Does your club have 'winter' handicaps

Dbu

Hi

now that the 'placing everywhere' season is nearly upon us again, does your club introduce winter handicaps or some sort of variant?

This debate comes up year after year in our club as the same guys seem to be in the prizes week after week during the off season

Our comp sec says Golf Ireland have forbidden him from using a variant or alternative of the WHS, as our club is affiliated

Does your club have something in place ?

coillcam

We've no special handicaps, but you do get a 3x shot penalty within the Turkey comp series if you win. One guy had a gross par return over 15 holes last year off 13 in one of those comps and the HC secretary applied a general play cut of 3 to his WHS index for exceptional scoring. He's kept that lower hc since then.

A few things I can think of for similar faces showing up. The numbers in the comps drop off significantly so it is much easier to win a winter comp. Also, some people are better at using the rules to get an advantage around drops/placing. The forward tees and softer greens also reduce the advantage longer hitters have. There would be a minor but still significant number of retired members that play all year several times per week. The above reasons mean they often nab a voucher each year.

My club used to have a 1 club length everywhere drop last year. This essentially eliminated all unplayable lies and trees. I used that rule badly or forgot about it several times. It was quite common to see people not take advantage of it fully.

phelimb

My club will cut you 1 shot if you win a competition during winter (I guess which means non 18 hole competitions) and also cut you 1 shot if you are in the prizes three times. Handicaps revert back to WHS once we resume full 18 hole competitions (after a review by the handicap committee).

prawnsambo

It really depends on the conditions. Last year we were qualifying for all comps up to Christmas bar one and also one abandoned due to weather. The qualifying comps were either preferred lies on the fairway or both that and lift, clean and replace in the rough. After the new year though, it was mostly non-qualifying up to March.

To answer your question, we run two leagues during the winter and when they're NQ, the winner gets three 'stars', second; two and third; one. Any combination adding up to three 'stars' gives a 1.0 HI cut. These are temporary only for the leagues in question.

RoadRunner

A couple of points regarding regarding winter golf in our place:

1) The leaves are off the trees and ability to get a good lie not under a tree trunk is massive. It means you can swing harder with the drive and deal with the consequences

2) Greens are dartboards for approaches from the rough

3) Forward tee boxes are used.

4) Big one for me, chips close to green are far easier to judge with a lob wedge. In summer you need to calculate where to land the ball. In winter I just need to land the ball 3-4 feet short of the hole and it will stop. Making up and downs far easier.

This means on a long tough par4 where you have a shot you can 1) swing hard and miss the fairway badly, 2) get a good lie, 3) hit up through the trees at the green, even a bad shot may get you to the edge of the green, 4) hit a decent chip, 5) tap in for 3point par having not hit a particularly good shot on the hole. The same poor drive hit in the summer and you're trying your best just to recover back to the fairway for your second shot.

moycullen14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119799007#Comment_119799007

+1 on the chipping. Just goes to show how important being able to get spin on chips around the green.