Would You Believe It !

[Crazyface]

After the saga in June over a match play pairs game that didn't get played by the due date due all sorts of factors and a right load of mither for me, and resulted in me having to rule that both were disqualified for now playing the match by the due date, I got a call last night from one of our star players who played in a semi final of said match play comp and guess what? All square after 18. Now, its' known, but yet again NOT WRITTEN DOWN ANYWHERE, that the semi and Final matches go to an 18 hole play off. They couldn't find a date to play the play off before the due date (31st August). They have arranged it for tomorrow (Wednesday) but were checking with me to if it was worth playing as others at the club were already telling them not to bother as they are now our by default. What a flippin' mess. I've check ed in with my fellow comp committee member and as he pointed out we made the decision earlier in the year not to allow extensions (as this was made clear on the notice board with the sign up sheet) so we cannot allow them to have an extension. Good Grief! I'm glad I'm so well paid for this. We will be proposing a change to these unwritten rules at our meeting in a weeks time.
I actually think the reason for this "rule" is that our first hole is stroke index 18, so the better players think they would be at an immediate disadvantage on the first sudden death hole. So decided that in a semi or final to remove this disadvantage the semi and finals would be 18 hole play offs. Could be wrong, but I'll bet I'm not.

 

[Dasit]

First hole SI 18?

Poor course design

 

[louise_a]

Why would better players think they are disadvantaged by the first being SI 18, if anything it would benefit them as they would only give a shot there if giving more than 17 shots

 

[louise_a]

First hole SI 18?

Poor course design

Why is that poor course design?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

First hole SI 18?

Poor course design

Why is it poor Course design ?

Played on plenty of courses where the first is SI 18 - it's better to have a high SI on the first than a low SI

As for the OP surely if it's a matchplay event then they just play extra holes until a winner - 18 hole playoff after being all square?! That's madness - what happens if the play off is all square !! Never heard any club have a play off for a matchplay tie

 

[mikejohnchapman]

If it isn't written down surely the tie-breaking process for the earlier rounds applies.

As you say if they are out of time then the other semi-final winners are the overall winners.

You now have all the cards to sort this out in future years at your disposal!

Sudden death has got to be the way forward regardless of SI.

 

[rosecott]

Why is that poor course design?

Perhaps he meant poor Stroke Index allocation.

 

[Dasit]

 

[BTatHome]

If the 'rules' aren't written down then they aren't really rules. With nothing to refer to you can law down the law that a player should have known the rule, and hence they can't be breaking them. Can't see how someone playing their match on the date due can be DQ'd if there is no time to play a full 18 playoff!

 

[rosecott]

View attachment 23605

Why are you highlighting what anyone involved in handicap administration is well aware off. You said it was down to poor course design but course design was irrelevant

 

[Dasit]

Why are you highlighting what anyone involved in handicap administration is well aware off. You said it was down to poor course design but course design was irrelevant

Poor SI allocation

I didn't mean the actual physical course design

 

[KenL]

http://www.englandgolf.org/page.aspx?sitesectionid=337 .

 

[Crazyface]

http://www.englandgolf.org/page.aspx?sitesectionid=337 .

Great link.

Who's course splits the stroke index to odd on one nine and even on the other nine? Is this set in stone or can it be changed. I'm looking at ours and trying to figure out a way of moving the SI18 from the first and yet sticking to the links guide of all even to be on the easier nine. Moving SI18 would mean it would have to go on the back nine. now

 

[jim8flog]

It is a recommendation only.

"Stroke Index Recommendation Rule of Golf 33-4 requires Committees to “publish a table indicating the order of holes at which handicap strokes are to be given or received”. To provide consistency at Affiliated Clubs it is strongly recommended that Appendix G of the CONGU UHS is followed. "

The best advice that is given is to have two cards. One card for match play with completely fudged stroke indexes and another for other forms of play which is strictly based upon the ascending difficulty of the holes.

We do not do it at our club simply because match play is probably the least played form of golf here. We originally had two cards but some members could not get their heads around which card to use.

 

[rulefan]

I understand that in Australia, all clubs have 2 cards. The matchplay card is the same at every course.

 

[duncan mackie]

As someone has already questioned, having the Si18 first hole actually favours the lower handicap player in all cases so it's a daft argument to support a really silly practice of requiring an 18 hole playoff. The reason it's silly is that it's entirely possible that that will also be halved and the players could be required to play 3, or more, rounds. Shear madness at any level of golf.

Having already posted months ago about the twin evils of not having your CoC sorted, and reasons why you should always retain committee discretion rather than the inevitable disasters associated with "no extensions" thank you for adding another situation to the list (although I can't imagine any other club has an 18 hole playoff to a match play event!)

Finally, the committee has got the players I to this mess and the very least you can do is point out that they can toss a coin to see who goes through, rather than both being DQ.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I suppose the low handicapper could be considered to almost always make par or birdie on SI 18 - whereas a high(er) handicapper is by definition always more likely to mess up a hole, and hole - whatever the SI.

 

[duncan mackie]

I suppose the low handicapper could be considered to almost always make par or birdie on SI 18 - whereas a high(er) handicapper is by definition always more likely to mess up a hole, and hole - whatever the SI.

Not sure your point?

The fact is that on the SI18 hole the LOW handicapper is only ever giving a shot if he is giving shots at every hole.

Therefore, as the more competent golfer, he has a distinct advantage at the first extra hole - he certainly isn't any disadvantage!

 

[Sweep]

As technically both parties have complied with the deadline to play their match, couldn't the OP allow them to contest the play-off after the deadline? After all the match has been played, it's the result that hasn't been decided.