Using vouchers to pay your golf sub.

sector

Hi, just wondering if anyones club is going to let you use vouchers (internal or GUI) to pay your subs this year? Fantastic move by the GUI imo.

As per Change to use of Prize Vouchers
http://gui.ie/news_detail.asp?id=3241&area=1

I note Grange Castle does already, way to go there.

thoscon

Paid alot of last years subs in rathcore with Gui vouchers .great job

Sandwlch

sector wrote: »

Hi, just wondering if anyones club is going to let you use vouchers (internal or GUI) to pay your subs this year? Fantastic move by the GUI imo.

As per Change to use of Prize Vouchers
http://gui.ie/news_detail.asp?id=3241&area=1

I note Grange Castle does already, way to go there.

What is the change exactly though? We have been paying subs, or part or, in my club by exchanging vouchers for years. Were we wrong. Have we lost our amateur status ???

Dtoffee

I think this is a very bad decision, because it will certainly attract and encourage the magic pencil brigade ......... what better incentive to cheat than to have your subs reduced.

I never knew it existed, but it would explain some of the scores that I see and the regular suspects on the podium.

moycullen14

Bad, bad idea.

Even more valuable than cash for some golfers - for example, I know of a few golfers who are under serious pressure from home to give up membership. You can see the value of having an effectively reduced subscription and the temptation it provides. I have very little faith in honesty on the golf course any more - and this is only going to make things worse. Less focus on the material value of prizes is the way to go.

sector

thoscon: sweet, I think it's a good idea, I would win hundreds each year @ home & often spend it on stuff I don't really need, to be able to reduce my sub by say 500 would be a great help at the end of the year so way to go Rathcore.

Sandwich: You've a forward thinking club anyway! They updated Guidelines to encourage clubs to open up the way that you can spend your winnings/vouchers, in particular most places wouldn't allow your win voucher to be credited to say you bar/restaurant, now it's encouraged (not required though don't think). Ya see it all goes back to one of the restrictions of amateur status was not playing to win money. Dont think your amateur status is affected if your home commitee voted & allowed this in the past so your fine there I would think.

Dtoffee: If someone is cheating then they will anyway for any prizes, we uncovered a cheat in my club last year, only got a suspension for a while, should of been tarred & feathered, high up committee member too, attempts to cover it up were overcome thankfully.

moycullen14: see your point & probably dtoffee's too but we can't be too cynical as it's our leisure time, for example if we're playing comp's we need prizes so it does come down to ppl's honesty. As I go on I do believe you can't trust everyone in a crowd or in this case any club, it's up to the honest/honourable out there or more to the point the marker to make sure correct scores are recorded.

all interesting lads thanks. From my standpoint (as an honest & enthusiastic player) I gotta see it as a big +1 for all us competitors out there!

Dr_Colossus

sector wrote: »

I would win hundreds each year @ home & often spend it on stuff I don't really need, to be able to reduce my sub by say 500 would be a great help at the end of the year...

You win hundreds worth in prizes/vouchers each year, to the value of say 500? Find that hard to believe. Either your handicap must have plummeted from having won all around you or the prizes in your club must be very impressive.

sector

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

You win hundreds worth in prizes/vouchers each year, to the value of say 500? Find that hard to believe. Either your handicap must have plummeted from having won all around you or the prizes in your club must be very impressive.

LOL, open your mind a bit I'm not looking for praise & will resist the reaction to somehow prove it to you. Anyway ye far more really but I prefer to try modesty. So your not left too disbelieving ye i've lost a multiple of my current handicap. Surely you've a few wins eh! over the whole yr, cant be that uncommon.

**OMG just had a quick tally & best not update the figure or I'll get some more stick!

PGA0131911

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

You win hundreds worth in prizes/vouchers each year, to the value of say 500? Find that hard to believe. Either your handicap must have plummeted from having won all around you or the prizes in your club must be very impressive.

Think about it most clubs have at least two competitions a week , gross prize of 40 to 60 euro on average. I think anybody of a low handicap would fancy their chances of winning a gross every week without getting cut very much?????

Dtoffee

PGA0131911 wrote: »

Think about it most clubs have at least two competitions a week , gross prize of 40 to 60 euro on average. I think anybody of a low handicap would fancy their chances of winning a gross every week without getting cut very much?????

I dont know about other clubs, but in my place all we get in winter is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and gross ................ the problem is the gross is shared between 5/6 players, nobody else gets a look in (its actually the same 5/6 all year)

As a result we have over 120 players competing for three prizes at odds of 40/1 for a prize against 6/1 for the gross.

My renewal is due at the end of February and the odds are against me staying.

PGA0131911

Dtoffee wrote: »

I dont know about other clubs, but in my place all we get in winter is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and gross ................ the problem is the gross is shared between 5/6 players, nobody else gets a look in (its actually the same 5/6 all year)

As a result we have over 120 players competing for three prizes at odds of 40/1 for a prize against 6/1 for the gross.

My renewal is due at the end of February and the odds are against me staying.

No problem dude only pointing out to dr colluses that it is possible to win many prizes at all levels, maybe this lad is a low handicapper , dr collusses dont be trying to put people down!

dnjoyce

Dtoffee wrote: »

I dont know about other clubs, but in my place all we get in winter is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and gross ................ the problem is the gross is shared between 5/6 players, nobody else gets a look in (its actually the same 5/6 all year)

As a result we have over 120 players competing for three prizes at odds of 40/1 for a prize against 6/1 for the gross.

My renewal is due at the end of February and the odds are against me staying.

So one of the reasons you are considering not renewing is because your club has a gross prize that is generally shared between 5/6 players. What is stopping other people winning this prize? I'm sure it's not restricted to these 5/6 players, they just happene to be the low handicappers in the club - shame on them.

Dr_Colossus

PGA0131911 wrote: »

No problem dude only pointing out to dr colluses that it is possible to win many prizes at all levels, maybe this lad is a low handicapper , dr collusses dont be trying to put people down!

I'm not trying to put players down at all, just don't think it's the norm to win €500+ in vouchers in any given year. I've won my fair share of prizes this year and greatly reduced my handicap but my prize tally wouldn't be anywhere near €500 unfortunately.

Not too dissimilar to Dtoffee in my club weekend competitions throughout the year only yield one overall winner with a separate prize for 3 playing categories, as such only 4 prizes but the average field of 70 players is quite small. The monetary value of the usual prizes are also quite small however with 1st prize only to the value of €50 and category prizes at €30. It's not only in my club that prize values seem to be quite small as I've won three separate open competitions in three different clubs and the average value of the prizes was less than €60.

Maybe I'm just entering the wrong open competitions and just unfortunate that my club don't have bigger and better prizes but either way anyone winning over €500 in vouchers excluding additional crystal and other such prizes in majors is a serious golfer.

spacecoyote

Have to say I like the idea in principle, but in practice it probably is too open to abuse, especially in non-qualifying, winter conditions competitions.

Already seeing the impact I think in my club, as in the run up to christmas there were guys winning competitions with 39-40 points, now you're seeing 45-46 points coming in every weekend. If someone is not getting cut then why not throw in a massive score, pick up a discount on your membership and then have no handicap cut.

Maybe a tweak to the rules to say that only vouchers won in qualifying competitions are applicable, at least that way, if a cheater wants to take a few quid from someone then they are going to have to take the cut on top of it too?

sector

not a bad suggestion spacecoyte, I suppose the various committee's might want to tag this on as it's got a few benefits like what you said & also reduces the attack surface so to speak (less vouchers to be used to pay off the sub I suppose = more new money in)

Interesting so how it all went this time next year eh!

golfone

In relation to Gross prizes shared out between 5-6 players? Depends on the club but on average at least 10-15 players have a chance, maybe even more. But I believe the best score of the day should always be rewarded, gross score. If golf clubs go ahead with it then it spells lots of trouble for the club professional, whom are dependent on club prizes to get by!!

dublindave27

A very important point of note is the Gui vouchers Must be in date (out of date 6 months after issue) for them to count towards your Annual sub, so It would only really be helpfull to you if you won your voucher later on in the year.. I feel it is a good idea to introduce this option but also will be keeping an eye out for the all of a sudden winners in the future (as I work in a golf club !! ;-) )