Golfshake Tour - Regional Events (feedback)

Would welcome your thoughts based on Paul Williams original post /hijack , relevant copy copied below :

Paul Williams >>>
what about each of the regions having an open/masters e.t.c. then the top four/five qualifiers from each region go on to play in the golfshake masters. just an idea, but the more i think about it, the more fun it sounds! thoughts please.

Wayne Santorini >>>
I've passed that idea around for over a year Paul.

The idea being that each regions participant pays extra to cover the cost of the "Finalist's" having the final for free, with sponsorship for prizes and reduced green fee's from the many sponsors the site has.

Depending on how many regions/areas we have depends on how many could qualify, top 3 or 4 for example. 

Could even have three sections like 0-9, 10-18 & 19+ qualifiers

Final could be held in the midlands area as a central point possibly Belfry/Forest of Arden.

There are enough volunteer members around the country to help organise & run this on a yearly basis, with the final being run by Golfshake.

Paul Williams >>>
with regards to paying for the final, if i were lucky enough to qualify for it, i'd be more than happy to pay for my green fee for the day,( after all, it would still be like the format of the other golfshake events!)

i like the sections idea! gives everybody a chance!

with the right planning this could be set up to start from april 2009, with the final to be played either june/july. as you said wayne, to be a yearly event! i have sent a pm to luke tricker to get his thoughts on the matter. do you think that if we harp on about it enough golfshake will make our dreams a reality? this definatley could be the ultimate golf event or us amatuers to aspire too! we need more people to respond to this thread.

Golfshake >>
Hi Paul.  This has been discussed many times, on the forums, at other events, over the phone and within the golfshake offices. Thanks for bringing it up again and do keep the momentum going and get others interested

The only reason we haven't done anything to date is agreeing the format.  

I too will now give this further thought, watch this forum and think about how we can getting this going for April 2009. Although April is usually the date for the North vs South annual event, so it may be May - Sep or something.

Wayne is also right and one of the keys to success is get the members involved. This hopefully helps to increase the area that the events take place.

Paul Williams >>
other than the international region, there are nine regions! if we could get one person from each region to act as the chairperson for that region, then sound out everyone in there own region. then with the help of golfshake each region organize there own qualifiers within a two month date between april/may 2009.  each qualifing round having the three handicap sections (ideally there would need to be around 30 players in each qualifing round) with the top two/three from each section then going forward to the final.

thats when we would need golfshake's help and formally make it there event. if anyone has any other idea's please feel free to add to this!

I think we have our Ryder Cup with the North v South. 

I think that this is a great idea and that we should do it.  How about a mini-league with divisions based on handicap as per Wayne's suggestion above.  We could hold say four events wth the best three scores for each person counting similar to the virtual leader board (that way it doesn't matter if you miss or have a mare on one).  Then an agreed number from each division from each area comes together for a play-off as a team and invidiual event.  How would we put the leagues together though? Here's my format sugesstion. 

Leagues - South, Midlands, North, Scotland 

Divisions - Expert 0-9 handicap, Improvers 10-19, Hackers 20+

Top four based on best three stableford scores from each division and each league go to the team play-off to play for the regional trophy at a venue in the territory of the current trophy holders (Darren can pick where we hold the first one).  Best three scores of each divisional representative count and the cumulative score decides the winner.   

What are everyone's thoughts? 

PS I'll offer my services to help out with whichever league I'm in. 

Who you calling a hacker, Perry!

Hey, it was the best name I could come up with after a long day at work when my brain is asleep.  Couple of good rounds Timothy and you'll be too good for the hacker group anyway.  Now all you need is a couple of good rounds........

How do we split up the country then?  I get the feeling that four leagues wouldn't be enough as it may mean long drives for some.  How about South West, South East, Wales, Midlands, North West, North East, South Scotland, North Scotland.  And would our Irish counterparts like to take part?  I'll leave the chopping up of the country to someone better at it than me. 

As it happens I chopped up a fair part of Derbyshire yesterday

Paul, Wayne, good stuff to get going.  This kind of also fits into something else that we are hoping to do.  Will speed this up and get some feelers out.

Keep the ideas coming.

Regards, Darren.

Great idea Paul. Your right though keep it simple to start to allow for mass appeal and hopefully mass participation and then other ideas could be dropped into the mix.

From a simplicity perspective the idea of the 9+ regions works well and to assist with the mass appeal the idea on top of an overall winner to have divisional winners is great.  So even if you are a 27 handicap and finish 7th out of 30+ golfers but are the top placed divisional golfer you could still go forward to the final. Great concept!

Regards, Darren.

Ok, bit more awake this morning so here's what I think the divisions and format should be.  First the regional leagues (based on trying to keep travel to a resonable time). 

1. Devon/Cornwall

2. Somerset/Dorest/Wilts/Hants/Berks

3. Sussex/Surrey/Kent/Midds/Essex/Herts

4. South Wales/Hereford/Glos/Worcs

5. Oxon/Bucks/Beds/Northants/Warwick/West Mids

6. Cambs/Suffolk/Norfolk

7. Shrops/Staffs/Chesire/North Wales

8. Derby/Notts/Leics/Lincs/S Yorks

9.  N & E Yorks

10. W Yorks, G Manchester, Lancs, Merseyside

11. Cumbria/Durham/Teeside/Nothumberland

12. S Scotland (Lowlands)

13. N Scotland (Highlands and Islands)

14. N Ireland

Each league has a low (0-9), mid (10-19) and high (20+) handicapper division.  Every league plays a minimum of four matches on stableford format.  Your best three scores are added together on a virtual leaderboard and you have to play in at least three to qualify for the finals.  Top three in each division (126 golfers!) go to a grand final at a venue agreed in advance. 

Grand final has two 18 hole stableford matches with players from the same handicap division grouped together.  Of the 18 results, the best 15 count and are totalled together with the division with the higest score winning.  In the event of a draw, the other three scores are added as a tie-breaker.  Winning division hosts the Grand Final the following year.  The North v South opens the Golfshake season and the Grand Final closes it. 

I think that the number of regional leagues is a little too high personally, but I was aiming to keep travel times from end to end at around 2-3 hours.  I'm sure we could get this down though with a little jiggery-pokery and I think that 8 regions with the top four from each league as Paul suggestted is the right format.  If anyone works for a company that splits the country up into regions for sales purposes or similar, we could use that as a start point. 

Thoughts?

Good point Santo.  We might find that no-one from one of the areas wants to participate.   

I'll volunteer my shonkey services for the West Midlands and surrounding counties.  That'll please Jo........

What's wrong Lee, frightened of playing me?

Think we need to keep the number of regions down so let's see how much buy in we get first.  May make sense to have a single Midlands league. 

Dependent on take up the easiest thing would be the following county group split, based on the coure/travel regional listings.

East
Bedfordshire
Cambridgeshire
Essex
Hertfordshire
Norfolk
Suffolk

East Midlands
Derbyshire
Humberside
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Northamptonshire
Nottinghamshire
Rutland


North
Cheshire
Cleveland
County
Durham
Cumbria
East Yorkshire
Greater Manchester
Isle of Man
Lancashire
Merseyside
North Yorkshire
Northumberland
South Yorkshire
Tyne and Wear
West Yorkshire


South
Avon
Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
Oxfordshire
Wiltshire
Channel Islands


South East
East Sussex
Greater London
Kent
Surrey
West Sussex


South West
Cornwall
Devon
Dorset
Somerset


West Midlands
Gloucester
Herefordshire
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Warwickshire
West Mids
Worcestershire

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would be grouped individual.  Based on take up these could all potentially be expanded.

 

Regards, Darren.

Think you could do with splitting the North into North East and North West Darren.  Nearly 200 miles between Geordies and Scousers.  Nearly a different language as well!

Congratulations Paul.  Is it your first? Thought you might like this quote from the Independant: 

'...the cost of rearing a child from birth to the age of 21 was rising faster than property prices. Child care and education were the biggest expenditures for parents, costing £49,092 and £46,778 respectively, with the remainder of the £180,137 total made up by such items as food, clothing, hobbies, holidays and pocket money.'

See you back here in a few years? 

Congrats Paul.  Yopu won't have an excuse when he beats you as he'll be playing off the yellows too.  Not like your daughters.

Junior Baggies membership form is on the way......

It's never too early for a dig at a Dingle!  And if you have a look, we scored in our first home game.  Using last season's league table, we've lost away to 3rd, at home to 5th (got mugged after playing them off the park) and drawn away to 16th.  A draw away to a fellow relegation struggler is a good result, especially when it's Bolton.  We've scored 1, conceded 3.  Not too disappointed yet.  Got West Ham on Sat; they've scored 6 and let in 5.  They'll be goals in that then!

Oh, and I bet we get more Premiership goals and points than Wolves this season......

Come on in everyone.  I'm rubbish and I'm still playing.  And as for Santo, he only wears the loud clothes so we don't notice how bad his game is!

I'd be up for playing but can't give any committment to organising.

I seem to remember taking your 16 handicap and slapping you round the face with it last time we played Paul.  13 strokes gross was it?

If it's worth 10 I still beat you by 3!!!  OK, you choose the course for next Friday, loser buys the beers. 

Played both of those.  Aylesford starts off good but then starts to run out of steam after about 13 holes.  Looks like they got bored and couldn't be botherd to finish it properly.  West Mids is a favourite of mine, though I've only played there twice.  Would be a great course for a Golfshake and of season game. 

hello peeps count me in for the east midlands (leicester) - be honoured to play, 

the last north v south event i played in was fantastic.

When I set up HHC2, I learned from the mistake Lee made and said that you had to be registered on Golfshake to enter.  There was a few grumbles from the technically challenged, but everyone from HHC1 registered so they could enter.  As Lee said (I hate agreeing with him!), it takes two minutes to register, it's free and it makes running the society so much easier. 

And I'm sure Darren won't mind the free advertising......

I'm not offerring to suck anything.......

This is going to be easy for me to suggest as I haven't volunteered to be a regional organiser but might it not be an idea to run a comp in each region say late October/early November as a trial.  It would give the organisers a dry run before the more serious stuff next year and would give an indication of the interest in each region.  It would also keep the momentum going as April next year is a long way off.