P'd off with CONGU Regs

[sweatysock41]

Imagine my horror, checked the board today in the changing rooms to find my handicap has been made inactive.

Let me explain how this has occurred and then I would like some feedback on whether you guys think this situation is good for golf.

2009/10 I was able to play in most competitions and reduced from 22.5 to 18.1 - reasonably happy. Almost all competitions are on a Sunday and due to work commitments last year I was only able to enter one competition in a stableford for Help for Heroes in which I finished 2nd with 41 points - handicap cut to 16.9.

Knowing that I couldn't play in anymore competitions due to them beingon a Sunday I completed the supplementary card book and entered a card shooting 82 gross (SSS 70). I was subsequently told that I couldn't enter supplementary cards because I had played in more than 7 competitions the previous year.

Now I find my handicap has been made inactive because I didn't complete the necessary cards. Does anyone else think this stinks.

 

[SammmeBee]

Not really - it's more the shame that your club doesn't put on enough competitions that people who can't play on Sundays could play in....

Or there are always open competitions...

 

[sweatysock41]

I think what riles me the most is that I was trying to maintain an active handicap - and the mechanism for doing so wasn't available to me.

Open competitions are fine if you want to pay out money to maintain your handicap, I do agree with you about the club and competitions on other days, however the majority want to play them on Sundays.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think you need to have a chat with the handicap secretary and outline the history and what has been said and what you were told. It might just be that they have gone by the system and not recognised what's been discussed

 

[sweatysock41]

I do intend to have chat with him. However I think a system that prevents you from putting in 3 qualifying cards via supplementary cards route just because you competed in more than 7 competitions the previous year is flawed.

 

[SammmeBee]

I think you need to have a chat with the handicap secretary and outline the history and what has been said and what you were told. It might just be that they have gone by the system and not recognised what's been discussed

 

[Leftie]

Knowing that I couldn't play in anymore competitions due to them beingon a Sunday I completed the supplementary card book and entered a card shooting 82 gross (SSS 70). I was subsequently told that I couldn't enter supplementary cards because I had played in more than 7 competitions the previous year.

Now I find my handicap has been made inactive because I didn't complete the necessary cards. Does anyone else think this stinks.

CONGU have recognised the problem and from Jan this year you are able to submit supplementary cards to get your h/cap active again.

Can't really understand why you have such a problem with it all. It's not the end of the world if your h/cap is inactive for a while - particularly as you seem to be unable to play in many comps.

3 rounds, 3 supplementary cards and away you go.

 

[Fyldewhite]

No, I don't think it stinks. For what it's worth, my personal opinion is that players should have to play in 10 comps a year to maintain an active handicap. The system is based on statistics and the smaller the sample the less dependable the system. The supplementary score system is a ball ache to administer but has been extended (IMHO wrongly) to help players get scores in this year.

There is no stigma in holding an inactive handicap btw. It just means you probably can't enter any opens and probably can't win anything at your club until it's active again. This will happen automatically once you have played your third qualifying comp this year. Not too much to ask surely?

Does your club not hold midweek competitions? Do you not get any annual leave from work? If you don't play in the comps then there's not much point in joining really and if your club only ever holds comps on a Sunday then I'd seriously think of moving.

 

[sweatysock41]

Can't really understand why you have such a problem with it all. It's not the end of the world if your h/cap is inactive for a while - particularly as you seem to be unable to play in many comps.

3 rounds, 3 supplementary cards and away you go.

Issue arises in that this year I can play in them, but as at present we are not playing to full length I can't enter cards.
When course goes back to full length I won't be able to compete in the early competitions only use them for handicapping.
As you say it is not the end of the world but it is annoying when you have tried to maintain your handicap and things prevent you from doing so.

 

[viscount17]

No, I don't think it stinks. For what it's worth, my personal opinion is that players should have to play in 10 comps a year to maintain an active handicap. The system is based on statistics and the smaller the sample the less dependable the system. The supplementary score system is a ball ache to administer but has been extended (IMHO wrongly) to help players get scores in this year.

There is no stigma in holding an inactive handicap btw. It just means you probably can't enter any opens and probably can't win anything at your club until it's active again. This will happen automatically once you have played your third qualifying comp this year. Not too much to ask surely?

Does your club not hold midweek competitions? Do you not get any annual leave from work? If you don't play in the comps then there's not much point in joining really and if your club only ever holds comps on a Sunday then I'd seriously think of moving.

don't agree, that's more than a little self-centred.

there are a lot of people who have problems playing comps, and not everyone can take time off for them, especially those with young families.

clubs could do a lot more to make comps available, I can't play Sunday comps either (and Saturdays are almost a closed shop) - I'd like to see twilight comps myself but it isn't going to happen when you're in a minority.

 

[Fyldewhite]

No, I don't think it stinks. For what it's worth, my personal opinion is that players should have to play in 10 comps a year to maintain an active handicap. The system is based on statistics and the smaller the sample the less dependable the system. The supplementary score system is a ball ache to administer but has been extended (IMHO wrongly) to help players get scores in this year.

There is no stigma in holding an inactive handicap btw. It just means you probably can't enter any opens and probably can't win anything at your club until it's active again. This will happen automatically once you have played your third qualifying comp this year. Not too much to ask surely?

Does your club not hold midweek competitions? Do you not get any annual leave from work? If you don't play in the comps then there's not much point in joining really and if your club only ever holds comps on a Sunday then I'd seriously think of moving.

don't agree, that's more than a little self-centred.

there are a lot of people who have problems playing comps, and not everyone can take time off for them, especially those with young families.

clubs could do a lot more to make comps available, I can't play Sunday comps either (and Saturdays are almost a closed shop) - I'd like to see twilight comps myself but it isn't going to happen when you're in a minority.

Sorry, didn't mean it to sound like that. My main point is that golf clubs basically exist to provide competitive golf. If members aren't able to get in 3 (yes just 3) comps a year then either the individuals aren't doing enough to get involved or the clubs aren't doing enough to meet their menbers needs (as you quite rightly point out). What isn't at fault though, getting back to the OP are the CONGU Regs which IMO are fine (possibly not tight to ensure a better system, but fine) and I thought it unfair to blame the rules in the circumstances quoted.

 

[sweatysock41]

No, I don't think it stinks. For what it's worth, my personal opinion is that players should have to play in 10 comps a year to maintain an active handicap. The system is based on statistics and the smaller the sample the less dependable the system. The supplementary score system is a ball ache to administer but has been extended (IMHO wrongly) to help players get scores in this year.

There is no stigma in holding an inactive handicap btw. It just means you probably can't enter any opens and probably can't win anything at your club until it's active again. This will happen automatically once you have played your third qualifying comp this year. Not too much to ask surely?

Does your club not hold midweek competitions? Do you not get any annual leave from work? If you don't play in the comps then there's not much point in joining really and if your club only ever holds comps on a Sunday then I'd seriously think of moving.

don't agree, that's more than a little self-centred.

there are a lot of people who have problems playing comps, and not everyone can take time off for them, especially those with young families.

clubs could do a lot more to make comps available, I can't play Sunday comps either (and Saturdays are almost a closed shop) - I'd like to see twilight comps myself but it isn't going to happen when you're in a minority.

2 things - I pay full membership that does not mean that I am obliged to play in competitions. It means that I am a member of a club that is there to facilitate the playing of golf. It does not stipulate in my club membership that you have to play competitions to maintain your handicap.

There are plenty of golfers who maintain current handicaps through the supplementary card system who don't want to play in all/any the competitions.

It is not the fact that my handicap is inactive that is my beef, it is the fact that I tried to maintain a current handicap by entering supplementary cards but was told you can't because you played too many competitions last year - why was that?
Now when I am free it means that I have to submit 3 cards before I can compete, that is what I find hard to accept.

 

[viscount17]

tbh I thought that it was the number of cards in the current season, not what was done in the previous one, that mattered.

 

[sweatysock41]

So did I, but knowing that I was going to miss most of the competitions I tried to enter a supplementary card in May, nice and early in the season. This card would have got me cut but I was told I ineligible to enter supplementary cards as I had played in more than 7 comps the previous year.

 

[Fyldewhite]

2 things - I pay full membership that does not mean that I am obliged to play in competitions. It means that I am a member of a club that is there to facilitate the playing of golf. It does not stipulate in my club membership that you have to play competitions to maintain your handicap.

There are plenty of golfers who maintain current handicaps through the supplementary card system who don't want to play in all/any the competitions.

It is not the fact that my handicap is inactive that is my beef, it is the fact that I tried to maintain a current handicap by entering supplementary cards but was told you can't because you played too many competitions last year - why was that?
Now when I am free it means that I have to submit 3 cards before I can compete, that is what I find hard to accept.

I understand your frustration but the rule was supposed to identify the people who were struggling to play comps and give them some help to ensure they get more cards in. It's changed this year anyway but that won't help you now unfortunately. I'm not sure what your last sentence means. You shouldn't have to put in 3 cards before playing a comp at your own club. Just play with your inactive handicap.

My big gripe about the system changing is that it has gone from helping a few people who really struggle to play comps to being a free for all. With 10% of the field at any one time on a ".4" handicap I can see supplementary scores being very popular indeed on Fridays before big comps and policing all that is something all committees could well do without. CONGU seem to sometimes have their head in the clouds. Handicap manipulation is a fact of life (everywhere) and very difficult to prove. There is an element that will read the new rules as "right, that's 10 x 0.1's a season then". Whilst I suppose as a club we must follow this rule we will be doing absolutely nothing to make members aware of it. That said, we don't have people who struggle to put cards in as we run over 50 qualifiers over the summer (70 odd for seniors).

 

[sweatysock41]

Maybe I am getting a bit confused over what is on the noticeboard. It states that I can enter the competitions but only for handicapping purposes whilst I have an inactive handicap. I understand this as meaning I can enter but am not eligible for any of the prizes if, and I know this is unlikely, if I win one of them.

Maybe I am wrong, I know that handicap manipulation is something that can't be eradicated, I just feel that the system as it was then, prevented me from doing the proper thing. I wasn't aware that it had changed - a lack of communication on behalf of my club perhaps. I am not going to castigate the handicap secretary for that as he is also doubling up as comp secretary at the moment, and doing a sterling job of it.