Invitational day at the Oxfordshire last week

[CVG]

I was invited to play at the Oxfordshire last week. My ex father in law is a member there and it seems they are feeling the pinch as a lot of clubs are and so they set up a day to encourage new members to join.
All started well, a very friendly greeting in reception, handed a goodie bag, including a nice golf shirt and few other bits. A locker key provided etc.
Sorted out all the gear an headed off for a great breakfast before heading out to the driving range and putting green before the shot gun start at 10.15. All very civilised.
Then the fun began.......... we we instructed that we we playing a pairs stableford competition, so 3/4 handicaps were the order of the day. Ok so far, I was down to 11 shots, but father in law wasn't so happy. They said the comp should have a max handicap of 24, and as he was off 28 he was cut then they took 3/4's of that. In all he lost 10 shots........ this was going to be tough!

Then they tell us were playing of the white tees, they have yellow, white, blue and black tees at the club.
Now is really tough................ I'll not go into details about how tough the course was set up or how long it was from the back tees, but needless to say the scores were very poor.

Nearly everybody asked the captain at the dinner afterwards why the course was set up so tough if the day was supposed to tempt new members? He answered that they ''wanted to show how good the course can be'' I suppose that's one way of looking at it.

What do you think, which is better, show the toughness of a course so that only the better lower handicap players can post a score, or set it up so everybody can place a score and come off the course feeling good about the place?

 

[Imurg]

I was out playing with CVG today and we discussed this at some lenght. To give you an idea of the toughness of the course, the 11th hole had a minimum carry of 220 yards over a lake to find a fairway running at about 70 degrees right!

As a day to interest new mambers I think it backfired spectacularly.

 

[USER1999]

I am in two minds about this.

When guests come to my club, to play with me, they don't ever get to play off the medal tees. As a result, they don't play the full course, and I feel they have been cheated, as a couple of the holes are crackers off the back, and not as good off the whites or yellows.

If I play a society day, off the yellows anywhere I feel I have been robbed, as I am well capable of playing of the back tees (which I always do in Florida).

However, there shouldn't be a 220 carry, as this is beyond the remit of most club golfers (it is bang on my sunday best carry).

If they wanted to encourage new members, then it is fair to play the proper course, as why would you want to join, and then find out that you can't shoot a score off hte tips, where all the medals will be held from?

Are the blue and black tees not longer than the whites you said you were playing?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I agree. I'm lucky in that I can use the whites whenever I bring guests although I needed to get permission for the GM Spring Meet as societies are expected to go off the yellows. I guess its the clubs assuming that societies will have more than a few hackers and so want to give the back tees some protection and get the groups round quickly.

My average drive is just over 220 yards and so I'm going to have to hit a decent drive to stand any chance on that hole. Not conducive to attracting new members although I do understand the argument about seeing the course as a challenge. However on most courses blues are behind the whites and black are the real professional tees so I think that would have been out of the remit of most club golfers, certainly on a regular basis.

Overall, I guess it depends what you are looking for. If you went along and struggled off the whites I guess it would put you off entering competitions. As that is the real reason I play at a club then maybe it wouldn't be the course for you. If however you enjoyed the challenge then it may be a good thing although 200 in the middle of winter in the winds that blow at the Oxfordshire is definitely a challenge.

There are many other things I'd need to consider like cost, practice facilities and the atmosphere of the place and welcome I'd get in the bar after my round. If those boxes were ticked then its a course I'd play again and would think of joining if I were living in the area

 

[CVG]

However, there shouldn't be a 220 carry, as this is beyond the remit of most club golfers (it is bang on my sunday best carry).

Are the blue and black tees not longer than the whites you said you were playing?

The 220 yard carry was off the black tees, we discovered after about 4 holes that they had actually mixed up the tee selection, all at least the white with a few blue and the 11th being the only black tee.

It was interesting to hear a 2 handicapper (a member) complain about the tee positions to the captain, saying he couldn't understand why they had placed them in such difficult places, the course played extra long he said, then you add tough pin placements, why? The captain didn't answer the question, just shrugged his shoulders.

I agree interested people would want to see the course at it's best, so they can understand the challenge, but I think the majority of the people attending were there to play a championship quality course, and found it incredibly difficult.

There were only 3 scores over 30 points, the winners coming in with 36pts, both players playing off 3.

I imagine that the vast majority didn't enjoy the day.

 

[mattdeeks]

How much is the memberhip at The Oxfordshire?

 

[Imurg]

Don't know off hand but safe to say if you have to ask then you can't afford it!!

They're running an offer at the moment - a 4-ball for £280.
Gives you an idea..........