dejf
Assistant Pro
Hello everyone ,
after a short Google-ing I have joined this forum as it seems this one is alive with plenty of members.
So, I am new here, on this very forum. But I am new not only here, but also in UK. What I am not new to is golf - I will play my 10th season this year. I have moved to UK just a couple of weeks ago from CR. I would like to learn more about "how do you golf in UK". I believe golf in CR is very specific and some things might be different to golf in UK. I would like to learn about these differences to be able to golf smoothly here. I am currently in Bracknell, but will likely to move closer to London, possibly little to the North. So all my questions are related to this area only.
I will try to describe how we golf in CR and would be very glad if you could tell me what is same and what is different. Thanks a lot!
#1 - Membership and money
In CR playing golf is expensive if you do not know how to do it cheaply. If you just go to the course and pay for your round, it is (relatively to the avg. income of people in CR) kind of expensive. So, what you can do is go a club and buy membership. This way you can get either a discount for each round or an unlimited golf for 1 year (in fact it is usually limited to 18 holes per day). That way you can reduce your avg. cost of your single round to quite reasonable price, but only in some clubs. Many clubs do not offer cheap 1 year membership and you would need either to pay a very high fee to get in and be able to get your 1 year playing card for a reasonable price. Also, this way you could only play on one course and possibly get discount to couple of other courses that have established a partnership with the one connected to your club. Although the cost might be reasonable here in some cases, it is still usually not the best possible way.
The best possible way to play golf in CR is using so called "virtual clubs". These are clubs that are not associated/connected with any particular course, but they rather have agreements with 5-40 courses and their members can play any of these courses for free. The catch is that the club has only limited access to these courses, which means, for example, that there are only 10 free fees per day for the whole club (of e.g. 2000 members). So, these virtual clubs are connected to a central system and each member can reserve his/her game in advance and only if there is a free spot. The system is "the first one to apply for the free fee gets it". In order for this to work somehow well, the members are limited to a certain number of games per month. Like 10 or 15, depending on how many money they paid for the membership. This way is how you can play golf cheaply in CR.
So, what is the system in UK? How do you play for reasonable price here? Is it possible to play more than one course (within reasonable radius of let's say 30 minutes using car) for a good price, or do you usually buy a membership and play one course and only sometimes visit other courses?
#2 - Tournaments
In CR, there is a very simple system on how one plays tournaments. It is simple because it is centralized and the IT system behind is quite good, although a bit expensive for the federation. Anyway, we do have a golf federation that owns a single web server, on which all active golfers are registered. Also all official (EGA HCP system) tournaments are registered there. If one wants to play a tournament, he/she simply logs in and make a search for a tournament on courses that they wanted to and then clicks to register to the tournament. Some tournaments are not open to everyone, such as various leagues or official competitions for the best players etc. But everything is centralized and in one place.
How do you compete / play tournaments / leagues in UK?
#3 - Golf buddies
In CR, there are few players. Sadly, the golf in CR is not very popular, it is still being known as an expensive hobby for snobs. Therefore, if you start with golf only by yourself, you find it very hard to find anyone you could play with or train with. It took me several years to finally find good golf partners that would be compatible with me with both their time and skill.
In UK, there are many more golfers, so I hope this won't be that hard here. Any tips on how to find someone to walk you through the course for the first time, or to go to driving with you, make some fun, do a good training session. Share some tips ... ?
#4 - Prohibitions
Not sure how to explain this one. I am not sure if it exists anywhere beyond CR. There are places in CR (especially around the capital city), where you are strictly forbidden to train with someone. More specifically, you are forbidden to go to a driving and help someone to learn a golf, or to provide them an advice on how to play/improve their game. This is allowed only to professional trainers who are associated with the driving range/club/resort. So, if you want to show a golf to a new person, you have to go to a professional trainer and buy lessons for the new person. You can not just go to the driving, borrow a club to the newcomer and tell them how to grab it and swing it. Somehow this is only in golf in CR, there is nothing like this in any other sport in CR.
How is this in UK?
Thank you for any tips, answers, or comments!
after a short Google-ing I have joined this forum as it seems this one is alive with plenty of members.
So, I am new here, on this very forum. But I am new not only here, but also in UK. What I am not new to is golf - I will play my 10th season this year. I have moved to UK just a couple of weeks ago from CR. I would like to learn more about "how do you golf in UK". I believe golf in CR is very specific and some things might be different to golf in UK. I would like to learn about these differences to be able to golf smoothly here. I am currently in Bracknell, but will likely to move closer to London, possibly little to the North. So all my questions are related to this area only.
I will try to describe how we golf in CR and would be very glad if you could tell me what is same and what is different. Thanks a lot!
#1 - Membership and money
In CR playing golf is expensive if you do not know how to do it cheaply. If you just go to the course and pay for your round, it is (relatively to the avg. income of people in CR) kind of expensive. So, what you can do is go a club and buy membership. This way you can get either a discount for each round or an unlimited golf for 1 year (in fact it is usually limited to 18 holes per day). That way you can reduce your avg. cost of your single round to quite reasonable price, but only in some clubs. Many clubs do not offer cheap 1 year membership and you would need either to pay a very high fee to get in and be able to get your 1 year playing card for a reasonable price. Also, this way you could only play on one course and possibly get discount to couple of other courses that have established a partnership with the one connected to your club. Although the cost might be reasonable here in some cases, it is still usually not the best possible way.
The best possible way to play golf in CR is using so called "virtual clubs". These are clubs that are not associated/connected with any particular course, but they rather have agreements with 5-40 courses and their members can play any of these courses for free. The catch is that the club has only limited access to these courses, which means, for example, that there are only 10 free fees per day for the whole club (of e.g. 2000 members). So, these virtual clubs are connected to a central system and each member can reserve his/her game in advance and only if there is a free spot. The system is "the first one to apply for the free fee gets it". In order for this to work somehow well, the members are limited to a certain number of games per month. Like 10 or 15, depending on how many money they paid for the membership. This way is how you can play golf cheaply in CR.
So, what is the system in UK? How do you play for reasonable price here? Is it possible to play more than one course (within reasonable radius of let's say 30 minutes using car) for a good price, or do you usually buy a membership and play one course and only sometimes visit other courses?
#2 - Tournaments
In CR, there is a very simple system on how one plays tournaments. It is simple because it is centralized and the IT system behind is quite good, although a bit expensive for the federation. Anyway, we do have a golf federation that owns a single web server, on which all active golfers are registered. Also all official (EGA HCP system) tournaments are registered there. If one wants to play a tournament, he/she simply logs in and make a search for a tournament on courses that they wanted to and then clicks to register to the tournament. Some tournaments are not open to everyone, such as various leagues or official competitions for the best players etc. But everything is centralized and in one place.
How do you compete / play tournaments / leagues in UK?
#3 - Golf buddies
In CR, there are few players. Sadly, the golf in CR is not very popular, it is still being known as an expensive hobby for snobs. Therefore, if you start with golf only by yourself, you find it very hard to find anyone you could play with or train with. It took me several years to finally find good golf partners that would be compatible with me with both their time and skill.
In UK, there are many more golfers, so I hope this won't be that hard here. Any tips on how to find someone to walk you through the course for the first time, or to go to driving with you, make some fun, do a good training session. Share some tips ... ?
#4 - Prohibitions
Not sure how to explain this one. I am not sure if it exists anywhere beyond CR. There are places in CR (especially around the capital city), where you are strictly forbidden to train with someone. More specifically, you are forbidden to go to a driving and help someone to learn a golf, or to provide them an advice on how to play/improve their game. This is allowed only to professional trainers who are associated with the driving range/club/resort. So, if you want to show a golf to a new person, you have to go to a professional trainer and buy lessons for the new person. You can not just go to the driving, borrow a club to the newcomer and tell them how to grab it and swing it. Somehow this is only in golf in CR, there is nothing like this in any other sport in CR.
How is this in UK?
Thank you for any tips, answers, or comments!