Playing in opens rules

[Gowferdee]

Have only ever played for fun - what's the protocol for playing in opens...

Do you get many high handicappers playing?
If theres 4 of us friends who play together. how does it work - can we play together or do we have to partner up with members to stop cheating?!
Do I need a handicap to play where open is like 28 handicap etc?

Thanks

 

[rulefan]

Have only ever played for fun - what's the protocol for playing in opens...

1) Do you get many high handicappers playing?

2) If theres 4 of us friends who play together. how does it work - can we play together or do we have to partner up with members to stop cheating?!

3) Do I need a handicap to play where open is like 28 handicap etc?

Thanks

I assume you are referring to to Four Ball formats

1) Yes. A good proportion as they are virtually all handicap competitions.

2) You would normally enter as pairs and most would keep pairs from the same club separate.

3) You will almost certainly need a handicap with 'c' status.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Have a look on golfempire.co.uk as you can filter open competitions by region, format, sex etc to find ones you like the look of. And yes, as rulefan says you will definitely need a handicap.

 

[NearHull]

I enter 12 to 15 pairs opens each year. I actually find that it is rare for clubs to split pairs from the same club. I help run an open at my club - we’ve never split pairs from the same club. Mind you, be prepared to see the same names repeatedly cropping up in the prizes.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Whenever I've played them, 4bbb, I've always entered as a group of 4. Most others playing seem to be the same. I've not heard of groups being split before, wouldn't have thought that would go down well.

 

[GG26]

You will definitely require an active handicap. All the opens that I have entered will require you to provide your CDH number. Online, this immediately brings up your name, registered club and current handicap.

There are a number of team competitions where the best two scores on each hole for a fourball will count, otherwise as others have mentioned it is the betterball out of a pair.

 

[rulefan]

We (my club and other local clubs) were finding that there were a number of serious pot hunters in the area.
However we are now selectively lifting the restrictions as appropriate actions have been takn.

 

[NearHull]

We (my club and other local clubs) were finding that there were a number of serious pot hunters in the area.
However we are now selectively lifting the restrictions as appropriate actions have been takn.

I’m intrigued, would you perhaps give a general location?

 

[Gowferdee]

thanks just been playing via golfnow so no handicap, was just curious as looks like good option to play few nice courses

 

[Lord Tyrion]

We (my club and other local clubs) were finding that there were a number of serious pot hunters in the area.
However we are now selectively lifting the restrictions as appropriate actions have been takn.

Does your club, and surrounding ones, give big prizes at your Opens? The ones I have played, NE England only, the dodgy scores seem to appear at the ones with big prizes on offer. The ones offering a relatively cheap entry and modest prizes seem to get more honest, or reasonable scores. I'm not criticising incidentally, just interested to see if that theme follows the same pattern in your area as well.

 

[jim8flog]

You will definitely require an active handicap. All the opens that I have entered will require you to provide your CDH number. Online, this immediately brings up your name, registered club and current handicap.

There are a number of team competitions where the best two scores on each hole for a fourball will count, otherwise as others have mentioned it is the betterball out of a pair.

By the term 'Active Handicap ' do you mean Competition Status? If yes this disappears with the WHS.

 

[jim8flog]

I enter 12 to 15 pairs opens each year. I actually find that it is rare for clubs to split pairs from the same club. I help run an open at my club - we’ve never split pairs from the same club. Mind you, be prepared to see the same names repeatedly cropping up in the prizes.

Most of the opens I have played in (4BBB) in split pairs from each club so no 2 pairs from the same club play together but will have adjacent tee times, we do similar where practicable. I have not played singles in years but remember a similar thing with some of them. 2 clubs I used to regularly play in singles at had one of their own members in each group and all the other three were from different clubs.

 

[patricks148]

I suppose it depends where you are all the opens up here are single strokeplay, with a few walk ons, also single SP

some do have Handicap restrictions, theres a few that have a handicap limit and the ones in demand also might have a ballot so only low handicaps get in, but there are a few high handicap opens as well. of course you do have to have a handicap with (c) status

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm amazed that some of you say that 4 balls from other clubs are allowed to play together in open comps.
It's the same old story, most of us play properly but that is wide open to abuse and goes against one of the main points of an open, ie getting drawn to play with people from different clubs.

I think that depends on your perspective or expectation of an open. Most of the people I know who play Opens do so to play a different course at a significantly reduced rate with their friends. It is a trip away, a fun event.

My experience may be entirely different to the original concept of what Opens were about of course. I can only go off how people treat opens up here.

 

[rulefan]

I’m intrigued, would you perhaps give a general location?

Entrants come from Yorkshire and Lancashire. The bandits were from South and West Yorkshire

 

[clubchamp98]

Does your club, and surrounding ones, give big prizes at your Opens? The ones I have played, NE England only, the dodgy scores seem to appear at the ones with big prizes on offer. The ones offering a relatively cheap entry and modest prizes seem to get more honest, or reasonable scores. I'm not criticising incidentally, just interested to see if that theme follows the same pattern in your area as well.

This was our experience of opens.
Imo it was made worse by the introduction of full handicap.
The winning scores were just silly.
Most scores went up by four points at least and we only go for a day out now .

 

[oltimer]

I have seen that many in other groups in Opens not playing to the rules have come to the conclusion that its a cheap day out at another Course but have no expectations
of ever Winning. presumably the result of allowing visiting 4 balls play together when none of them know the rules or don`t apply them.

 

[DickInShorts]

I suppose it depends where you are all the opens up here are single strokeplay, with a few walk ons, also single SP

some do have Handicap restrictions, theres a few that have a handicap limit and the ones in demand also might have a ballot so only low handicaps get in, but there are a few high handicap opens as well. of course you do have to have a handicap with (c) status

There are a lot of Texas scramble opens up here as well as foursomes and greensomes. Very few single ones in south of England when I was there so it’s nice to play lots of courses up here for a low entry fee - seniors are £15-20.

Stopped playing scrambles as they are a cheats paradise

 

[jim8flog]

I have seen that many in other groups in Opens not playing to the rules have come to the conclusion that its a cheap day out at another Course but have no expectations
of ever Winning. presumably the result of allowing visiting 4 balls play together when none of them know the rules or don`t apply them.

I played in one Open with the Captain of that club and two players from another club.

On the second hole despite me saying to one of the other players not to clean his ball when moving out of my line he proceeded to clean it. When I brought him up on it his reply was " we are not taking this seriously are we and playing by teh rules. It is just a bit of fun"

 

[3offTheTee]

I'm amazed that some of you say that 4 balls from other clubs are allowed to play together in open comps.
It's the same old story, most of us play properly but that is wide open to abuse and goes against one of the main points of an open, ie getting drawn to play with people from different clubs.

Agree with your comments and probably your implication. What is the difference between 2 groups from the same Club playing in a 4BBB and a team event?

I spoke with the secretary at a club in Central Lancs a few years ago as I used to organise around 20 Opens per year. A Group was going round the North West and around the 16th hole they would phone the Club and say they had say 80 points in a Team Event and wondered what the best score in waS as they played earlier. Amazingly if appropriate their score increased appropriatel!

Let people sleep well at night!