England Golf and General Play Scores

[Bamberdele2.0]

Not sure how people can take GP rounds in the same breath as competition rounds.

For a start I have to pay money to enter comps and I will be trying to my best to win.

General play rounds I am having a knock that I consider a bit of social.

I compare it to a friendly pre season football match. You play people out of position, experiment with new systems and generally just get the minutes in to shape you up for the season ahead.

 

[Bdill93]

Not sure how people can take GP rounds in the same breath as competition rounds.

For a start I have to pay money to enter comps and I will be trying to my best to win.

General play rounds I am having a knock that I consider a bit of social.

I compare it to a friendly pre season football match. You play people out of position, experiment with new systems and generally just get the minutes in to shape you up for the season ahead.

I am with you on that I often just dont care in GP rounds about a bad hole etc and glory shots.

Comp golf I play far more within myself and make "the right decision" far more often.

 

[Imurg]

The GP cards I put in are probably more competitive than a comp..
I'm either playing against Fragger, CVG, or other mates and I sure as he'll want to win that.
As our comps are normally divisionalised I'm not reallh playing against them
In a comp I'm not overly bothered about winning 25 quids worth of shop vouchers..

 

[Swango1980]

Not sure how people can take GP rounds in the same breath as competition rounds.

For a start I have to pay money to enter comps and I will be trying to my best to win.

General play rounds I am having a knock that I consider a bit of social.

I compare it to a friendly pre season football match. You play people out of position, experiment with new systems and generally just get the minutes in to shape you up for the season ahead.

It depends on the player.

I put all my social scores in when permitted. But, then I play to the normal rules, try and do well and I like the fact that the social score still counts for something (whereas before, when I didn't submit social scores, if I was playing badly I often all but gave up as the score meant nothing)

But, I also get that others may just want to play differently in social rounds. Play gimmes, just drop a ball instead of stroke and distance, try different types of shots or maybe even throw a second ball down at times and have a practice. And many just can't be bothered registering their intent and recording their score, or their markers may not have the MyEG App or be overly bothered about having to verify all their 18 hole scores after. So, as a group, they just go out, hit a little white ball about a field, and then go home with no evidence of the round ever happening. That's fine to.

 

[Bamberdele2.0]

The GP cards I put in are probably more competitive than a comp..
I'm either playing against Fragger, CVG, or other mates and I sure as he'll want to win that.
As our comps are normally divisionalised I'm not reallh playing against them
In a comp I'm not overly bothered about winning 25 quids worth of shop vouchers..

Everyone wants to win against their mates in their little social games.

But I’d much prefer to win against the whole field out at my club during a major board comp which would include the same buddies I play with in socials.

 

[Orikoru]

I am with you on that I often just dont care in GP rounds about a bad hole etc and glory shots.

Comp golf I play far more within myself and make "the right decision" far more often.

In my round yesterday I found my ball inches from a ditch so I couldn't stand on the correct side of the ball to play it - I attempted to chip it left-handed back to the fairway with an upturned wedge. You can guaranteed I would not have tried that in the monthly medal.

(I barely made contact and succeeded only in flicking it the extra 6 inches it required to roll into said ditch.)

 

[rulefan]

You can guaranteed I would not have tried that in the monthly medal.

If you had pre-declared it a h'cap round would you have tried it?

 

[Orikoru]

If you had pre-declared it a h'cap round would you have tried it?

Not sure really. In least in that scenario you can just blob the hole. My front nine had actually been ok up to that point so again, I probably would not have tried it - I'd have been more sensible in the quest to scrape a point.

 

[Alan Clifford]

Thats a different question. Applies equally to a GP score from 18 months ago. They have no concerns about how aged any counting scores are

This just doesn't make any kind of sense to me. Scores should be aged and if they all drop off, you haven't got a handicap

 

[Backsticks]

I guess the bottom line is, are you going out with the intention of trying to shoot your best score. If you are, then make it GP. If not, as is the case to 90% of non competition rounds, then you shouldnt. This is the best way to make the best of this self inflicted wound by the Congu region, and minimise the damage of WHS. EG should comeout with some guidance on it, recognising the harm encouraging GP rounds all the time would do. They recognised GP rounds were detrimental to entry to their elite tournaments. They should recognise it for the other 99% of us now too.

 

[Backsticks]

This just doesn't make any kind of sense to me. Scores should be aged and if they all drop off, you haven't got a handicap

View attachment 52069

It makes sense to WHS. But I agree, no aging, or parking if a HI that is out of date until more recent cards are entered to make it live again, makes a nonsense of the claim that WHS is better at showing current form.

 

[Swango1980]

If you had pre-declared it a h'cap round would you have tried it?

I'm sure many would. Just because it is declared a handicap round, I think the mindset for many is different between a competition, and an individual round for handicap.

For example, I put in all my GP scores. In a competition, if I ended up not finding my drive in a competition (assuming I didn't play a provisional as I thought it would be OK), then I'd have to go back to the tee. Or, if I found my ball in a terrible position which I could only take stroke and distance, again I'd go back to the tee. In a GP round, I wouldn't. I'd just blob the hole. I'd probably be more inclined to hit a provisional in a competition round, whereas in a GP round I probably won't bother, as it is just another chance to lose a ball which I don't really want to do.

 

[2blue]

The GP cards I put in are probably more competitive than a comp..
I'm either playing against Fragger, CVG, or other mates and I sure as he'll want to win that.
As our comps are normally divisionalised I'm not reallh playing against them
In a comp I'm not overly bothered about winning 25 quids worth of shop vouchers..

Many folks will also be far more relaxed & play a lot better without the Comp pressure..... could it also mean they have a false HI when entering Comps? Can't wait to hear all the assumptions addressing all of this as there've been over most other things so far.
There's certainly no question that at our place, the submission of GP scores has been taken up very enthusiastically.

 

[LincolnShep]

I guess the bottom line is, are you going out with the intention of trying to shoot your best score. If you are, then make it GP. If not, as is the case to 90% of non competition rounds, then you shouldnt. This is the best way to make the best of this self inflicted wound by the Congu region, and minimise the damage of WHS. EG should comeout with some guidance on it, recognising the harm encouraging GP rounds all the time would do. They recognised GP rounds were detrimental to entry to their elite tournaments. They should recognise it for the other 99% of us now too.

Where did you get this stat from? Or do you mean 90% of your non-competition rounds?

 

[Alan Clifford]

I guess the bottom line is, are you going out with the intention of trying to shoot your best score. If you are, then make it GP. If not, as is the case to 90% of non competition rounds, then you shouldnt. This is the best way to make the best of this self inflicted wound by the Congu region, and minimise the damage of WHS. EG should comeout with some guidance on it, recognising the harm encouraging GP rounds all the time would do. They recognised GP rounds were detrimental to entry to their elite tournaments. They should recognise it for the other 99% of us now too.

Surely it's not a round of golf if you are not trying? Surely you are just going for a walk with a few sticks and a ball? As you are NOT PLAYING GOLF, of course you CANNOT submit a card.

 

[Swango1980]

As I put in all my GP Scores, I thought I'd try to work out my Index based on whether I only submitted Comp Rounds, only GP rounds and then compared to what I actually do, and do both (went back through all my scores to get last 20 GP and last 20 Comp):

Index

Competition Rounds only = 8.7
GP Rounds only = 10.1
Current Index (All Rounds) = 9.2

I wonder if that points to an interesting trend, where despite trying to play well in each round, mentally I'm making better decisions in Competitions, and thus managing to grind out better scores? And I wonder if the fact I submit GP scores, I'm often getting a slightly inflated handicap, and more often than not getting an extra shot to play with in comps? I suppose the trend will be different for individuals. Some play really well socially, but crumble in comps.

 

[HeftyHacker]

As I put in all my GP Scores, I thought I'd try to work out my Index based on whether I only submitted Comp Rounds, only GP rounds and then compared to what I actually do, and do both (went back through all my scores to get last 20 GP and last 20 Comp):

Index

Competition Rounds only = 8.7
GP Rounds only = 10.1
Current Index (All Rounds) = 9.2

I wonder if that points to an interesting trend, where despite trying to play well in each round, mentally I'm making better decisions in Competitions, and thus managing to grind out better scores? And I wonder if the fact I submit GP scores, I'm often getting a slightly inflated handicap, and more often than not getting an extra shot to play with in comps? I suppose the trend will be different for individuals. Some play really well socially, but crumble in comps.

I'm pretty much the opposite to you - I like to think my mindset doesn't change too much for competitions but it obviously does as my handicaps would be as below:

Competition Rounds only: 13.4
GP Rounds only: 11.9
Current Index: 11.9

However, what did become clear is how few comps I actually entered in the last 12 months. But having two young kids means I can't justify missing a full morning of a weekend I guess. So most of my play is planned away trips/doubles Opens or evening rounds.

 

[Swango1980]

I'm pretty much the opposite to you - I like to think my mindset doesn't change too much for competitions but it obviously does as my handicaps would be as below:

Competition Rounds only: 13.4
GP Rounds only: 11.9
Current Index: 11.9

However, what did become clear is how few comps I actually entered in the last 12 months. But having two young kids means I can't justify missing a full morning of a weekend I guess. So most of my play is planned away trips/doubles Opens or evening rounds.

I suspect part of the reason my GP scores are higher in this case is that 8 of the 20 rounds were played on away course (including 6 rounds on a France Golf Week).

So, it should probably be expected that my scores will be worse on courses I'm simply unfamiliar with. Which might lead to another question. If you are a golfer who plays many away courses and submits scores for handicap, will you get an inflated handicap when playing competitions at your home club, on a course you are familiar with?

 

[clubchamp98]

That's an old fashioned mentality though, one they are trying to change. It's been ingrained over the years, will take a real sea change for it to alter. Probably needs each club to push on this, change the thinking.

I should add, I rarely put in GP cards. Not to avoid them, it's just my default thinking doesn't include them at this point. Maybe it will change one day but at the moment I need to unlearn this behaviour as well (saying that, I'm quite happy as I am)

Some people don’t want to change ,, nothing wrong with that.
This system has been forced on them and lots don’t like it.

I have put the same amount of GP cards that I put supplementary cards in = none.

 

[clubchamp98]

I suspect part of the reason my GP scores are higher in this case is that 8 of the 20 rounds were played on away course (including 6 rounds on a France Golf Week).

So, it should probably be expected that my scores will be worse on courses I'm simply unfamiliar with. Which might lead to another question. If you are a golfer who plays many away courses and submits scores for handicap, will you get an inflated handicap when playing competitions at your home club, on a course you are familiar with?

If I had put my cards in from a recent USA trip , I would hit the max cap in two weeks.