Slievenamon Golf Course

chipsdave

anyone played there ? .They appear to have a very cheap membership offer. was looking to change away from my own overpriced club and pay green fees as I go then .Any advice on other Clubs doing offers would appreciated too so long as I get My GUI Membership ,thks.

dinnyman

Please don't make baby Jesus cry..

WHIP IT!

chipsdave wrote: »

anyone played there ? .They appear to have a very cheap membership offer. was looking to change away from my own overpriced club and pay green fees as I go then .Any advice on other Clubs doing offers would appreciated too so long as I get My GUI Membership ,thks.

There's a good few threads about it and courses like it if ya do a search. Some people get all "think of the children" when a 'Distance Membership' course is mentioned. For me, as with all things in golf, as long as your honest with ur HC etc then fire away and don't be worried about begrudgers who think you're beneath them because ur GUI card says "Slievenamon GC" and not "Random Pomous 50k for Membership GC"

f22

I have no problems with distance membership but Slievenamon in particular has a terrible reputation.

chipsdave

thks for replies ,so its called " DISTANCE" membership and certain people look down their noses at it..WOW ...prob the same people who cuddled up at the bar counter in the so called "Celtic Tiger" and became property "Developers" overnight !!

chipsdave

sorry that should be "would-be " Property Developers ,bunch of muppets.....

f22

Not really, it's not a snobbery or money thing, it comes down to the dishonesty of certain individuals gaining inflated handicaps from clubs they've never even seen and plundering prizes all over the country!

Simples!

kinvara64

I am a member 2 years,form cork also. Nice people, just play 3 rounds or transfer handicap, and away you go . Just send back your competition cards and they will keep it updated. Was a member of a waterford club for 4 years previously ( also nice folk) but finances won out. you will get strange looks signing in at some of the old boys clubs !! but the same clubs never got used to the fact that working people had even discovered golf in the good times !! ps. Ring of Kerry ars doing 215 membership , but 3 people have to join !

heavyballs

kinvara64 wrote: »

I am a member 2 years,form cork also. Nice people, just play 3 rounds or transfer handicap, and away you go . Just send back your competition cards and they will keep it updated. Was a member of a waterford club for 4 years previously ( also nice folk) but finances won out. you will get strange looks signing in at some of the old boys clubs !! but the same clubs never got used to the fact that working people had even discovered golf in the good times !! ps. Ring of Kerry ars doing 215 membership , but 3 people have to join !

you're right and i'm in the same boat as yourself,received my hcp as a proper member so just transferred
what annoys me is people don't realize that Dis Members don't have the facility of at least 1 or maybe 2 singles comps every week
it's the usual suspects who always seem to turn up on their respective club team each year only to shoot the lights out every time
we as distance members are only there to take the glare off the real bandits..............oh schit i've opened that can again,sorry guys



and girls (feck you Andy Gray)

ShriekingSheet

Pretty ignorant of the issue to bring snobbery and money into it. There's a reputation based on fact. Open Singles and fourball comps results sheets have been showing more and more ridiculous scores by Slieve Namon players in particular.

Eg: a local club to me had an open a while back and had about 100 people playing. The top ten were between 36pts and a the best members score who finished second with 40pts. The winner was a visitor from SN with 46pts.

As a stand-alone example, these things can happen, and are part of the game. But it's not stand alone. It's the same club, happening regularly in Dublin opens.

I'm with Whip It, as I've said before, distance members can keep legit h'caps very easily by declaring all scoresn playing the odd singles in the home club etc. Some just aren't doing that, and have created this reputation.

In shyte times like these, distance membership is a deadly way to get people into golf without high fees. But the fact is, the system is being abused by some and ruining it for others. I reckon GUI will sort it with some simple regulations and we'll all be happy.

You spanners above with the "think of the children" and "baby jesus" comments can basically go f*ck yourselves. Sure yisser only knackers & bandits that wouldn't be let into a proper fee paying golf club anyway

chipsdave

thanks for helpful replies folks esp Kinvara ,on the handicap issue I would say this fiddling of handicaps is just or maybe even more prevalent in home clubs ,how often have We seen a fellow player with 37pts after 16 holes and contrive to end up with 38 ? how often have we heard players brag about the .1 they got back in the bar afterwards ??..Me personally I could not care less if the prize is Mrs Murphys the local lingerie shop or the Captains Prize I will play to the best of My ability every day, the issue here really is the low cost membership.

flopshot

chipsdave wrote: »

Any advice on other Clubs doing offers would appreciated too so long as I get My GUI Membership ,thks.

Blessington Lakes Golf Club are offering a similar deal to Slievenamon. €150 for membership to include GUI handicap and subscription. Join now and become a member until February 2013. This is the cheapest golf club membership I have heard to so close to Dublin although I have heard there is a similar deal in a club in Kilkenny for the same price.


I suppose it's down to the individual to be honest about how they use their handicap, if an individual shoots 46pts then the handicap system will cut them accordingly.

stringy

It should be stripped of it's GUI affiliation. It's a joke the way it carries on. Open Singles Comps in Dublin clubs are being ruined, and the competitiveness is being taken away from the competitions. There's a couple of Slievenamon members who play weekly in my club, and win the comp or are in the prizes on a regular basis. The poor guys look embarrassed at this stage. I understand the cost issue but this needs to be regulated - it's getting absurd.

shamco

The GUI are totally ignoring the issue and not acknowledging the problem.
Slievenamon is not only club either.

Trampas

stringy wrote: »

It should be stripped of it's GUI affiliation. It's a joke the way it carries on. Open Singles Comps in Dublin clubs are being ruined, and the competitiveness is being taken away from the competitions. There's a couple of Slievenamon members who play weekly in my club, and win the comp or are in the prizes on a regular basis. The poor guys look embarrassed at this stage. I understand the cost issue but this needs to be regulated - it's getting absurd.

As long as he is playing the min number of rounds in their club not much you can do. I presume the cards are going back to the club so they get cut appropriately

stringy

yes, the cards are going back but it seems to make very little difference. It appears that Slievenamon are happy to take the money, and do very little afterwards. It kind of reminds me of cheap online university/colleges that hand out degrees once you pay the money. They don't think about the consequences of having unqualified people wandering around with questionable qualifications.

peepee

yes, the cards are going back but it seems to make very little difference.

Are ye not submitting scores electronically? If its on the system they will be cut.

peepee

Blaming distance membership clubs is not the solution.

I played in a four man team event over the weekend and one of the guys I played with said lots of guys in his club (Not Slievenamon!) are 'minding' their handicaps to win big team events.

I am a distance member and have been cut every time I played well. If your score isn't returned by the club you played the open in thats a problem for sure.

alxmorgan

peepee wrote: »

Blaming distance membership clubs is not the solution.

I played in a four man team event over the weekend and one of the guys I played with said lots of guys in his club (Not Slievenamon!) are 'minding' their handicaps to win big team events.

I am a distance member and have been cut every time I played well. If your score isn't returned by the club you played the open in thats a problem for sure.

This is what I don't understand - if you play an open and play well you get cut - how can you fiddle the system regardless of being a member of Slievenamon ?

mike12

The real problem is with distance membership is that guys are not playing regularly in a club. My first handicap was 18 down to 8 now but almost all of my cuts came in comps in my own club if i had distance membership and was playing a lot of team opens and odd single events here and there i would still be off near 18 but able to play 10 or 11.
I think the GUI need to include all comps you play in on your record to help catch those that have received a handicap and don't play single events. As far as i am aware you don't have to play in the Club u joined ever again to keep a current handicap it should be 5/6 comps a year you have to play in your own club to keep the handicap current.
Mike

dixiefly

Considering that there is already a comprehensive system in place for tracking golf handicaps (Golfnet) solving this issue is relatively straightforward in my opinion.

The host club of the open etc should be provided with a facility to record the results / winners of any competition against a players GUI number. These records can be held and a straightforward analysis will identify whether players from a particular club are playing above the norm in open competitions. Also this information can be used by the clubs in reviewing handicaps. If a club is not reviewing players handicaps appropriately then their facility for providing GUI membership can be taken away.

In addition to the above, the rules for getting handicaps should be consistent across the country. Some clubs will give a new handicap at max 18 while others will give up to 22 or maybe more. There is a lot of .1's to get from 18 to 22!

alxmorgan

mike12 wrote: »

The real problem is with distance membership is that guys are not playing regularly in a club. My first handicap was 18 down to 8 now but almost all of my cuts came in comps in my own club if i had distance membership and was playing a lot of team opens and odd single events here and there i would still be off near 18 but able to play 10 or 11.
I think the GUI need to include all comps you play in on your record to help catch those that have received a handicap and don't play single events. As far as i am aware you don't have to play in the Club u joined ever again to keep a current handicap it should be 5/6 comps a year you have to play in your own club to keep the handicap current.
Mike

Fair enough. So the issue is people get a handicap from Slievenamon cause its cheap and then play team events only in terms of competitions so effectively their handicap never moves despite how good they get ?
And its more prevalent in a place like there as if you play full membership in a club you're doing it usually to play in comps etc. you reckon ?

bailey99

I wouldn't take membership in Slievenamon if it was free let alone €180.

The repuation the place has is atrocious. Everyone is branded with the same brush, bandits, cheats whatever you wanna call themselves.

The club just take the money, knowing that these people will never actually visit or play the course. The club obviously doesn't want to do anything that may jeopardised themselves getting the money so they have no interest in policing or ensuring members handicaps are accurate.

The amount of team of gour competitions or fourball tournaments won with members from Slievenamon is a joke. Fair play to Nenagh GC who decided to put up a list of clubs in their office, listing the clubs whose members were permitted to enter their open competitions. Slievenamon GC was omitted from the list and thus there members are not entitled to play in Nenagh GC Open Competitions.

It's upto other clubs to follow suit and the only way they will do this is by contacting your club to complain about the fact that Slievenamon members are winning open competitions in your club and unles something is done about it, that you will stop entering such competitions. When it affects the clubs income they will do something about it, otherwise, they don't care who wins as long as they get sufficient entries to warrant holding the competition.

stringy

My issue is that I cannot seem to figure out why Slievenamon members in particular (and there seems to be a common consensus and evidence to suggest this) continue to win and place well in open competitions, despite the fact that scores are collated on golfnet and cards returned to the club.

I understand people pay for distance membership in order to get a GUI and play in more locally convenient open competitions (people have their own opinions on the validity of this). I have no issue per se in distance membership. However I do have issue with the blatant disregard for maintaining honest and justifiable handicaps that appears to be commonplace at the moment.

People minding handicaps was and is a cancer among most clubs, even before the recent "Slievenamon" disease, again that's another debate.

peepee

Fair enough. So the issue is people get a handicap from Slievenamon cause its cheap and then play team events only in terms of competitions so effectively their handicap never moves despite how good they get ?

Playing team events only is not limited to distance members - as I mentioned full members of other clubs are doing this. And at the same time me and 2 of my friends - all with distance memberships - have played in over 20 open singles this year alone.

Stopping distance memberships will only reduce the number of people playing golf - it will not stop those who want to 'manage' their handicaps. I agree something has to be done about team events but I can't see a problem with open singles. You win you get cut.

mike12

If you are playing single events and clubs are returning everthing thru golfnet then there is no problem your handicap will come down to close to where it should be. A distance club have no real interest in your ability and you never play there so no cuts coming from obserevation. Nothing to stop me letting my membership lapse getting a distance membership with a 18 handicap and win all around me playing team comps.
Mike

Russman

Is it the same people from Sievenamon winning consistently though ? or is it a case that their membership is so big that thats how they have so many winners ?
If x number of golfers from, say, more expensive Dublin clubs have transferred down, it makes sense that they would have more than their fair share of winners, no ? Chances are if someone is a member there, they are an active golfer and only play in opens - with the numbers Slievenamon have its to be expected they'll win quite a bit, plus playing different courses makes you a better golfer anyway.

The cheap distance membership certainly suits an awful lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be able to play golf so I think thats a good thing, and wouldn't get too worked up over a few prizes in team events TBH. If the winners weren't from SnaM they'd be from somewhere else and we'd probably have the same debate about that club too

If only there was a way of having a competition that nobody actually won...........:D



BTW I have no affiliation or connection with Slievenamon, they may well deserve the reputation or they may not, I haven't a clue one way or the other.

link_2007

Off topic but what is the course like at Sievenamon?

ernieprice

If there are problems with handicaps from this club then the onus is on the GUI to intervene and sort it out.

sodbuster77

link_2007 wrote: »

Off topic but what is the course like at Sievenamon?

Sh!te.

Brodick

I joined Slievenamon last year because it was cheap and the cost of joining a club near Dublin was, and to some extent, still is extortionate.

I've just taken up the game after 20+ years. Having bought clubs, electric trolley etc I couldn't drain my family's resourses of thousands of euros joining a club where I didn't know anyone and where I didn't know if I would feel welcome. Since getting my handicap earlier this year I've played in a number of Opens at different clubs and have met many fine people who I now regard as my friends.

Slievenamon has been brilliant for me, giving me access to this wonderful world of golf in Ireland. If I had paid out thousands of euros joining a club I would probably not have felt able to play the likes of Powerscourt (East & West) twice each, Druids Glen 4 times, Carton House, Elm Park, Galway Bay, Glen of the Downs, Woodbrook, Moyvalley, Dunmurray Springs, Castlewarden, Tulfarris, not to mention Blainroe, Bray and Wicklow, who have all been particularly welcoming.

I understand resentment about "bandits" but please don't paint us all with the same brush. Anyone who has played with me knows I need all of my 24 shots.There is a problem there which needs to be addressed but don't shoot the messenger.

My 31 games of golf since March have cost me €855 plus my Slievenamon subscription.

Rather than castigate Slievenamon the question should be "why aren't there more places like Slievenamon bringing new golfers on to the market?"

I will join a club shortly, I hope, but at least I'll know which to join and why, thanks to places like Slievenamon.

Regards.

Mizuno Man

Brodick wrote: »

I joined Slievenamon last year because it was cheap and the cost of joining a club near Dublin was, and to some extent, still is extortionate.

I've just taken up the game after 20+ years. Having bought clubs, electric trolley etc I couldn't drain my family's resourses of thousands of euros joining a club where I didn't know anyone and where I didn't know if I would feel welcome. Since getting my handicap earlier this year I've played in a number of Opens at different clubs and have met many fine people who I now regard as my friends.

Slievenamon has been brilliant for me, giving me access to this wonderful world of golf in Ireland. If I had paid out thousands of euros joining a club I would probably not have felt able to play the likes of Powerscourt (East & West) twice each, Druids Glen 4 times, Carton House, Elm Park, Galway Bay, Glen of the Downs, Woodbrook, Moyvalley, Dunmurray Springs, Castlewarden, Tulfarris, not to mention Blainroe, Bray and Wicklow, who have all been particularly welcoming.

I understand resentment about "bandits" but please don't paint us all with the same brush. Anyone who has played with me knows I need all of my 24 shots.There is a problem there which needs to be addressed but don't shoot the messenger.

My 31 games of golf since March have cost me €855 plus my Slievenamon subscription.

Rather than castigate Slievenamon the question should be "why aren't there more places like Slievenamon bringing new golfers on to the market?"

I will join a club shortly, I hope, but at least I'll know which to join and why, thanks to places like Slievenamon.

Regards.

Of course it is unfair to brand people with the same brush. I am sure there are many like yourself who are honest golfers simply looking for a route into the game and the ability to have a handicap to let you play in opens. I wish you well and hope you are having fun!

However, what does bug me about Slievenamon is just that people are attracted to it simply because it is ridiculously cheap. I've highlighted some parts of your post because they are similar to what you always hear from any distance member, when, in fact, membership is as affordable as ever now, and there have always been cheap options available in Dublin if you actually wanted them, even in the past. Corballis & Elm Green spring to mind and you will never ever have thousands of euro involved there.

To some extent all you have done, albeit without malice or intent, is to play your part in further weakening the standing of proper clubs which cater for actual members and take an actuive role (of course not all do it well) in administering all aspects of handicaps and club business in a way that Slievenamon can never, and will never do. Although you are of course paying fees where you play, but I hope you see my point.

The idea that cheap membership was not or is not available anywhere else, is unfortunately just not accurate at all.

Personally, I think the GUI should declare that distance membership only be avaible to those who are not resident in the country.

JD Dublin

Mizuno Man - can I ask did you pay extortionate Hello Money also known as Entry Fees to get into a club in Dublin? Or did you have to wait for years to get into a long established club?

I have no problem with the level of yearly fees clubs are looking, for but asking someone for thousands up front for entry fees is a little ridiculous. The market has moved on, and there are many genuine golfers who just do not have the funds or are not prepared to put up with the hardship of shelling out thousands to pursue their hobby.

I take your point about the cheap options. I have played in Stepaside and Leopardstown and they are not quality golf courses, so they are not comparable to proper golf courses.

callaway92

will people f**k off calling Slievenamon shít.. its only 10 years old.. (Member of Cahir here)

also, it is a lot lot tougher than people care to admit

Mizuno Man

JD Dublin wrote: »

Mizuno Man - can I ask did you pay extortionate Hello Money also known as Entry Fees to get into a club in Dublin? Or did you have to wait for years to get into a long established club?

I have no problem with the level of yearly fees clubs are looking, for but asking someone for thousands up front for entry fees is a little ridiculous. The market has moved on, and there are many genuine golfers who just do not have the funds or are not prepared to put up with the hardship of shelling out thousands to pursue their hobby.

I take your point about the cheap options. I have played in Stepaside and Leopardstown and they are not quality golf courses, so they are not comparable to proper golf courses.

I joined a place 5 years ago. No entry fee. Subs have come down of course since then but average over the period has been about 750 per annum for 7 days.

Lots of clubs had and have 5 day memberships too. If people join places like Slievenamon but never play it other than for the initial handicap award, it seems a shame they don't consider these other options either....

touts

Sorry lads but it strikes me that the problem is not Slivenamon but the gangsters opting to in effect lie about their real handicap in order to cheat and win some poxy piece of crystal. It's no different to marking the card wrong. Once a team of 3 or 4 lads turn up for an open or a classic and head out on the course you are relying on them returning an accurate card. It would be very easy to win many opens/classics. Just knock 10 or 12 shots off your score. Who is to know? If that makes them feel good about themselves then fair enough. So you can't blame the club it is the dubious character of the individual that is to blame.

If you want ordinary working people to be able to play golf then you need to have clubs offering cheap membership. If you join your local club you will be lucky to have change from €1000 (far far more in some areas) by the time everything is finished and these days that is way beyond most people's budget. Therefore I'm not a member of any club. Back in the days of the Celtic Tiger I was a member of a club in Limerick but in recent years I simply could not afford it any more even though I still have a job. There is a golf society at work and I play with them and in between I play with some mates. I have not signed up to any distance memberships but they are tempting as I have turned up to some courses willing to pay green fees only to be told no current GUI handicap no play. That's insane.

Golf needs to radically change how it does things. Just look at the number of courses that have closed or are in financial trouble and may go under in the next year or two. They need to find ways of getting more people through the gates. Blocking people from courses like Slivenamon is not an option.

Maybe Slivenamon needs to be more picky about who they let join but if they did that then some other club would just step in and take the cash. So the solution lies with the GUI. They have to insist that ALL competition scores (open and home club) get entered into the database. It doesn't matter if you are playing for a €10 Dunnes Voucher in your Clubs Thursday Morning Christmas competition or a €200 Crystal bowl in an open in a top club. Wherever you compete your score gets recorded. If you don't want your score recorded you can't compete it's as simple as that.

Aesop

Is people problem with Slievenamon that :-

A) It is issuing handicaps that are too high and becoming a safe haven for bandits.
Offers yellow pack golf and is putting other "proper" clubs under financial pressure

If it's (A), surely that is easily tackled by the GUI. Increase the number of rounds required per year in your home club to maintain a valid handicap. You could say those with distance membership are not allowed to compete for prizes but are welcome to enter opens. There are any number of options to fix this which makes me think this is not the core of the issue.

If it's (B) then IMO tough that's economics. If clubs can't compete for members effectively then they should go under. Slievenamon saw an opportunity and took it. Fair play to them. Ironic that clubs who are happy to offer open competitions to boost their finances want anything but an open competition when it comes to competing for members hard earned money.

Speak Now

flopshot wrote: »

Blessington Lakes Golf Club are offering a similar deal to Slievenamon. €150 for membership to include GUI handicap and subscription. Join now and become a member until February 2013. This is the cheapest golf club membership I have heard to so close to Dublin although I have heard there is a similar deal in a club in Kilkenny for the same price.


I suppose it's down to the individual to be honest about how they use their handicap, if an individual shoots 46pts then the handicap system will cut them accordingly.

Mountain view.

JD Dublin

Mizuno Man wrote: »

I joined a place 5 years ago. No entry fee. Subs have come down of course since then but average over the period has been about 750 per annum for 7 days.

Lots of clubs had and have 5 day memberships too. If people join places like Slievenamon but never play it other than for the initial handicap award, it seems a shame they don't consider these other options either....

All the courses within a few miles drive of me are looking for entry fees. And you are correct there are other options for people to get out and play golf.

It is a shame that people don't consider other options apart from registering as a distance member of a faraway club, but needs must and all that.

mike12

Distance Membership was orgionally designed for people that were members of another club or were from a area but living away. There are cheap options around Dublin and always have been where u can play a lot of golf for less than a 1000 quid a year.

davidrafferty

3 relevant points:

Firstly, the GUI alone is not responsible for the handicapping system. The body responsible for developing and maintaining the Golf Handicapping System for GB & Ireland is The Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU).
The CONGU Board of Directors comprises golf handicapping experts from all the Golf Unions and Associations that administer golf in Great Britain and Ireland.
CONGU assists and supports Irish & British golfing unions, and their Affiliated Clubs, in administering golf handicaps on a day-to-day basis.
Aside from changes prompted from within CONGU itself, other proposals to change the handicapping system have to be proposed, seconded and carried by clubs at their Provincial GUI AGM. Then it has to go to the national AGM and finally to CONGU- not a quick process that can be remedied by a few posts on boards.ie.

Secondly, I’d agree that clubs need to be more customer-focussed and give better value for money – starting with more reasonable prices. A survey conducted by KPMG about 4 years ago showed that Spain had the worst managed golf clubs in Europe – followed closely by Ireland.
The good news is that change is slowly happening and, after 3 years of recession, the pace of change will speed up even more in 2012. The clubs that adapt to the new economic reality will survive, those that don’t – well, they don’t want the business and good luck to them.

Thirdly, there’s great value out there for club membership right now and membership in your local club could be just as cheap as distance or pay & play options – so shop around ... see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056422136&page=2

touts

mike12 wrote: »

Distance Membership was orgionally designed for people that were members of another club or were from a area but living away. There are cheap options around Dublin and always have been where u can play a lot of golf for less than a 1000 quid a year.

It's very rare to see "Cheap" and "1000 quid" in the same sentence any more these days.

For most people that is not cheap. That's why golf is struggling and where clubs like Slivenamon are cashing in. Now I realise that golf courses are expensive to maintain so now the wider golfing community have some difficult choices to make. Do they keep fees high and allow the unviable courses to go to the wall to weed out the lower classes and return Golf to it's elite roots. Or do they find a way to reinvent themselves and maintain membership levels. Maybe the way Slivenamon (and others) are doing it is not the best way forward for Golf but someone (I suggest the GUI) needs to put up an alternative. Exclusive & Expensive or Inclusive and innovative. That's the choice facing Golf in Ireland.

stringy

I've been thinking about this and this occurs to me:

Slievenamon are not selling membership, they're selling a GUI handicap for 150 euro. So essentially they're cashing in on the system of obtaining handicaps to the detriment of GUI/CONGU who really as operators are the owners of handicaps.

Perhaps the solution is this, that the GUI start offering handicaps for 150 euro per year, where a a golfer must submit to them three cards signed by a GUI member. Then Slievenamon stop taking advantage of the "distance membership" idea. And on that point, distance membership perhaps should be confined to those who are already members of a club but wish to be a member of a second club for reasons such as their family home club, or their holiday club.

It's a sorry state of affairs for Slievenamon to be the brunt of much ill will but, the nuances between them "cashing in", "greed" and "exploitation" is very minor.

Aesop

stringy wrote: »

Perhaps the solution is this, that the GUI start offering handicaps for 150 euro per year, where a a golfer must submit to them three cards signed by a GUI member.

Will never happen. The GUI handicapping system is one of the great cash cows for Irish golf clubs. If the GUI did that club memberships would take a huge hit and would probably be the final straw for a lot of clubs already struggling. Turkey's voting for Xmas comes to mind.

touts

stringy wrote: »

I've been thinking about this and this occurs to me:

Slievenamon are not selling membership, they're selling a GUI handicap for 150 euro. So essentially they're cashing in on the system of obtaining handicaps to the detriment of GUI/CONGU who really as operators are the owners of handicaps.

Perhaps the solution is this, that the GUI start offering handicaps for 150 euro per year, where a a golfer must submit to them three cards signed by a GUI member. Then Slievenamon stop taking advantage of the "distance membership" idea. And on that point, distance membership perhaps should be confined to those who are already members of a club but wish to be a member of a second club for reasons such as their family home club, or their holiday club.

It's a sorry state of affairs for Slievenamon to be the brunt of much ill will but, the nuances between them "cashing in", "greed" and "exploitation" is very minor.

Good suggestion other than the part in bold. Seperate out the GUI handicap and the club membership. Leave it up to people to decide to join or not join a club depending on the amount of golf they play. But they can have a GUI membership and handicap which they HAVE to produce at every course they play so their score can be recorded and handicap adjusted. But the part in bold is the problem. It doesn't solve the problem and clubs will still offer cheap distance membership (possibly called something else) just to allow people into the golf clique and get the perks of club membership.

GEM_13

Aesop wrote: »

Will never happen. The GUI handicapping system is one of the great cash cows for Irish golf clubs. If the GUI did that club memberships would take a huge hit and would probably be the final straw for a lot of clubs already struggling. Turkey's voting for Xmas comes to mind.

I agree that that paying the GUI 150 euro for a handicap is unlikely to happen for the above reason.Some people i know are paying their subs and might use the course 10 times in a year.Others might play 2 or 3 times a week and get value for their money.If a person plays that regularly, then it is worthwhile for them to join a club.

Maybe the 150 could be paid to the club which is most local to the golfer(going by address) and stipulate that the golfer also has to play in x amount of opens at that course as a visitor i.e at visitor rates.

That way,everybody gets a slice of the action- there is a steady flow of income for the club that provides the handicap and the golfer is free to play opens at courses other than the one that provided his handicap which is a source of income for those clubs.

frost53

The GUI get €15 or so levy from every club member. Slievenamon has 1000+ "distance" members, so the GUI don't care about unregulated handicaps. Once they get their money, off you go. How many times have these homeless golfers actually played there this year?
Some years ago, Boyle GC was the Slievenamon of it's day with a huge distance membership. Boyle was suspended from all GUI comps. for 2 years because they were giving out handicaps through the post without any cards being returned.
For their own sake, Slievenamon should take note of all the bad press going their way

k.p.h

I think everyone who is complaining about Slievenamon GC is way off the mark..!! They are doing nothing wrong as a club, they operate within the rules 100% and provide a service to the game of golf by making it accessable to everyone with very reasonable membership subs. The responability of keeping a fair H/C is up to the player, according to some other threads it is rife everywhere.

Essentially blaming the club is the easy way out, because it is not the club it's the players.

I also suspect some people are a little sour over the fact that they get ripped off with their own membership subs. Just because you pay 1500 a year on a sub it dose not entitle you play better than someone who payed 150e.

Also 1000+ distance members, hence lots of Slievenamon players turning up all over the country in various competitions. It dose not automatically mean that they are playing off bad H/C's what is also likely is that because their is a huge amount of them spread over the country you will obviously see them more often.

Also if someone's H/C is a little off because they do not play enough compitions, whats the fix.? You are not allowed play unless you play X amount.? I don't think thats a soloution, the game should be accessable to everyone who wants play as little or as often as they like.

As was in the cheating thread people are not acounting for the figures, when you do the maths what some people call cheating actually turns out to be a standard distribution of results.

Tin_Cup

Might be an idea if all clubs where to offer the "GUI ONLY" membership category. Help raise a few quid for the club. Possibly the club could offer a €10 discount on Visitor Rates when playing at "home"??

Russman

k.p.h wrote: »

I think everyone who is complaining about Slievenamon GC is way off the mark..!! They are doing nothing wrong as a club, they operate within the rules 100% and provide a service to the game of golf by making it accessable to everyone with very reasonable membership subs. The responability of keeping a fair H/C is up to the player, according to some other threads it is rife everywhere.

Essentially blaming the club is the easy way out, because it is not the club it's the players.

I also suspect some people are a little sour over the fact that they get ripped off with their own membership subs. Just because you pay 1500 a year on a sub it dose not entitle you play better than someone who payed 150e.

Also 1000+ distance members, hence lots of Slievenamon players turning up all over the country in various competitions. It dose not automatically mean that they are playing off bad H/C's what is also likely is that because their is a huge amount of them spread over the country you will obviously see them more often.

Also if someone's H/C is a little off because they do not play enough compitions, whats the fix.? You are not allowed play unless you play X amount.? I don't think thats a soloution, the game should be accessable to everyone who wants play as little or as often as they like.

As was in the cheating thread people are not acounting for the figures, when you do the maths what some people call cheating actually turns out to be a standard distribution of results.

+1

airguitar

Slievenamon is getting some fantastic publicity here, fair play!