Golf Societies and handicap reductions question

seanofdbush

I play in a club and am also a member of 2 golf societies (work and local). Playing on Sunday in the club, one of my playing partners mentioned that he had scored 40 pts in a society outing during the week. When I asked him how much he was cut he told me that the society had told him that you don't get cut for society scores any more. I have looked up the GUI and CONGU websites and while there are changes to the handicap system this year, I can't see anything that says that society scores don't count any more.

I would be astonished if he's right about this because it would make no sense to me - but then again, I'm old enough to have been "astonished" many times in the past.:)

Can anyone confirm that society scores still count for handicap reductions?

ShriekingSheet

seanofdbush wrote: »

I play in a club and am also a member of 2 golf societies (work and local). Playing on Sunday in the club, one of my playing partners mentioned that he had scored 40 pts in a society outing during the week. When I asked him how much he was cut he told me that the society had told him that you don't get cut for society scores any more. I have looked up the GUI and CONGU websites and while there are changes to the handicap system this year, I can't see anything that says that society scores don't count any more.

I would be astonished if he's right about this because it would make no sense to me - but then again, I'm old enough to have been "astonished" many times in the past.:)

Can anyone confirm that society scores still count for handicap reductions?

I can't confirm but like yourself, highly, highly doubt that this is no longer the case.

Our h'cap seceratary actually told me that the GUI are actually tightening up in such areas.

While societies rarely calculate CSS, my understanding is that you use the SSS on the card and cut yourself accordingly. Most clubs have an Away Scores sheet on the notice board so you can notify your handicap official but even if you don't have such a sheet you need to inform him.

pistol_75

Hi there,

I was at the GUI AGM last year and there has been a change this year. It was felt to be unfair if someone had one good score out of say 6 or seven society outings and was cut for that. Now your society scores should be reviewed over a period of time and a reduction based on this if required.

seanofdbush

pistol_75 wrote: »

Hi there,

I was at the GUI AGM last year and there has been a change this year. It was felt to be unfair if someone had one good score out of say 6 or seven society outings and was cut for that. Now your society scores should be reviewed over a period of time and a reduction based on this if required.

So how does this work in practice? Does it mean that a club member with a current handicap who exceeds standard scratch in a society outing does not get cut straight away like he would in a normal club competition?

Seems to me like there's huge scope for abuse of this new rule/guideline...

Mister Sifter

Played with a guy at the weekend. Asked him his handicap, he said "16, but 10 in my society".



Bit of a difference there!

Woodgate

For definate that's the new rule. You do not get cut for scores in a society. There is a handicap review at the end of the year where they assess your scores and decide if cuts are required. I agree its open to abuse.

seanofdbush

Graeme1982 wrote: »

Played with a guy at the weekend. Asked him his handicap, he said "16, but 10 in my society".



Bit of a difference there!

I wouldn't be overly concerned about that as most societies want to spread the prizes around and have their own variations on handicap rules. For example, in our work society, you get cut 5 shots for winning an outing and with some outings being won won with 32 or 33 points, there are a few people whose society handicaps are way lower than their GUI.

Whenever any player has a better score than Standard Scratch (off his GUI handicap) in one of our society outings, the handicap secretary in the society always posts the card back to the player's home club. Based on what pistol_75 says, should he no longer do this or is it that the club reviews the society scores over a period of time? I know for a fact that neither of the societies I play with have received any communication from the GUI or anyone else about this issue so my guess is that society scores should still be returned to the player's home club.

A.Partridge

seanofdbush wrote: »

Does it mean that a club member with a current handicap who exceeds standard scratch in a society outing does not get cut straight away like he would in a normal club competition?

Yes. You won't get cut straight away.

I scored 42 points with a society on my home course two weeks ago but my club handicap secretary won't cut me. He will though, take the card into account later in the year and, depending on my other scores could decide to cut me on that basis at that time. He also said that society cards should still be submitted for consideration.

seanofdbush

A.Partridge wrote: »

Yes. You won't get cut straight away.

I scored 42 points with a society on my home course two weeks ago but my club handicap secretary won't cut me. He will though, take the card into account later in the year and, depending on my other scores could decide to cut me on that basis at that time. He also said that society cards should still be submitted for consideration.

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

The Rooster

A.Partridge wrote: »

He also said that society cards should still be submitted for consideration.

But is it not that only society cards better than SSS are returned - or should all cards be returned now?

If all your society cards are worse than SSS, can you be given additional shots - or is it downward review only?

A.Partridge

The Rooster wrote: »

But is it not that only society cards better than SSS are returned - or should all cards be returned now?

If all your society cards are worse than SSS, can you be given additional shots - or is it downward review only?

I got the impression that they want to see all cards. Apparently it helps when the handicapper is doing his end of year review to see ALL cards.

Woodgate

A.Partridge wrote: »

I got the impression that they want to see all cards. Apparently it helps when the handicapper is doing his end of year review to see ALL cards.

No, you won't get your .1's back. They only want the "good" cards.

michaelcoregan8

as far as i remember it used to be up to a handicap secretary to send any scores better than standard scratch for the course played that day to those players clubs.

now the onus is on the player to do same,as far as i know.

handicap reductions can be made/but .1's are not given back

similar if you feature in top 3 positions in a classic you are expected to tell the h'cap sec in your club as 2 times in the one year normally means a cut of some kind, maybe 1 shot or .5

generally guys in societes don't do this so hence all the bandits out there:mad:

NuFlyer

What has been said is true, exceptional scores returned in society play will be considered at year end and adjustments will be made if deemed necessary.

The basic rule of golf is that if you mark a card over a measured course you have to return it for scrutiny. Now, we all know the practicality of that, but the onus is still on us to return our cards. Clause 19 will apply in lieu of CSS or SSS being used as validity of same can't be ascertained.

Society handicaps bear no resemblance to GUI ones, cuts and shots back are different. I'm off 14 GUI and 9 society. I can't play off 9, but relative to other guys, some who play off 32, I bring in competitive scores. Wining scores are usually low 30's.