Why are individual opens not very popular in England?

[KenL]

Surprised no one has mentioned WHS and bandits........surely that might be a reason to put off many from entering an open. Certainly if it offers the chance to play at a nice course for a decent price then great, but if you want to have a chance of competing, then I suspect those with dodgy handicaps might deter people from trying them!

4bbb seems the best place for bandits.

 

[IanM]

Why are so many mixed opens blooming Greensomes?

 

[Jason.H]

It could be that people don’t all like putting cards in at courses they don’t know.
Or, that courses like 4 balls as that means more people playing, so more cash in the bank for the same number of tee times.

Yes I expect teams are more likely to spend money in the bar /restaurant before and after their golf. I don’t see why a club can’t run 1 singles event per year. My old club doesn’t do one which is a shame.

 

[brendy]

It varies by club more than region I'd think. I know of clubs that have open week each year and it's a complete mix of singles, seniors, mixies, greensomes etc. Our place has two opens per week pretty much through the year, Wednesdays and Sundays but also has an open week full of the varied formats.

 

[doublebogey7]

Surprised no one has mentioned WHS and bandits........surely that might be a reason to put off many from entering an open. Certainly if it offers the chance to play at a nice course for a decent price then great, but if you want to have a chance of competing, then I suspect those with dodgy handicaps might deter people from trying them!

This thread is about singles opens. Would have thought that if anyone was put off playing in those it would be the bandits themselves, as they would not be getting prizes without a handicap cut. Unlike in 4b or AMAM's where they can continue to rip off fellow golfers to their hearts content.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Not sure that is true, most clubs in Scotland that have opens also offer team events such as mixed, scrambles etc.

The majority of Opens are individual, most clubs have more than one, and then in the shoulders of the season there will be a scramble of am-am. 4BBB opens have virtually died out

England is very different, very few individual opens, and when there are they are often cat 1 only

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Surprised no one has mentioned WHS and bandits........surely that might be a reason to put off many from entering an open. Certainly if it offers the chance to play at a nice course for a decent price then great, but if you want to have a chance of competing, then I suspect those with dodgy handicaps might deter people from trying them!

WHs has been around 2 years, that hasn't changed anything except entries for scrambles where low handicappers are massively disadvantaged now

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Not sure where the OP was looking but a brief glance at Golf Empire suggest that there are hundreds.

By comparison with Scotland, no there aren't, not even close. Also if you dig deeper you'll find the majority of individual opens in England are handicap 5 and under.

 

[chellie]

Why are so many mixed opens blooming Greensomes?

They aren't up here.

 

[KenL]

They aren't up here.

Where is "here". I know the mixed event at my club is greensomes.

 

[D-S]

By comparison with Scotland, no there aren't, not even close. Also if you dig deeper you'll find the majority of individual opens in England are handicap 5 and under.

Not around here there aren’t - just randomly checked Devon and Gloucestershire Individual Opens via Golf Empire (as am booking some Opens myself) and there are plenty of Individual nett Opens. In fact my club is running one today - the scratch one is later in the season.

 

[rudebhoy]

Surprised no one has mentioned WHS and bandits........surely that might be a reason to put off many from entering an open. Certainly if it offers the chance to play at a nice course for a decent price then great, but if you want to have a chance of competing, then I suspect those with dodgy handicaps might deter people from trying them!

I see opens as a good day out with mates, change of scenery, and the chance to play a decent course for a lot less than the normal green fee. I hope to play well, but have no expectation of winning, and don't care who does win on the day.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Why are so many mixed opens blooming Greensomes?

I always refer to that format as a Mixed Gruesome.

 

[chellie]

Where is "here". I know the mixed event at my club is greensomes.

Lancashire. Don't think I've seen any at all when looking on Golf Empire in Yorkshire or Cumbria either. All seem to be 4BBB.

 

[GreiginFife]

We have an individual open, a 4bbb open, a 3 man and a 4 man scramble opens through the year.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Not around here there aren’t - just randomly checked Devon and Gloucestershire Individual Opens via Golf Empire (as am booking some Opens myself) and there are plenty of Individual nett Opens. In fact my club is running one today - the scratch one is later in the season.

Now go and check north east Scotland, (effectively Aberdeenshire & Moray), there are over 100 individual opens still to play this year, and not all clubs list there.

 

[Banchory Buddha]

Lancashire. Don't think I've seen any at all when looking on Golf Empire in Yorkshire or Cumbria either. All seem to be 4BBB.

Yup, it's dreadful in NW England, back in around 2009 I was going to use my Scottish membership as my home club and just play opens, I quickly changed my mind as my schedule for Lancashire & Cheshire would have consisted of less than 10 opens all season

 

[IanM]

Weird... is it a northern thing. Seem plenty in Wales and the West Country

 

[Jamesbrown]

from experience they are and usually well subscribed or full but there isn’t enough of them. I believe it’s the club committees that say what the competitions and their format will be and this will sound ageist but I believe the older generation prefer betterballs and scrambles hence why there is so many team opens.

 

[Deleted member 31467]

from experience they are and usually well subscribed or full but there isn’t enough of them. I believe it’s the club committees that say what the competitions and their format will be and this will sound ageist but I believe the older generation prefer betterballs and scrambles hence why there is so many team opens.

My guess is clubs don't want to give up too many weekend dates so a lot of opens are midweek which tends to attract seniors. Easier to get teams of 4 retirees than working people.