I love this game ..................... but sometimes!

[Fyldewhite]

I can kind of understand why. But going back to the whole 'welcoming new people into the game', having a rule that says anyone new can't play in the major comps for a bit is hardly sending out a welcoming message.

Fully agree with this and also the view above that if the handicap committee are doing their job it shouldn't happen. Nearly all our board comps have to be qualified for so you can't get in a final without having played in a few qualifiers and played well in at least one of them. This is a good system and allows time to look carefully at new players and make sure the initial assessment is fair. Admittedly it's harder when comps are one-offs on the day. We used to have one first week of April which really left the handcap committee exposed as for many new players it was their first comp. We ended up moving it to prevent the problem but would never introduce a rule saying new members couldn't win. I can understand why some do but it's absolutely against the spirit of it. Usually introduced as a reaction to mob rule from the bar (where many daft rules originate) if you ask me.

 

[MadAdey]

Fully agree with this and also the view above that if the handicap committee are doing their job it shouldn't happen. Nearly all our board comps have to be qualified for so you can't get in a final without having played in a few qualifiers and played well in at least one of them. This is a good system and allows time to look carefully at new players and make sure the initial assessment is fair. Admittedly it's harder when comps are one-offs on the day. We used to have one first week of April which really left the handcap committee exposed as for many new players it was their first comp. We ended up moving it to prevent the problem but would never introduce a rule saying new members couldn't win. I can understand why some do but it's absolutely against the spirit of it. Usually introduced as a reaction to mob rule from the bar (where many daft rules originate) if you ask me.

Irrelevant as to whether the handicap committee is doing it's job or not. If a player is entering comps and playing within buffer then his handicap is not going to change. I also think you can't just hack someones handicap for general play on one comp either. To start making cuts outside of the standard cuts made from competitions then it would take a series of good cards to do it. In which time that player has room to start winning some of the big comps with nice prizes.

So none of your major comps can be entered into without prior qualification then? Little bit unfair on players that have not played overly well that season.

 

[Fyldewhite]

Irrelevant as to whether the handicap committee is doing it's job or not. If a player is entering comps and playing within buffer then his handicap is not going to change. I also think you can't just hack someones handicap for general play on one comp either. To start making cuts outside of the standard cuts made from competitions then it would take a series of good cards to do it. In which time that player has room to start winning some of the big comps with nice prizes.

So none of your major comps can be entered into without prior qualification then? Little bit unfair on players that have not played overly well that season.

I'm not suggesting that cuts should be made on one score, just that the committee should be monitoring new allocations quite closely and it's hard to do this if a player can enter a big comp on day 1. I completely understand why the "can't win" rule gets adopted. It's because the rank and file don't want new members coming in and "cleaning up" but they have just as much right to win as anyone else, pay the same fees, pay the same entry fee and are just as entitled to a "day out" and a good score. The ONLY issue is that they do so with an accurate handicap. Not sure therefore how the handicap committee is irrelevant. To ban them from winning is to say that their handicap is somehow "wrong" for whatever arbitary time limit you put on it.

As for our comps, four qualifiers on four Saturdays, 9 qualify each week (3x3 divisions), 36 play in 36 hole final, the rest play in 18 hole subsidiary both for prizes a couple of weeks later. The format is brilliant. Generates good receipts making our prize tables the best in the area and protects the integrity of the comps too. We do have a couple of on the day board comps and our "majors" are opens but later in the year so the "new player" aspect isn't as much of an issue.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I love the challenge. I want to get to single figures but my ability at present is saying otherwise. I can play well (no really) but have days that are appalling. I'd love more consistency. Other than that, I am happy. I like trying new gear. Heck its my cash and if I want a new set of irons, new shoes, etc providing the bills are paid I'll do it (until adoption puts a lid on that!!!)

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I don't see why a player shouldn't be able to enter a comp as soon as he has his handicap.

After all the 3-cards approach to setting a handicap is to get an reasonable idea of the standard of the player. It will usually happen that somone's three cards may give him a handicap higher than is ability to score - but as in all these discussions about handicap - your handicap is a reflection of your OK average day - not what you are actually capable of. So no surprise that sometimes someone fires well under their handicap in their first board comp and wins it. If you are worried about incorrect first handicaps then all you need to do is increase the number of cards required (would require R&A to do that so it's not going to happen)

aside - have the rules changed such that if I win a comp well under my handicap I can only get cut multiples of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3? So my cut of 3 shots after winning a comp couldn't happen today (maybe though I was way under my handicap and I did only get cut by the standard multiple number of increments).

I seem to recall that they said they could see I was miles better than a 16 handicapper (backed up by my general play observations) - I had been playing regularly for 12yrs before I got my first handicap and my first three cards were after a break of quite a few months after moving south.

 

[Jack_bfc]

I always thought that if when you join a new club or obtaing first HC, If your first 3 cards average more than 18 then you should start off on 18..

Then it can adjust upwards until it settles and starts to come down..

I started last season on 22.7 but couldnt get it down due to the high HCers in the club winning comps with 45+ points so even 40 points on more than one ocasion didnt get me a cut. Its a new club so sees to have a high percenatge of High HC...

They didnt do medals, or not many as far as I was aware. I ended up 5th overall in the player of the year by only playing in 5 or 6 events and my HC went up by 0.1 (that was when I walked in after 5 hours on the 13th)!!!!!

I believe if everyone had started on 18 then the levels would even themselves out quicker.

 

[patricks148]

I would imagine its quite common for guys just starting out with first handicap to clean up regularly in comps.

When i started playing, my first handicap was 24. We then moved from St Albans back to Inverness, i joined a local club and knew no one who was a member, as i worked from home at the time. i used to go to the clubs Wednesday and Thusday Stableford Roll ups each week. This was made up mostly of seniors and i won pretty much every week and was soon down to 12. Some of the old boys moaned like bugger about me winning the cash every week. In that time i didn't play in a single Sat or Sunday medal comp... I wish i had know more about golf at the time, i would have been a multiple silver trophy winner rather than, just £20 better off each week.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

I started last season on 22.7 but couldnt get it down due to the high HCers in the club winning comps with 45+ points so even 40 points on more than one ocasion didnt get me a cut. Its a new club so sees to have a high percenatge of High HC...

What is the SSS of your course compared to the par? It must be at least 3 shots lower by my understanding, as CSS can only decrease it by a maximum of 1? (Apologies if I've got this wrong to the Rules people!)