Should Gross not get the best prize???

phkk

Played in a competition lately and won a lovely pair of golf shoes,39pts off 17..after seeing what the best gross won (dozen callaway golf balls), I felt slightly embarrassed for the poor guy-he shot one over or something and imo,he should have got the best prize..I was delighted to win but more satisfied at getting cut. After all,isn't the aim to get as low as you can handicap wise?? It bugs me when you have lads watching the handicap,looking for few 0.1's..........we really should be going out to shoot the best score in competitions and not be pulling up at the end of a round????

NDJ4

phkk wrote: »

we really should be going out to shoot the best score in competitions and not be pulling up at the end of a round????

Anyone who purposely pulls up at the end of a round to ensure a 0.1 should be de-balled imo, and I'm not talking about their golf balls.

Having said that though I played a competition on saturday and was on 20 points thru' 10 an playing my best golf ever and i started thinking "hey maybe i can win this!" and then proceeded to scratch the next and 1 pointed each of the next 3. Rallied at the end though and finished up on 33 points which i was delighted with as it was my best score ever. Just raging that i left 5 or 6 easy points behind :mad: will try to banish premature winning thoughts in future!

jimmystars

No. Same 3 or 4 guys would always be picking up the gross prizes anyway. I would like to see a more even spread with different prizes for category 1 , 2 and 3 rather than top 3 points for every comp.
Its rare to see anyone of single figures shoot 43+ points that is generally needed to win comps.f
Fair play for to you your attitude. Nice to see a bit of honesty and not some of the banditry that is all too widespread.

Benicetomonty

Nope, handicaps are supposed to put everyone on a level playing field so to offer the best prize for the best gross essentially makes the competition a professional one or a scratch cup.
More emphasis on class competitions not a bad idea, but when it comes to majors (captains, presidents prize..etc) there is no good alternative to what we have. People will always abuse the system, but believe me, they and everyone else in their club know exactly who they are.

That said, there should always be a reward for shooting the best gross round of the day. We have a gross prize for every singles comp played in our club which is always hotly contested amongst the low boys!

Mister Sifter

Benicetomonty wrote: »

Nope, handicaps are supposed to put everyone on a level playing field so to offer the best prize for the best gross essentially makes the competition a professional one or a scratch cup.
More emphasis on class competitions not a bad idea, but when it comes to majors (captains, presidents prize..etc) there is no good alternative to what we have. People will always abuse the system, but believe me, they and everyone else in their club know exactly who they are.

That said, there should always be a reward for shooting the best gross round of the day. We have a gross prize for every singles comp played in our club which is always hotly contested amongst the low boys!

+1.

The beauty of amateur golf in this country is that there's something for everyone. My experience in the UK was that it was all about the low handicappers, which i think is wrong, considering how few club players that actually accounts for.

Of course there should always be a prize on offer to what is afterall the lowest score shot on the day, but to make gross the be all and end all just eliminates so many people from contention. As someone else said, handicaps level the playing field.

Also, i think every club should have a club championship (either a matchplay or a 36 hole strokeplay event) which is played off scratch.

Kace

In my last club when I was a younger lad there were plenty of disgruntled members due to the fact that my mate used to take home the gross prize 2 weeks out of 3 (it seemed). Gross was basically a competition between about 5 people.

I won a few gross prizes myself when I used to be a more consistent player and it did feel good to have the best score of the day, even if you did only win a dozen new eggs for the achievement.

My current club has never had gross prizes - not sure why as there are plenty of low handicappers.

zztop

1st
2nd & Gross
3rd
in our club.
If they win gross they deserve that 2nd prize equivalent.

useurename

I know a lot of golfers in their fifties who tend to mind their handicaps.i'm playing of 19 and i'd love to get down and down.I know a few golfers who care only about .1s and i can't play with them anymore.they are " cute whoors" of the highest order and they are very frustating to play with.