Best round in 3 years, 2nd to a net 58

I've been at my course for over 3 years now and have just hit my best score, 78 for 68, i was very pleased and very confident that i had won, just got the results through and i came 2nd to a net 58, maybe a handicap review needed

One word... Bandit!!

(not you Alan - a great round, honest round from you). net 58 is just rediculous...

Wasn't even sure a 58 was legal, he's been cut to 22

Thats why my club runs 2 divisons - 0-15 & 16+

High handicapers can have a half decent that would be impossible for a single figure golfer to match such as your example, so running 2 divisions keeps everyone competitive

Certainly something to suggest

Well done alan an honest great round. What was the other bloke playing off and what did he score. 14 shots under handicap, A joke. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

28 down to 22, god knows who gave him the handicap or what the 3 cards were like that he put in

Yes, something not quite right with the initial 3 cards it seems. Trouble is, he has been cut 6 which, if he plays the same again next time will still leave him 8 under!!

I'm sure the whole club are talking about him and will be watching him very closely.

Most clubs I know of run 2 if not 3 divisions - gives me something to aim for as well, would love to get to div 1.

BTW, what's going on with your GS handicap Alan? I see you were 9.7 just after midday, went down to 9.4 by about 4:00 then back up to 9.7 at 8:00!!! :-)

Congrats on your round regardless Alan. After three years it must be a good feeling to post your best score.

Indeed it is adam, paul, maybe the powers that be here have reacted to my round, needless to say but it's fine with me

Alun,

It's gutting to play one of your best rounds & you find out a bandit has beat you. They should be banned from future comps!

great scoring

i'm a high handicapper but improving. official hc now 18 exact started the season on 21.6, i play in every competition i'm avaliable to enter. scored 38 pts on saturday from the comp tees, got me down to 18, played a friendly on sunday from the general tees and after three putting on the 18th walked of with a gross 80 (+8), just had one of those rounds, never in trouble,

Does that mean my handicap is wrong?

I'm sure at next weeks medal I'll be struggling to break 90 and play to hc. I'll be trying to get lower, but I can't find the consistency needed to play well every week

Just my opinion but !! Maximum handicap should be 18. One shot a hole is all that any able bodied adult NEEDS. Only practice is needed to play to it.

The 3 card handicap system is open to abuse and is by no means a accurate guarantee of a players ability.

Therefore my club has a rule that in the first 6 months of joining/getting a CONGU etc you have to play in 6 monthly medals or stablefords - prize money comps. You can enter a board comp but if you win you do not get your name up on the club winners board unless you have met the 6month qualification.

Kinda gives a bit of time for your handicap to level out and is fair to everyone.

For me I joined my club in Feb this year so I am still in the 6 month period and my club handicap has dropped from 18 to 12. I have won a monthly medal and I am well chuffed with that and from Aug I can win a board comp and get my name up in lights :-)

Anyhow back to your post Alan, vwd for the net 68!!! My best is a net 64 so it is possible to shoot lower, but net 58 is just rude!!!

Nice one Adrian!!

Having got below 18 in the last 12 months I'll agree with you on that one.

Bandits are the worst !

Update For some reason i have been declared the winner and the previous winner has gone altogether from the results table, not even in the NR or DQ'd list, i can't find anything out just yet but obviously something wasn't right, my new official h/cap is 6.5

Great!! Nice one Alan.

Your club handicap secretary must read the GolfShake forums and gave the bandit what he deserved.

It is strange how he has just disappeared from your results list though. Even if he was DQ I would expect it to be listed along with why he was DQ'd.

Well done...

Alan,

Things seem to be in the twilight zone at your club. Being pulled from 10 to 7 is weird. Even with an actual Hcp of 9.7 (10) to start with, that is a drop of 3.2 or 16 shots better than CSS. ???????????

david, before i read your post i had just emailed the course owner (there isn't an official committee in place), to ask on what grounds the 2 shots for general play were taken for, i'll await the reply, i am more than happy for my 1 shot reduction but feel that 2 more shots is harsh, in 3 years at the club i have previous to this won only 1 weekend comp, i have recently won an invitation as a betterball team (which the owner congratulated me on) and i have won the first round of a pairs betterball at my club, other than that, not much else this year at all.

Adrian, not sure about your attitude toward new golfers - participation is falling as it is, your solution would probably kill the game in 5 years. I'm new to the game and played my first round in March 2012 and scored 130 - I worked hard over 12 months to get myself to 26 where I am now - my best score in a comp is a two over 99 (73) and I came third in my clubs division 3 - I had incentives all the way to get to my level and much more incentive to continue improve.

A maximum handicap of 18 would have me still 6-8 shots off being competitive at any level - not sure I'd have the patience to wait another year or two for that to happen.

There are bandit's around, but they are quickly outed and can't get a way with it for long - don't tar us all with the same brush.

I say well done to the chap who shot 58, he obviously had a good score in him and a few more will see a reduction in handicap. If someone puts in hard work, makes an improvement and does well in a comp, surely this is success not banditry. Now if he hasn't submitted a card in 11 months and then enters a comp, that's another matter entirely!

Greg,

The older members on here remember when 24 was the max hcp, but courses were mostly between 5500 and 6000yds. As the courses got lengthened and 7000yds became 'the norm' hcp's went up to the present day 28 but equipment also evolved and Golf levelled out.

There will always be someone who "shoots the lights out" and it is usually in Div3 (Cat4\5 players) who do them.

Alan, did you find out why you were given the additional drop ?

Lyth and anyone else interested have you seen the PGA of America 'Tee it forward' intiative ?

Old Barney Adams article - http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/2284/Renaissance_of_Golf_is_he_Barney.html

this is also some of Nick's thoughts on why it musn't get over to Europe! http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/3450/Why_Tee_It_Forward_Mustnt_Spread_Across_the_Atlantic.html

They say i was dropped 1.2 for my score and the further 2 were for previous good scores and form, like i said, other than a pairs first round win and a 4 man invitational there are no other wins to consider, i have appealed and they have 14 days to back up the drop and then i take it to the LGU, they are supposed to have 3 character witnesess of whom 2 don't really carry any weight so i have to await the outcome of the next rushed meeting to see what happens

Hi Alan I understand your appeal against the cut, but you are more than capable of playing to the new handicap of 7 as you have shown with 3 out of your last 4 rounds at Minchinhampton. You even shot a 77 on an track with an SSS of 73. The more you play off the new handicap the quicker you will adjust and raise your game accordingly . Make this the first cut of many this year and really move forward with your game. Embrace the cut and play to the new handicap, because you know that you can.

I'd love to play cat 1 but i can't, i'd like to get there on merit rath than being slashed, i probably don't have long left befor my handicap goes on the slide, i'm not sure of what age this will happen but i aim to make the most of it while i can

as a competition and handicap chairman of my club i come across these circumstances very frequently. under the congu handicapping system individuals who put together a number of rounds under their handicap will be subject to an exceptional score reduction (ESR) this reduction in handicap is generated by the individual club uses (club 2000ect) and is governed by the congu rule this is not something that has been determined outside of congu rule by each club.

can i ask why you think you have grounds to appeal the decision if your club have followed these rules as laid down by congu?

Martin, thats my point, i don't think they have, if you read my posts you'll see i have hit this one and only round under par since i have been at the club, and i have not won anything this year, infact the only other thing i have won was the singles matchplay last year, they have no grounds for the drop and i'm sure the 2 shots will be put back, if i can play to 7 then i'll soon come down of my own accord

Personally, I'd love to be slashed 2 extra shots. I know I'm capable of playing better than my current 14.8 (shiny and new from a cut on Sunday) and asked the club to take into account the 44 points I shot in the season starter and cut me. They refused

The main aim of the amateur golferis to reduce their handicap. I would take it gladly Alan and use it as a motivator to play better. As Tim has said, you have proved you can so they are only trying to put you where you should be

Chris, they should have refused, GP can't be used as either punishment or reward....EGU's words

So you want to keep your handicap higher then allan?

Why havnt you put in the scores from minchinhampton??????

Yellow tees on a short course, hardly the same as my 7000 yd home course, i'm sure of course that everyone on here puts every score from every game they play into their home club, besides i'm certain that the 40+ games i've played on other courses over the last few years would more than cover 2 good games at Minchimhampton, i never put any bad scores in either

Didn't we play off the whites at Minch both years?

it doesnt matter if we did play from the yellows or whites, for that day and competition they were classed as competition tees

now maybe allan has played enough rounds that it doesnt effect his handicap but lets look at a few numbers

minchinhampton 4 rounds 44,44 39 and 33 i believe (im sure someone will correct me) meaning 2x -8 rounds 1x -3 and 1x +3 now assuming the css for the day is = par by definition the 2x -8 rounds would be a deduction of 3.2 the -3 would be 0.6 and 0.1 return on the +3 = a total reduction of 3.7 and as we all know to repair your handicap back to its 10 (9.7) 37 rounds of golf outside your buffer zone is required. we all know this is not outside the realms of possibility but is it probable?????

possibly not

lets also look at golfshake open, i played with you when you won that with 6 handicap (3/4 of 8) since then your handicap has risen by 2 shots, i know its not unreasonable for this to happen but why does it seem that you hit good form when playing in a competition where good prizes are on offer?

coincindence???????

also you won a competition where you got the chance to play with rory mcilroy (i think) was that just a "good day" what was your score to win that prize?

again you won through a golf competition a holiday abroad

now im not saying any of this is unreasonable and congratulations on winning these competitions however do come with a lot of quality opponents and it is a great achievement to finish top. by the way what handicap were you playing off at them and what were your scores?

the words trophy hunter/pot hunter has been branded about when discussions like this have taken place.

you can also see on this forum/website that there are alot of club members who post all their rounds in here and although they dont handicap track all of them ( keeping golfshake handicap current with club handicap) you can see exactly how they have been playing and we all know their handicap is correct and also this stops any confusion and discussions like we had at minchinhampton.

this is in no way a personal attack on alan or anyone else for that matter this is just a reply to someone moaning about a handicap cut when they can and have played to a better standard on numorous occasions.

I can assure you that the number of .1's i would have got back would have countered the drop from minchinhampton, you don't mention that the players behind me were only a point or so off me, no mention of their handicaps being dropped ( yes i know it's me who started this) the rory thing was a pairs stroke play better ball which we had to send our actual cards of to the company "skins" and they looked at it and we got a call, i by no means done that alone, the trip to spain was also a pairs game and between us we were only 3 under par which was the lowest winning pairs score that year, both the golfshake open and the spain win were at wychwood park which is possible my favourite course in the north of England and Minchinhampton is a course that i instantly took to despite scoring only 32 points on the second course the first time we played there, it's typical that if someone has an average knock but almost everyone else plays bad then they're a bandit or trophy hunter (the few trophy's i win never go on display), this is not a dig at Darren in any way, just pointing out my thoughts.

I don't want to get in to a row about golf bandits and the scores at Minchinhampton but let's be clear on one thing. It wasn't an official competition and there is no question of a CONGU handicap being adjusted as a result of it. In my case, I'm very happy about that otherwise I would have gone up 0.2!

With more and more national competitions and tour style events is this then not showing further the flaws with the UK golf handicap system and need to adopt the US/European slope/course rating ?

As mentioned above you could gain your official 12 handicap off a really tough 7000+ yard course. Turning up to a easier 5800 yard course you could potentially rip it up off the 12. Adopting the course handicap style system would see your handicap adjusted inline with the course you are playing.

I'm not sure that just because a course is shorter that you can assume it will play easier.

You've only got to see how the US Open this year destroyed most of the pro's!!!

Obviously I'm generalising and did say easier 5800 yard course

The US/European slope/course rating system takes lots of factors into account and isn't purely based on length.

It must only be a matter of time before the slope method is used

Let's hope so Alan, then maybe you would be playing off a more representative handicap !!!

Time consuming though Alan. Assessors have to be trained and then walk each and every course to allocate the ratings.

3000+ courses in the UK could take some time and money!

If you could do 4 courses per week that would probably take 15-20 people a year to assess and cost £700,000+ who would pay this ?

Darren, when you put it like that....maybe not.

Martin, we can only hope

Darren, at the moment each course is assessed by a (trained) volunteer from the local county golf union to arrive at the course SSS. I believe I am correct in saying these are reviewed every three years. I don't think it would be quite as bad as you think to convert from SSS to slope system.

Notwithstanding the above, personally, I think our SSS works pretty well and see no reason to change. Of course, handicaps can be manipulated but that wouldn't change by introducing the slope system.

My biggest issue with the slope system is, from what I have seen, overseas competitors playing in national events in this country they very rarely play anywhere near their handicaps. Invariably, they are much worse than their handicap would suggest.