Would you consider this cheating????

[EchtLoon]

Where is it written into the local rules of most golf clubs?
I think you will find with a lot of clubs its just a word of mouth acceptance of the done thing or a guideline rather than a rule.

Those are the CONGU rules, hence the uniformity of the rule.

Otherwise everyone and I do mean everyone would have to follow this process when joining a club even if they had a h/c to begin with. So what would happen if joe bloggs who played off 3 at a previous club, had a bad three rounds joining a new club and carded 80 per card, what would the rigid followers of the three card system do then? Call him a cheat no doubt, or give him a 3 h/c regardless, making the process in that cases rediculous.

If a player moves from another club, he will provide a h'cap certificate to the new club, and begin playing immediately off his old handicap.

There is such a thing as credibility, like that of a pro, or someone with a h/c at a previous club that can be easily varified by picking up a phone, there is also the credibility of the word of a member, which in my view is likely to carry more weight than 3 cards may do.

Not for me. Take 'outing' or 'society' golf days, where handicaps are ad hoc. How many people accurately assess their handicaps? Not very many imo.

In any case it is irrelevant, it is standard that three cards must be handed in having been signed by a member. No way would I do this, and I would simply explain to my mate that it's not possible to do it. If you are prepared to ignore this major rule, mainly due to 'he is 100% trustworthy and a mate' what happens first time he plays and he takes a practice swing in a bunker due to an ignoranc of the rules on his part, due you ignore it becasue you knew he wouldn't have taken that practice if he knew he'd be penalised? Where does it end? In a bounce game I don;t care what rules are ignored or not, but when it comes to official play, and gaining a handicap is official play, then it's by the book.

 

[EchtLoon]

Smiffy. Does your mate regularly play in society or corporate days or the like?

If so, it is possible that his club committee may accept some of these cards (properly signed of course) as evidence of his skill level. This is allowed for by CONGU http://www.congu.com/template1.asp?pid=234

That doesn't apply to first time handicaps leftie, it is for adjusting handicaps clearly out of line with current ability.

there is no short cut to getting your first handicap, you have to put in three cards, properly witnessed.

 

[Smiffy]

All points taken on board, and I've told him I won't do it.
Some interesting responses though!
Thanks for the input and your thoughts
Rob

 

[Redwood]

Some mate you are!!!

 

[janmolby]

This happened to me recently however I was the person asking one of the lads I play golf with to sign a card he hadn't been present to witness so I could get a handicap. I have just joined my first golf club & didn't know what I was supposed to do to get a handicap so I asked him & he said to get 3 cards filled in & signed by a member. I went around twice with another lad who signed the cards however had no-one to go around with for the 3rd card & wanted to get it done so just went around myself. As I'm not from the area I only know 3 people who I could ask to head out with.

I didn't cheat, if you saw the card you'd know that was true as it was similar to the other 2 cards i.e. over the 100 shots mark. He signed my card but first checked the other 2 to see how I got on & make sure I wasn't trying anything fancy.

People will say this is cheating but no-one explained to me what I was supposed to do, they just assumed I would know. Surely the golf club should give newbies a print out detailing things like this as we don't all know what we're doing.

 

[EchtLoon]

But someone must have told you something, otherwise how did you know what to do with the first two cards?

 

[janmolby]

For the first 2 cards I just asked the lad I was out playing with, he told me what to do. And seeing as he had me using the juvenile scorecard by mistake it just goes to prove that that's not always the right thing to do.

In my case it didn't make any difference as I was going to get a 24 handicap as that's the starting handicap at our course, unless of course your better than that, which I'm certainly not

I think golf clubs should have a printout of simple things that most members know but newbies probably don't i.e. how to fill in a scorecard, how to get a handicap, how to repair pitch marks.....