot more power than she actually had. She convinced someone in the office to change them on the scorecard as they were just ordering a new batch.
If you play there you might still get one of the 5000 or so wrong cards, which have been/ have to be corrected before use.

 

[rulefan]

If a course has been re-rated (and subject to their current stock of cards), I wonder why a club doesn't take the opportunity to check and/or revise the Pars (for each gender) and revise the SIs according to the recommendation in Appendix E

 

[wjemather]

If a course has been re-rated (and subject to their current stock of cards), I wonder why a club doesn't take the opportunity to check and/or revise the Pars (for each gender) and revise the SIs according to the recommendation in Appendix E

Probably cost. It's not just scorecards; course signage and tee markers commonly carry Par and SI information, and they don't come cheap.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Observation on scoring in rollup yesterday - 51 playing - mostly mid-high teens handicappers - only eight of hcap 20 or over. Weather not too bad. Chilly but dry, not much wind.

Winning score was 38pts. Only four players had 36 or more.

Re-rating will probably push scores up a bit - but there is plenty of scope for that without winning scores becoming ridiculous.