Not completing a round due to weather.

[Beezerk]

Had a but of an issue at the weekend with the golf society I'm in.
The weather forecast wasn't great but we battled on regardless, the thunder clouds started to circle after we got to the far end of the course around the 11th hole. Our 3 ball decided to see how it went but the society captain and his group walked in after 15 holes as it was pretty bad where they were. The clouds cleared over after a bit so us and the remaining groups finished 18 holes. When we got into the clubhouse the captain announced he'd decided it was a 15 hole competition as that's when he'd walked in, needless to say it didn't go down well with the guys who'd stayed out and completed the round ?
Iirc 5 walked in and 9 completed the full 18 holes.
In the end he agreed it should be the 18 hole scores that count and all was good.
How could we get around this in the future should people not be able to finish a round for whatever reason? To complicate things even more we are using some software to input scores to track society scores and handicaps, the lads who played 15 holes blobbed the last 3 holes so have an artificially low score.
On Sunday I thought the pro should have sounded the horn for us all to come in but it never happened, that would have meant some players played 14 holes, some 13 etc etc.
Maybe an average score per hole to fill out any remaining holes?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

If the course is still open and people walk in then it’s their choice and their score at that time counts for the whole 18 holes

If it’s a comp and the course closes then the comp is abandoned regardless of how many holes some have played etc

 

[Orikoru]

I say if you don't finish you don't finish. You generally know if it's likely to rain that day and take your chances when you still decide to enter the comp. ?‍

I was in a comp once where I already had about 35 points with three holes to go and it absolutely bucketed down. Most people including the club secretary (who was in my group) walked in as the greens were unplayable. His decision was essentially just to abandon the comp and reschedule it for another day. Nothing I could do about it, happens.

 

[Beezerk]

If the course is still open and people walk in then it’s their choice and their score at that time counts for the whole 18 holes

Yeah that was sort of our thinking, bit harsh on the lads who walked in as the thunder was right above them but it cleared up within 20 minutes.
The captain is a pretty serious lad and didn't take it well at first ???

 

[chrisd]

Generally, I believe it's whether the greens are playable or not, if you can't putt due to the greens being flooded, and there is nowhere to take relief for casual water, then the comp/game really has to be abandoned. Thunder and lightning will cause it to be abandoned too but heavy rain is just one of the irritations of an outdoor sport and you're not supposed to even wait in a shelter and delay play ?

 

[jim8flog]

As per Chrisd the only rules for guidance are


Water
If all the area around a hole is covered in temporary water and it cannot be removed, in stroke play the course should be considered unplayable and the Committee should suspend play under Rule 5.7.

Stroke Play

In stroke play there is no set guidance for when a Committee should cancel a round. The proper action depends on the circumstances in each case and is left to the judgment of the Committee.

A round should be cancelled only in a case where it would be very unfair not to cancel it. For example, a small number of players begin a round under extremely bad weather conditions, conditions subsequently worsen and further play that day is impossible.

When a round is cancelled, all scores and penalties during that round are cancelled.

 

[jim8flog]

Each club would normally set it own rules for what players must do if there is a risk of lightning.

Ours is that play must discontinue but it does not say players must walk in.

 

[Billysboots]

Our place has a really annoying habit of cancelling comps when some groups have gone out, even when the weather is no worse than when they allowed the comp to start in the first place.

It’s really infuriating if you’re in the first half dozen or so groups out, you start on a perfectly playable course but in steady drizzle, and a committee member rides out in a buggy an hour later when the course is still perfectly playable and the drizzle is the same, only to tell you the comp has been cancelled.

The cause is invariably some of our later starters rocking up, seeing the rain, and moaning about not wanting to go out. It’s generally the same moaners, and the same poor members who brave the rain for an hour and have to spend the rest of the day drying their kit for nothing.

I’ve said it times. Either make the call before the first group ventures onto the course, or run the comp to its conclusion. Make a decision and stop dithering for heaven’s sake!