Distance Members

JuJuYNWA

Hi Guys,

I joined a golf club down the country this week with a mate of mine and we went down and played three rounds in a day (i was wrecked!!!) on Monday so i'm expecting my handicap to come through sometime next week. We got on fairly well, posting scores of 90, 84, and 82, (me) and 90, 85, and 84, (my mate). We expect handicaps of 15 or so as the course is par 70.

Anyway, my point is that we were let play the three rounds of golf on our own! I think this is disgracefull. We joined for purely financial reasons and handed in honest cards that reflect our ability. But the club didnt know this, as far as they know we could be capable of playing off of scratch!

So now i could be a dishonest but savage golfer with a really high handicap and if i wanted to, go a fleece a few classics out of it for prizes.

The majority of classics dont return cards to clubs so my handicap would remain unaffected. Surely this sort of thing should not be let happen. Should the GUI not be monitoring clubs to make sure that new members cards are proper cards.

Maybe there should be a rule that if you are a distance member, you have to play your club at least twice a year with another non distance member? Even so, this would not stop the real bandits going down and throwing their game!

Since Monday, i have rang another five clubs offering cheap distance membership and asked do i really have to play in the presence of a member? All but one club (Ballaghadreen) said it would be ok if i didnt.

Anyway, rant over, any comments on this anybody?????

One Cold Hand

I would have thought that most clubs would require you play with a member.

There's loads of bandits in every club anyway so I don't think 2 more will make a difference!!

WHIP IT!

JuJuYNWA wrote:

We got on fairly well, posting scores of 90, 84, and 82, (me) and 90, 85, and 84, (my mate). We expect handicaps of 15 or so as the course is par 70.

You're probably in for disappointment... If your best score is 12-over (you) or 14-over (your mate) then it's unlikely, as I understand it, that you'll get any higher than 12 and 14 respectively...

Do you still have ur individual hole scores? A handicap assessor will disregard anything worse than a double bogey... So, let's say you have six bogies, two doubles and a treble, and the rest pars - your score would be 13-over but treated as 12-over effectively (as the extra one on ur treble will be disregarded and treated as a double)...

There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it as far as I remember...

Mister Sifter

Try this for a rough idea of what you will get... http://www.hoylakehackers.org.uk/Handicap%20calculator.html

i'm fairly sure my club has a rule that you can't win anything until you have submitted 3 competition cards after you have got your handicap. That way it would get picked up by members (hopefully) if someone was acting the mickey. Then again, if they can play below their capabilities for three practice rounds to get their handicap, then what's to stop them doing it for another three competition rounds.

Swinging Looney

Even if you play your 3 rounds with some other member you have never met before, what's to stop you from deliberately hitting fat shots, chipping 20 feet past the hole, slicing drives, taking two clubs too many for your par 3's, etc, etc. The whole system surrounding golf is based on honour, trust and truthfullness. So it is no surprise that many out there seek to take advantage of the system.

Rather than be worried about the fact that your club let you play your 3 rounds unsupervised, why not be happy that they have shown their trust in you from the very start?

In the end, even the gang of bandits out there who seek to screw the system can only do it for so long. After they have won a few competitions, their handicap will plummet if they are playing scratch golf while using a 10 handicap or whatever. Personally, I would not hesitate to make my feelings known to anyone I met who turned out to be a handicap bandit. They don't deserve to play golf and should have their club membership revoked and be placed on a countrywide black list.

milltown

I wouldn't be too surprised if you both get handicaps under ten. The best card I handed in to Elm Green for my handicap was ~105, 35 over par, and I got a h/c of 22. Which I have yet to approach 36 points from. Unfortunately I couldn't play any competitions to get a few shots back. Even more unfortunately, my golf hasn't improved by more than a couple of shots since those cards

Mister Sifter

elm green did the opposite to me. they gave me the handicap of my highest card. then again, the scores were within three of one another.

WHIP IT!

Graeme1982 wrote:

elm green did the opposite to me. they gave me the handicap of my highest card. then again, the scores were within three of one another.

I was told (after it was too late for me!) that Elm Green has a reputation for handing out stiff handicaps.

I handed in cards of 18, 19 and 20-over par and was given 14 (out to 14.4 now)... I've had 35 points off it three times and have had three separate 9-hole scores of 19 points so I reckons the golf is in there to play to 14, it's just a question of getting it out of me!

Zzippy

I'm a member in Donegal GC and when I joined a few years ago I played one of my 3 rounds with a member of the handicap committee. I played cr*p golf, but then again, I was playing like that all the time (averaging 28 over but couldn't keep a stroke card cos I kept losing balls!). When I got my handicap I was given 17.5! Im now out to 19, but thankfully my golf has improved to where I can actually play to my handicap, best score I've ever had off 19 was 38, but probably average 30 tbh.

JuJuYNWA

I got my handicap of 13.5 this morning, happy enough because i know i can play to that.

Just back in from playing the Monty at Carton and had 33 points. Had a birdie on the last (after i went for it in two :-)) so happy days at the mo!!