Juniors in men's comps ??

[bigslice]

i think juniors should play with juniors, then when they are 16 years old join the senior ranks if there parent is a member otherwise wait till they are 18. also if they have a handicap of 18 or less they could play in any fun day events. the clubs have to remember that the juniors are the future of the club.

 

[USER1999]

Our medals are booked solid. During the summer, we have average entries of 160 plus players. We cannot have juniors playing. We have full membership at £1200, and kids at £150. It does not compute. They are not allowed to book slots. It would upset guys who are paying for the club to run as a business. It would not survive on junior membership alone.
They can play, but they have to wait for a no show. They can't win either. They can only play for adjustment. They have junior comps twice a month, even when full members don't.
I can't see a problem with this.
We have a thriving club, with no shortage of members, and if any thing it is hard to get on the course. Yes, juniors are the future, but for the for see able, we are rammed.

 

[Mungoscorner]

Our medals are booked solid. During the summer, we have average entries of 160 plus players. We cannot have juniors playing. We have full membership at £1200, and kids at £150. It does not compute. They are not allowed to book slots. It would upset guys who are paying for the club to run as a business. It would not survive on junior membership alone.
They can play, but they have to wait for a no show. They can't win either. They can only play for adjustment. They have junior comps twice a month, even when full members don't.
I can't see a problem with this.
We have a thriving club, with no shortage of members, and if any thing it is hard to get on the course. Yes, juniors are the future, but for the for see able, we are rammed.

Sorry but your club is living in the dark age's.Maybe they shouldn't accept junior members if they are interfering with the enjoyment and privileges of those paying £1200 a year ?
This is the kind of petty ageist one sided crap that makes my piss boil.If a club is going to treat juniors as some kind of lower class,then they shouldn't be taking junior members money.

 

[Foxholer]

Some interestingly diverse opinions!

Can understand why Juniors are not allowed in 'full-to-the-brim' Medals as this is likely to be the only time the Full-Time (also known as 2-day) members can play. Somehow needs to be more Junior Medals organised (mid-week) though. If Juniors are prevented from playing, or only if quite a low handicap, there has previously been little chance for them to actually low!

A previous club allowed them but specified it was for handicap only, as sweeps were gambling. A few cries were heard when several won consecutive medals in their 'rapid improver' mode (18 to 5 in 4 months!) but there were only a couple of Juniors at the time and no Supplementary Score available -so those were only available comps. There also had to be a Full Time member in the group too, for Rules, etiguette etc.

Current and another previous (Scottish) club has/had strong Junior section and Medals are available to all. Neither had huge pressure for spots though.

Solution could be to separate Juniors within any Medal - as happens for Ladies. That way there is no bleating by Full-timers about inability to win. The old-farts cause more problems than Juniors re pace of play, rules etc. though an occasional 'observer' is not a bad thing. I actually noticed the lowest 'capper doing a similar trick to what Elliot Saltman got done for in one round! And organise more Junior Medals!

 

[The_ACE]

then when they are 16 years old join the senior ranks if there parent is a member otherwise wait till they are 18.

Why would it make a difference if there parent is a member of the club or not as it seems grossly unfair on those who don't have a parent yet could well be perfectly behaved and off below 18? This mentality also dosent do much favour for the general publics view that golf is a private club exclusively for small cliques of men. Golf should be promoted for all and everyone should be equal regardless of there fees, age or surname

 

[bigslice]

Why would it make a difference if there parent is a member of the club or not as it seems grossly unfair on those who don't have a parent yet could well be perfectly behaved and off below 18? This mentality also dosent do much favour for the general publics view that golf is a private club exclusively for small cliques of men. Golf should be promoted for all and everyone should be equal regardless of there fees, age or surname

tis my opinion, the reason being who is the responsible adult for the person under 18. we had an golf outing and one of the members son came who was 16 years old(and not a member). it was agreed that he would play in his fathers group. on the day it changed and he was in my group. being on the committe i felt obliged and pressured to look after him. i didnt have a problem with him i like the boy (last year i won a full set of clubs and gave them to him). but i was always checking that he was alright and making sure he new things etc. it was 36 hole day and at half time i couldnt have a couple of pints with my lunch (no biggy) but i felt so responsible for him all day.
you didnt post my last line juniors ARE the future of the club. but i believe there is a juniors section, mens section and a ladies section for a reason.
i was a junior once like everyone on here and my views are not about money costs payments etc.

 

[DCB]

Your Club's Child Protection Policy has to cover all your Juniors up until they are 18.

Your wee outing scenario throws up a number of possible issues for all concerned, especially if it was an official Club sanctioned outing.

 

[thecraw]

Juniors should be welcomed and encouraged to play in mens competitions. Yes I appreciate that some medals are busy but these guys are the clubs lifeblood.

When I was a junior we could play in senior competitions if we were single figures. Thats maybe a good compromise.

 

[Marko77]

It’s a difficult one for clubs to call.

I can see why a handicap limit would be imposed as it infers the ability to get the ball around the course. From the Medal tees there will be some holes physically impossible for some junior players i.e. to make the carry necessary to get a ball in play. How much fun are they going to have taking 3,5,7 off the tee or taking penalty drop after penalty drop? Yes, adults play with much higher handicaps but the difference being (in most cases) they at least can physically get the ball in play.

Most Juniors would not obtain their handicap from the Medal tee as the older members do?

I am all for the integrated club but it has to be feasible.

For what it's worth, yes, the youth are the future and without them clubs won't survive. We are the present, without us, the clubs won't survive. Goes both ways.

 

[jammag]

What I dont understand in many of your responses is why the need to make it elitist. If a junior recieves a 28 handicap off the competition tees then why are they not allowed to play along side adults of the same handicap? Every member of the club should be treated as equal no matter how much they pay for membership, to say otherwise is completely ludacris. You decide to pay the extra then you know from the off everyone should have the same rights. If a junior books a tee time before me and then plays then its more benefit to them, same as anyone else.

Its not just the fact of the juniors are the future of the club, but its the fact about you get them addicted tot eh sport then they are going to pay full price when they are older where as treat them like rubbish and you should expect the consequences. Also when these juniors are off during the school holidays they get friends down there paying full green fees which in turn can get more members. Its no wonder the youngsters are choosing to go and play other sports if they are being treated like this. It shouldnt matter if your club has 50 members or 5000 if you join you know its going to be full most weekends and competitions its tough luck you signed up theres no reason why you should discriminate against someones age who can mix it with the adults and win.

 

[Dodger]

Our medals are booked solid. During the summer, we have average entries of 160 plus players. We cannot have juniors playing. We have full membership at £1200, and kids at £150. It does not compute. They are not allowed to book slots. It would upset guys who are paying for the club to run as a business. It would not survive on junior membership alone.
They can play, but they have to wait for a no show. They can't win either. They can only play for adjustment. They have junior comps twice a month, even when full members don't.
I can't see a problem with this.
We have a thriving club, with no shortage of members, and if any thing it is hard to get on the course. Yes, juniors are the future, but for the for see able, we are rammed.

I can only assume Murph's on the wind up?

If not,god help us.

 

[doublebogey7]

At our club, their is a junior prize in most of our competitions, never the less juniors with a handicap of 14 or lesscan compete for the main prize provided they pay the higher entry fee. Where their is no junior prize, all juniors can compete alongside the men/women.

 

[Iaing]

I want to play in a competition with someone who can buy me a pint after the game.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Our medals are booked solid. During the summer, we have average entries of 160 plus players. We cannot have juniors playing. We have full membership at £1200, and kids at £150. It does not compute. They are not allowed to book slots. It would upset guys who are paying for the club to run as a business. It would not survive on junior membership alone.
They can play, but they have to wait for a no show. They can't win either. They can only play for adjustment. They have junior comps twice a month, even when full members don't.
I can't see a problem with this.
We have a thriving club, with no shortage of members, and if any thing it is hard to get on the course. Yes, juniors are the future, but for the for see able, we are rammed.

I can only assume Murph's on the wind up?

If not,god help us.

I totally agree with Dodger. If this isn't a wind up then it seems a very sad way to treat the youngsters. I don't really see why the fees they pay makes a difference. If you start asking parents to pay top whack so their little Johnny can be a member then junior golf dies on its arse instantly

I cannot believe that in the summer months tee times are fully boked from 7.00 until 7.00 and there isn't a facility fo the juniors to get a game with a senior member at some point in the day and compete in these events. Seems a case of too much hassle and lets treat them as an inconvenience until they are earning and can stump up more cash for the club

 

[USER1999]

Bear in mind that we have comps for one day, either a Saturday, or a Sunday, twice a month. The juniors also have two weekend comps a month. And yes, the tee is booked solid, 7 til 7. We are a very busy club, so we must be doing something right. Pretty much all are sections are full, and all our social and golfing dates are over subscribed. To play in one of the board comps can some times be impossible. It isn't so much what tee time would you like, as there are no slots left where you will get round without a torch.

Like it or not, it does come down to finance. Every time. If full members can't get to play in the comps, because 50 tee slots are given to juniors, then eventually they will take their money somewhere else. That is not sustainable.

Some of you obviously belong to clubs where comps get 50 entrants, and as a whole are struggling for membership. We are not. My club is ridiculously busy, all the time.

 

[Jack991]

Interesting point of views from everyone, looks like different clubs have different ways of treating their junior section, would be good if there was a way to make a good compromise at our club so juniors and adults both benefit but I guess that is always going to come with its own pros and cons :/