harpo_72
Journeyman Pro
Well my club had pro's day yesterday and it was an okay weather day with the wind changing direction, but no rain and some sunshine. The course was set up in it's usual way, with the white tees at the back and the pins on ridges. The greens after their initial soaking at the start of the week had dried up and the level of spin available was minimal and the pitch marks were only small indentations. All of which I expected, I am under no illusion that they will make it as hard as they can, it is a competition. Despite all of this I managed to scramble it round and left a few putts out there but also grabbed a few which were lucky to record a gross 78 and 37 points. Both my playing partners who were off 5 and 7 respectively shot 34 pts each (gross scores unknown they blobbed a hole or 2). I came in thinking phew I had done enough to see a 0.2 cut and no harm done. However on arrival at the clubhouse and on handing in the score card I was told that I was in position 2 out 175 people... a surprise especially with 37pts.
Anyway to cut a long story short the general consensus in the club was that the greens were too fast the pin positions were too difficult and it was too hard, especially for the weekender. All of which I agree with and having been lumbered with a speech because the main prize winner ( 38pts) could not return to collect his prize left me just thanking the pro's for organising the competition but neglecting to thank the green staff, which was the diplomatic choice. The lady winner thanked the green staff and the clubhouse gave a murmur of discontent (nothing too impolite .. my previous clubs would have commented about his parentage or out of hour habits).
During my round we had been discussing the CSS and I had offered up my opinion that when you read their method of calculation they lack clarity and would never win a plain english award. The opposing side was that it was there to stop players going up and allowing them to buffer but when they played well to get cut. But having seen the general scores yesterday the average being 30 pts one has to question how the buffer can be set at 34 pts and those guys who played the average round picked up a 0.1 increase (i know not very much) and all those who played slightly better than average received nothing for their efforts. It seems the CSS is too fixed and we should be looking at the difficulty of the course, if those that play it average a high score then the course was hard, so the cuts and the additions should reflect that. All I see is minimal cuts and lots of additions.
I am not saying my round was brilliant, far from it, what I am saying is that those people who shot 30 -34pts played well under the conditions and the CSS is not respecting that and forcing us into this position of falsely inflated handicaps. I have to say I have little sympathy for those that come on here arguing that they shot a good round and got cut too much ... so please don't offer that as excuse.
Anyway to cut a long story short the general consensus in the club was that the greens were too fast the pin positions were too difficult and it was too hard, especially for the weekender. All of which I agree with and having been lumbered with a speech because the main prize winner ( 38pts) could not return to collect his prize left me just thanking the pro's for organising the competition but neglecting to thank the green staff, which was the diplomatic choice. The lady winner thanked the green staff and the clubhouse gave a murmur of discontent (nothing too impolite .. my previous clubs would have commented about his parentage or out of hour habits).
During my round we had been discussing the CSS and I had offered up my opinion that when you read their method of calculation they lack clarity and would never win a plain english award. The opposing side was that it was there to stop players going up and allowing them to buffer but when they played well to get cut. But having seen the general scores yesterday the average being 30 pts one has to question how the buffer can be set at 34 pts and those guys who played the average round picked up a 0.1 increase (i know not very much) and all those who played slightly better than average received nothing for their efforts. It seems the CSS is too fixed and we should be looking at the difficulty of the course, if those that play it average a high score then the course was hard, so the cuts and the additions should reflect that. All I see is minimal cuts and lots of additions.
I am not saying my round was brilliant, far from it, what I am saying is that those people who shot 30 -34pts played well under the conditions and the CSS is not respecting that and forcing us into this position of falsely inflated handicaps. I have to say I have little sympathy for those that come on here arguing that they shot a good round and got cut too much ... so please don't offer that as excuse.
surely you play to the conditions
