Silly question about Opens

Springveldt

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You did correctly - only the counting score should be recorded.

From GB&I guidance:
G5.10 "Handicap Committees will be justified in disregarding scores for handicapping purposes where scores for both players are recorded on a significant number of holes on a regular basis."
So if only the counting score is recorded then you need at least 23 points for your 9 holes to even be consider for a cut, right? Not exactly hammering down on bandits, is it?
 

wjemather

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So if only the counting score is recorded then you need at least 23 points for your 9 holes to even be consider for a cut, right? Not exactly hammering down on bandits, is it?
No, because the individual score is also scaled up by the difference between CH & PH, so a high handicapper would require fewer actual points to meet the 36 point threshold than a low handicapper.
 

louise_a

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I suspect tha tclubs do not realised that they have to set the competition as acceptable for handicaps, it happened with a mixed 4BBB at our club
 

Billysboots

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On a slightly different theme, but still relating to banditry in Opens, we are entered in one next month where the entry requirements include a need to have submitted TEN qualifying scores in the last twelve months.

I get that organisers want a level playing field, with representative handicaps, but I’ve never known a need for this many cards to be on the system to allow entry into an Open. It seems especially restrictive this early in a season given so many courses have been closed for weeks due to the weather, and most haven’t run any qualifying comps for six months, maybe longer, as a result.
 

Arthur Wedge

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On a slightly different theme, but still relating to banditry in Opens, we are entered in one next month where the entry requirements include a need to have submitted TEN qualifying scores in the last twelve months.

I get that organisers want a level playing field, with representative handicaps, but I’ve never known a need for this many cards to be on the system to allow entry into an Open. It seems especially restrictive this early in a season given so many courses have been closed for weeks due to the weather, and most haven’t run any qualifying comps for six months, maybe longer, as a result.

That looks like that’s gone too far the other way. For me there needs to be some balance - 4-6 from the last 12 would be reasonable but 10 is too much and will discourage people from entering GP scores
 

Springveldt

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I think it’s excessive at any time, but certainly after the winter and spring we’ve just had.
I’ve got 17 out of my last 20 as qualifiers, I’ve only got 3 general play rounds and only 1 of them is a counting score and all 3 are within the last month.

I might be on the minority but I don’t think 10 qualifiers on the last 12 months is that ridiculous but that’s probably because the vast majority of my golf is in a club comp.

I guess if you play a lot of golf then you could have way more general play rounds.
 

Billysboots

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I’ve got 17 out of my last 20 as qualifiers, I’ve only got 3 general play rounds and only 1 of them is a counting score and all 3 are within the last month.

I might be on the minority but I don’t think 10 qualifiers on the last 12 months is that ridiculous but that’s probably because the vast majority of my golf is in a club comp.

I guess if you play a lot of golf then you could have way more general play rounds.

It sounds easy on the face of it, but consider the following, since the beginning of June 2023.

1. A total of four weeks holiday.

2. Seven weekends taken up by team or 4BBB comps.

3. No qualifiers between mid October and the beginning of May - give or take 25 weeks.

Straight away that’s 36 weeks where someone only available to play at weekends CANNOT play in qualifiers. If you then throw into the mix the fact that our club do not run qualifiers every week anyway, and immediately you start to see that a requirement to submit ten cards in a rolling year can very quickly become problematic, if not impossible.
 
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If I wanted to manipulate my handicap, I would be putting more cards in rather than less. A far better way of getting the handicap you ‘want’.

Yep the only issue I’ve had directly with this was a matchplay opponent who put 24 scores in over a 30 day period to go from 7 to 10

He admitted he plays in the evenings after a long days word as a landscape gardener, and in our match he was -1 through 7 holes and beat me comfortably.

I’m not sure running round in 3 hours in the evening to beat the light, after a long physical shift gives the best reflection on playing ability.
 

HeftyHacker

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Yep the only issue I’ve had directly with this was a matchplay opponent who put 24 scores in over a 30 day period to go from 7 to 10

He admitted he plays in the evenings after a long days word as a landscape gardener, and in our match he was -1 through 7 holes and beat me comfortably.

I’m not sure running round in 3 hours in the evening to beat the light, after a long physical shift gives the best reflection on playing ability.
It's swings and roundabouts though - I played twice this weekend in similar conditions to his rounds (chasing the light after a day's work in the garden) and posted two of my best scores of the year and was round in circa 2:15.

Come a comp on a Saturday though, when it takes twice as long, it completely messes with my rhythm and I usually fall apart after about 13 holes.
 

HeftyHacker

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I’ve got 17 out of my last 20 as qualifiers, I’ve only got 3 general play rounds and only 1 of them is a counting score and all 3 are within the last month.

I might be on the minority but I don’t think 10 qualifiers on the last 12 months is that ridiculous but that’s probably because the vast majority of my golf is in a club comp.

I guess if you play a lot of golf then you could have way more general play rounds.

It would certainly rule me out. The majority of my competition golf is in the form of pairs/team comps which, until recently (and even then only if there's an exceptional score) didn't count towards my handicap. In the last 12 months I've played 4 singles qualifiers, the rest being GP (20 scores in total).

I get that there's a need to try and stop the pot hunters but truth be told if my handicap was based purely on singles comp rounds it would be about 3 shots higher as they wouldn't reflect remotely recent form.
 

clubchamp98

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Ten comp cards seems excessive when it’s only eight from twenty to form your handicap.

Eight might be better.

Most golfers who want to play competition golf should be able to squeeze that many in in twelve months!
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Seniors Invitation 4BBB today. Winning score was 43 pts, with the member counting 12 times - scoring 29 pts. No sign yet of his round impacting his HI…will (out of interest) check tomorrow.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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Was the box 'ticked' to make it Qualifying? Old habits die hard.
Dunno. I’ll ask. Should it have been qualifying, or is it optional. Our golf manager is an excellent and diligent guy, hot on things WHS, though I feel that sometimes he thinks he knows it all, when maybe he doesn’t quite know everything.
 

2blue

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Dunno. I’ll ask. Should it have been qualifying, or is it optional. Our golf manager is an excellent and diligent guy, hot on things WHS, though I feel that sometimes he thinks he knows it all, when maybe he doesn’t quite know everything.
I'd say it should have been but 'invitationals' are often, by long lost LivPhil for example, wrongly, seen as just 'Social golf'. I've just noticed that our recent Srixon Mixed B/ball was set as none-Q & winners, possibly, go through to a National Final. WRONG
 
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