Open Competitions - What is a valid handicap

[IanM]

And .. answering the orig post... You've listed many of the variables. It's up to clubs what they do by way of Opens... if they get it that wrong, no one will play in it!

I guess England is very different. I know you have relatively few singles opens so I suppose less chance to play, when you have the choice of half a dozen every Saturday & Sunday, folks pick and choose.

Not sure about that, there seem to be plenty of singles events about.

 

[Deleted member 30522]

I don't normally disagree with BB, but (speaking purely personally) I look at 1) The course 2) When is it and 3) how much is it..... I've entered 18 opens so far this year and I'd be playing all of them even if there were no prizes.

I got an email from Golf Empire this morning about as series of pairs events, loudly proclaiming the value of the prize tables and the overseas holiday at the end of it all. No thanks. I know what that will attract. Played in one of those on the Brabazon years back... it wasn't very funny watching a 22 handicapper beat my 5 handicap mate gross!

Two of my events are Forest Hills and Coed-y-Mwstwr. £15 each. I am playing because I can add them to my "courses played" list. Not expecting "Sunningdale" but it'll be a fun day out! No idea what prizes are on offer and don't mind either...

Aye that's a very different thing though Ian, I'm the same, played in a couple of those, never again.

I know here folks are turning away from Opens where the winning voucher isn't a 3 figure amount, especially now that entry is creeping up over the £20 mark, some have even gone as far as £40 for an 18 hole open , admittedly that's the likes of Ladybank or Cruden Bay, but the last two years the entry has really shot up.

I'm actually much like yourself, tend to play 25-40 opens a year (won't this year as joining 2 clubs), and look to "fill in" missing courses. North of Dundee/Perth- south/east of Inverness - still never played Brechin, or Maverston, or the 2 Inverness courses, but every other course (I think) has been played via an Open, and many outwith that geographical area too, especially north of Inverness which is full of gems. Planning on hitting up some new places in Fife this year instead on a limited open schedule, Crail for sure.

 

[Deleted member 30522]

Not sure about that, there seem to be plenty of singles events about.

Honestly, it's very different, an awful lot of your singles opens are restricted to Cat 1, certainly in the north-west when I lived there. I think the only opens I ever played was Walton Hall, ironically I was a member there at the time, and Bromborough. It was incredibly frustrating, always advertised as "Gents Open", you'd click through and it's 4BBB. Maybe that's just the NW, though my mate has reported similar issues in NE England and Yorkshire.

 

[IanM]

I look at what the green fee "normally is" then check the Open Price.. I think one event at Pennard last years was a third of the normal green fee! Crackers! The ones I've entered range of "still pricey" to "daft cheap!"

This is my first summer of "not working" so I am "filling my boots!" Would have jumped on the Silloth one, but already too much on in July!

 

[Deleted member 30522]

I look at what the green fee "normally is" then check the Open Price.. I think one event at Pennard last years was a third of the normal green fee! Crackers! The ones I've entered range of "still pricey" to "daft cheap!"

This is my first summer of "not working" so I am "filling my boots!" Would have jumped on the Silloth one, but already too much on in July!

It really is the only way to play. Always baffles me how few people actually play Opens when you consider the value you get. Up here it's the same faces week after week at event after event.

 

[HeftyHacker]

It really is the only way to play. Always baffles me how few people actually play Opens when you consider the value you get. Up here it's the same faces week after week at event after event.

I'm pretty new to Opens (and golf in general) but the value for money is fantastic.

We've 3 booked in June/July and playing in Opens has saved us circa £125 each on the £200 it would have cost to play those courses at a weekend ordinarily.

 

[Smiffy]

I only play in Opens to get the chance to play on a reasonable quality course, preferably one I haven't played before, for a bargain price. The fact that there are a few prizes on offer doesn't even enter into it.
The nice thing about playing in Seniors competitions is that the guys you meet are generally there for a bit of fun, nobody is taking it too seriously, and are generally all the same standard so no "willy waving".
Even the lower handicapped guys you meet are not blasting it 300 yards, so you feel you can at least compete.
So a good course, spot of food afterwards, some good old chit chat and a few laughs for a minimal green fee.... what's not to like?
One of the nicest courses I've played was in a Seniors Open. Orsett Golf Club in Essex. Had never heard of it before. Took a punt at £35.00 (normal green fee today is £80.00). Great course, great company, lovely lunch afterwards. Played like a plum, but had a great time with the three other old boys I met. I'll be playing in it again this year. Cushty.

 

[nickjdavis]

One of the nicest courses I've played was in a Seniors Open. Orsett Golf Club in Essex. Had never heard of it before. Took a punt at £35.00 (normal green fee today is £80.00). Great course, great company, lovely lunch afterwards. Played like a plum, but had a great time with the three other old boys I met. I'll be playing in it again this year. Cushty.

Orsett is a good course...has been used for Open qualifying in the past.

 

[Deleted member 30522]

I only play in Opens to get the chance to play on a reasonable quality course, preferably one I haven't played before, for a bargain price. The fact that there are a few prizes on offer doesn't even enter into it.

I think this is the difference Smiffy, think folks are arguing two different sides here.
There's guys like yourself who are cherry picking just a couple a year, understandably the course is what you're after. I played a scratch Open at Blairgowrie this year cos I'd never played it, know it's reputation, and just made the ballot (5.4), so with not a chance of winning a voucher I still coughed £60 for 36 holes.

But where the rest of what I say comes in, is that up here, singles opens are very prevalent and common, there's a ton of choice, and weekend after weekend it's the same guys moving from course to course, year after year, it's like a tour, "first Saturday in August, off to Ballater......etc". Those guys will turn away if a club stiffs on the vouchers, because there's elsewhere they can go on the same day.

Ironically this year, as I will be dramatically throttling back on my Open play, I'll be doing like you and picking a couple of courses I've not played before, and a couple of favourites that I always play well on.

 

[nickjdavis]

But where the rest of what I say comes in, is that up here, singles opens are very prevalent and common, there's a ton of choice, and weekend after weekend it's the same guys moving from course to course, year after year, it's like a tour, "first Saturday in August, off to Ballater......etc". Those guys will turn away if a club stiffs on the vouchers, because there's elsewhere they can go on the same day.

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Am I right in thinking that, under the Voucher system that seems to operate widely across Scotland, you can "spend" your vouchers at clubs other than the one you won it at? Can you spend said vouchers in non club/course related golf retail outlets as well?

Is there anything that the Vouchers are not redeemable against...for example....can you use them to pay green fees?

(I personally think this is a far better system than giving out physical prizes on the day and allows players to get proper value out of their prizes....though if you are an Englishman who gets presented with a Voucher on the Friday evening but has to fly back home on the Saturday morning it doesn't leave you with much scope for "shopping" )

 

[Deleted member 30522]

Am I right in thinking that, under the Voucher system that seems to operate widely across Scotland, you can "spend" your vouchers at clubs other than the one you won it at? Can you spend said vouchers in non club/course related golf retail outlets as well?

Is there anything that the Vouchers are not redeemable against...for example....can you use them to pay green fees?

(I personally think this is a far better system than giving out physical prizes on the day and allows players to get proper value out of their prizes....though if you are an Englishman who gets presented with a Voucher on the Friday evening but has to fly back home on the Saturday morning it doesn't leave you with much scope for "shopping" )

Most clubs use Scottish Golf vouchers (ie supplied by the governing body for uniformity, but redeemed by the issuing golf club) (irritatingly a small number are now issuing vouchers only for their own club shop), and golf club or high street golf shops will accept them, a number of other shops will also take them, M&S and John Lewis for eg, but certainly not universally accepted elsewhere. But basically yes, if a venue accepts them, then they can be used, and the issuing club will redeem when sent them for payment

You didn't used to be able to spend them on green fees, but that's changed now following the amateur status changes a couple years back.

English pro-shops should accept them as well, I've certainly done so in the past, I think it'd be pretty hard to spend elsewhere down there tho, you don't even accept our money