Juniors in men's comps ??

[Jack991]

Hey guys, I am an ex-junior at my club and for all of last year and this year there has been a new rule put into place regarding juniors participation in men's competitions. Currently unless the junior has a h/c of under 9 they are restricted from competiting in the competition, this means that for the majority of the juniors at the club they are only allowed to compete in the odd junior tournament once a month for the guys who play off 10-15 it has been harsh because it has really restricted their chances of getting their handicap down. They are really eager to play and get their h/c as low as they can get it so the rule is somewhat baffling to me :/

Your thoughts ???

 

[ScienceBoy]

Bizzare! My old club let anyone (mixed) enter the weekly stablefords held on Fridays, Sat and again on Sunday.

We also had monthly mens/ladies separate medals and some separate stablefords as well as seperate club majors throughout the year.

That meant kids at at least two chances a week to drop their handicap. I wish all clubs did something similar as it really helps and the pro shop must have made a wee tidy profit there somewhere with 30+ people playing at £4 a pop with £2 for twos sweep.

As a player it also meants you can make a wee profit yourself, I made over £300 in prizes/pro shop vouchers last year and I only played from Jan-Aug!

I wish clubs would wake up and realise competition is fun, essential for the players developement and important for the clubs finances!

 

[moogie]

Think my club allows juniors H/cap 12 and under.......??.......I believe anyway
My previous club was the same, but previous club juniors couldnt WIN the Sweep money, in Mens comps, strange I know.........

But put shoe on other foot
Juniors paying £50-150 ....... Full Gents Membership £550-600 ( prices at my clubs )
Should they have full entitlement...........???

And by the way, Im NOT anti juniors playing, just throwing up the argument others use when this topic is brought up

 

[ScienceBoy]

But put shoe on other foot
Juniors paying £50-150 ....... Full Gents Membership £550-600 ( prices at my clubs )
Should they have full entitlement...........???

YES! Kids don't have an income of their own and are the future of the game! They could be higher but lowered when a parent is a playing or non playing member of a club as a compromise.

I also think the "intermediate" category is a good ideal, thats 18-28.

 

[papyt]

hang on a min,i cant play in the kids or the women's comps. so why should they play in ours,they have their own set up and comps,we have some really good juniors who play for county boys etc and they do play in our model comps but we cant have 26+ h/c kids playing from the comp tees it would not be fair to them or the group they are playing with,we also have cat. comps and these restrict higher h/c golfers of all ages but that's just the way it is oh and by the way who wants to be beat by a kid or a woman cough mmmm cough!!!!

 

[Jack991]

I think you are right in that juniors shouldn't be able to win the prizes as they pay a fraction of the men's fees but to not even compete for h/c purposes ? Seems a bit harsh to me !

The intermediate prices are what I now pay I think it is a great idea

 

[moogie]

That as stated IS NOT MY view, I have a son aged 12 years that Ive recently joined up at my club, and I always try and support our junior section, when possible

Im just highlighting the argument that 'some' guys throw up when this is mentioned
Besides the 2 clubs Im talking about didnt just have 1 Junior Comp per month as the OP has stated in opening text
Therein lies the Problem...........there should be a much larger and wider Junior program in place than that, surely.............

 

[Imurg]

It's up to the Junior Section to organise more comps for them.
On the whole I have no problem with Juniors playing men's Comps but as they have a tendancy to be "rapidly" improving it can lead to them winning all the time. Not a huge problem to me as handicap is my primary focus but I can see how some others might not like it.
If more comps are organised by the Juniors then they'll have more chances to get handicaps down to the level at which they can join the Men's events.
I have a similar problem at my club as an Adult member. Being a 5-dayer, we only have 1 comp a month in March, November and December, and only 2 a month April to October. And always on a Wednesday.
If I can't be available on a competiton wednesday then I have to miss it. Playing at the weekends is a non-starter for me these days with work and family commitments. Last year I only played 10 qualifiers.

 

[DCB]

We allow Juniors off 12 and below to play in Gents Medals for handicap purposes. They can't 'win' the Medal, but it does give them a chance to keep that handicap moving downwards.

 

[Cobra_Nut]

Juniors should be allowed to play but just for handicap purposes. My daughter has said this aswell, she would likes winning but has no problem with the first placed lady winning the prize as they pay more in membership fees.

 

[Mungoscorner]

Kids are the future of the sport,and also future "full" paying members at there club.They should be treated no differently to anybody else at the club.We had a rather ironic situation at our club a few weeks ago,one of the juniors and beaten one of the seniors in the winter matchplay.The senior then began questioning the junior players handicap and suggested he was far better than the handicap he had,and that was why he'd won.The irony was that the same gent and been very outspoken about juniors playing in adult comps,had the juniors been allowed to play in all competitions,the likelihood is had they played really well there handicaps would have been adjusted accordingly.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I do not think money or fees should come into it at all! I play this game not because I paid an expensive membership but because I love it!

Once paid I do not care what happens as long as I have fun competing, if a 13 year old 15 handicapper has a blistering day then its well done to him/her, I say "enjoy the handicap cut" and "don't spend the money on mars bars in the pro shop, spend it on a new glove or some balls!"

 

[philly169]

I think we allow juniors off 28 asking as its from the white tee, Theres not many juniors but the ones we do have are very good

 

[Mr_T]

If I was a member of a club I would feel annoyed if we weren't allowed to play in medals etc, we don't have full time jobs, hence paying 500 quid for fees would be impractical, so the current price of fees is fair. I wouldn't mind a rule saying you can't win the comps, but why should we be treated differently? We will never win, because if we don't get to play in comps there isn't a chance to get a hc cut, but if we get to play in comps and we win then people accuse us of being better than our hc!

 

[Whee]

Let 'em play. Embrace the youthful enthusiasm, and if they win - belting stuff.

Let's breed some real winners, that's what competetive sport is all about - winning, and if you can't win, enjoyment of taking part.

I got into this game far too late, but I absolutely love it. If I had been swinging clubs at 13 or 14 and could see my improvement each week, as a lot the kids can, to be refused permission to play in full, in competitions, would be devastating.

 

[DCB]

Biggest problem is that there are so few Juniors nowadays. there are so many other activities competing alongside golf and many of the more casual Juniors are no longer playing golf in the way they once did. We're trying a new initiative this year to bring new Junior members into the Club. I really hope it works as they are the future of our game.

 

[garyinderry]

if they are good enough let them play! id say under 18handicap can play! if they finish top then they deserve it!

 

[joer422]

first off all juniors are not KIDS!!!! i am 17 and i have not been called a kid in a long time. secondly being a junior i think they should have a min handicap for juniors to play in mens maybe 15 however in my club we do have weekly comps on saturday and coaching with the pro once a week so each club is different. and considering my fees last year were 470 euro if i wasnt allowed win competitions i would be pissed!

 

[Mike_j_golf]

In our club juniors are allowed to play in all comps but are not allowed to win first prize. They also have to play with a adult member in comps as we have had a few that were being a bit creative with there scores. I think it works well there handicaps come down really quickly in the summer as we have 3 comps a week. Great to see them finish the comps and head off to the range or practice green or out for another 18, i would love to be 15 again.
Mike

 

[need_my_wedge]

Membership fees should not be the leveller. Different people fit into different membership categories that are determined by the club. Once you are a member regardless of the fee you paid to join, people with valid handicaps should be allowed to participate in any comp.

My 11 year old son is a member at my club and has been playing off the junior high handicap. He started at 52 last year and was down to 34 by the end of last season. He has played one junior comp this year (last week) and shot 44 points in a stableford, earned a 2 shot cut since they were playing temp greens other wise would have been more. I have been told by the secretary that if he puts in three regular cards he will be given an official handicap and he can then enter the senior comps. I'm fortunate that our club is very pro juniors. His first card last week was 99, off in a couple of hours to play card no2.


Once he has a handicap of 28 or less, I'm more than happy for him to play in the senior comps. If he beats me, kudos to him for playing better than me, after all, the comp is about trying your best and the best player winning. Saying a junior can't play because they might win is the same as saying that I can't play a senior because I might win, but then again...... I might not.

The handicap is the leveller, not age or membership fee, end of.....