Drawn times or pick your own partners?

[Deleted Member 1156]

Which method do you have at your club for medals? My club is going to trial drawn times for the July monthly medal, in the past we have always picked our own partners and times. I can see the pro's and con's for both methods. I think it is a great way of integrating new members into the club but I can also see a lot of better players being drawn with high handicappers in competitive rounds and not being too happy about it. It also works the other way, some of the higher guys might feel intimidated playing with low guys.

So what do you have at your club and do you think it is the right method?

 

[moogie]

My Club, pick your own partners , pick your own tee times , online booking BRS
Really like this method , but would be happy if maybe once a month there was a drawn Comp, or even just 3 or 4 per season, playing with less familiar partners.

But most just happy to play with their mates

 

[Karl102]

Pick your own partners. But if there is 3 of you on the sheet, people are welcomed to sign up and are made to feel welcome!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

My Club, pick your own partners , pick your own tee times , online booking BRS
Really like this method , but would be happy if maybe once a month there was a drawn Comp, or even just 3 or 4 per season, playing with less familiar partners.

But most just happy to play with their mates

That's exactly how we work just now, will be interesting to see how people feel after the trial event in a couple of weeks.

 

[garyinderry]

we only get drawn for the majors!

 

[DelB]

At Gifford, you write your name on a sheet for either the 8 - 8.45 time slot, 9 - 9.45 time slot and so on and groups of three are then drawn and we get an e-mail through HDID advising start time and playing partners. This is a great system and means you get to know lots of different guys at the club.

Haddington just allows you to play with your mates and this is a lot of the reason why there are so many cliques, why you hardly get to know anybody and a major part of why I'm not renewing my membership next year.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have a booked section for the stablefords and medals so if you want to get a dedicated time you can. These are drawn and so you can play with anyone. You can also elect to roll up after the booked times and go out with whoever you want so you can opt to play with your mates. Big events such as gold letter comps and club champs are all randomly drawn

 

[USER1999]

Book your own time, and your three ball. Works for me.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I like the flexibility of being able to rock up later and play with your mates but for me the convenience of a set time and knowing in advance what time I'm off and will be finished means I can plan the rest of the day to suit

 

[Essex_Stu]

Drawn on Sundays and Non-Drawn on Saturdays at our place. Love playing in drawn comps as you get to meet new people etc.

 

[mikevet]

Monthly medal is always drawn. For someone like me who has only started playing in medal comps this year it is a great way to meet other members and so enhance my social life at the golf club. The mix of handicaps doesn't seem to matter, but then we do have a great bunch of members....

 

[RGDave]

I can't see the advantage to this method. Everyone loses, most probably.

What's prompted this idea?

 

[rikkitikk]

Can either be drawn for comps or choose your own tee time with your playing partners. I prefer being drawn randomly as it means that as a higher handicapper may get to go round with a low handicapper and see how golf should be played and occasionally see if some of my shots are close enough distance wise

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I can't see the advantage to this method. Everyone loses, most probably.

What's prompted this idea?

Not sure who proposed the idea. What don't you like about it? (I'm not trying to start an argument, just interested to canvass opinion)

 

[RGDave]

Not sure who proposed the idea. What don't you like about it? (I'm not trying to start an argument, just interested to canvass opinion)

The way I see it, 90% of our guys want to a) choose the time (early/late) and b) play with at least one regular partner (for either social or golfing reasons). I just put my name down anywhere unless I can see a gap with some group I know. My feeling is that why spoil things for the majority as long as you can cater for the minority.

For me, the time thing would be the biggest downer....I like to go out as late as possible. I can blame spike marks and crowned holes for my 35 points for the 108th week in a row.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

We will have the option of picking a time within one hour blocks so still some control over what time we play but obviously not who we are drawn with. The bit that I'm not sure about is the mix of handicaps. I play in a few roll ups at the club that have a wide mix of abilities and I always enjoy the company but in a medal, I think I would prefer to stick with the lower guys. I don't say this from any golf snobbery angle, purely that in a medal the target is to play as well as possible with the fewest number of distractions.

 

[pbrown7582]

we use a BRS system you can pick your 3 ball or just put yourself down at the time you prefer or can get its mayhem at 4.30 on a friday evening trying to get an early time within 10 minutes the first 1.5 hours is booked pretty solid bar the odd single slot,

 

[patricks148]

all the main silver comps are drawn, have roll up sheets for medals or you can book your own tee for them and pick our own partners.

 

[Sponge1980]

For our weekly medals there are 2 draw times and you turn up for which ever one suits. Cards are written out and groups drawn at random. We have 3 comps that the draws are done by handicap. This system works well for us as over the course of the season you end up playing with nearly every other member so everyone gets to know each other. Also everyone ends up in the clubhouse at the same time so there is usually a good bit of banter afterwards. The system works for us though as we are a small club and I realise it might not work at larger clubs.

 

[HickoryShaft]

Our place did this for the first time this year also. Only for medals on Saturdays. Midweek medals, stablefords, other comps are sign up with anyone you want or jump in a group which isn't yet full.

After lots of people moaning that it would be a disaster the first 3 have been completely full. To be honest I prefer this method - make new friends etc.