Golfshake Open Live Results

Will appear here later this afternoon.  Groups will start coming back from 3pm

http://www.golfshake.com/golf/view/5819/scores/ ;

Well done to my guys, 4th and fifth. Obviously a testing course.

Tough conditions today, lot of recent water so some softer fairways and tough bunkers plus windy conditions!

Back 9 was brutal. Wind & water not a good combination!

i would like to thank all those who had anything to do with the running of this comp, i had a great day and great company thanks to Darren, Kev and Rich, cheers fellas, as happy as i was with the low gross score, just like everyone i left a few shots out there.

well done to every body  taking part , organising ,and to my playing partners ,kev . alan . and darren for the company ( sorry about the bad golf ) .

well done milli brothers for their wins , even though my golf was shocking , got to say what a great day i had , nice to meet a few new people and put their face to a name .

once again well done all great day , thank you

Well done to Alan and Daz Milli for wining their respective divisions and to all the other prize winners, but yet again the event was the biggest winner .Well done to all the backroom guys you know who you are and a big thank to all my playing parnters over the two days really enjoyed the banter and the spirit of the games , thanks guys. I think some of us have a love hate relationship with Wychwood and I hope I have the oppertunity to try and master it in 2011.

Thanks Eddie for the feedback, this was an consensus approach when set-up way back in 2008 for the first event in 2009 but something we can revisit and look at again.

Appreciate the observations but interestingly the top 2 guys last year came from the high handicap category and this year 3 of the top 5 where from the high handicap category.  

Regards, Darren.

it's a fair question, but i can assure you that the 2 shots i lost were as important to me as 7 for someone else,

My first thoughts are that handicaps of 28 should not have ever been introduced. The original idea of 24 max was to produce an 18 handicap after 3/4 was taken, so that no person ever received more than one shot per hole. 7/8ths was always the stableford rule.

It is much easier to take shots off of a higher handicap than it is a lower one and although it might appear biased towards the lower handicap player, one must not forget that the better players cope much better with conditions and courses that are unfamiliar to them.

I am surprised that you raised this, Eddie, as I seem to remember you took great delight in walking away with the first prize at The Abbey with a score that can only be rated in the bandit category. What goes around comes around.

Just like to echo the the thanks to the competition organisers for what was an excellent event.

Not sure how I managed to play so badly for a score of 7 points, ( 5 of which were on the last 2 holes !!!), but I suppose we all have bad days.

I have to echo Dave's sentiments above.  Thanks to Darren and team for a great day out, the chance to catch up with a few old friends and the golf...well, I turned up!

eddie, sounds like you have had quite the time lately, sorry to hear that but where have you got 37 points from? 36 is what i could have possibly got off full handicap

A big thank you to the organisers for the comp well done guys.

Only got one complaint not of your making but to all the players in front for spoiling the round of golf my group and the one in front could have done with chairs possibly beds whilst waiting around to tee off, I mean nearly 2hrs to play the first 4 holes whats all that about guys? the last group finally walked off the course 6 hrs after teeing off at the first.

Eddie, I was not playing in the event, so your remark concerning sour grapes does not apply to me. I was just referring you to your play at The Abbey when you were being upset about the handicap situation at The Wychwood. You have been playing this game long enough to know how it all works, yet you complain as soon as it affects you.

Cast your mind back to the Abbey and remember the old man that told you to your face what he thought about your performance that day. Yes, it was me.

You know exactly what I am referring to at the Abbey, Eddie, so please don't attempt to keep on wriggling, Your performance did not go unnoticed by a lot of people and I was the one who made that same point to you face to face.

The word is bigot, Eddie, and you used it in the wrong context, but I will forgive you that.

Let us all hope that you bring your correct handicap to Ombersley.

If, you are going to take the piss Wayne, then at least have the decency to get your facts right. It was Driver 3 rescue actually !!!!!!!!!!!. If we were playing from the proper "Medal" tees then I would have played my second shot from the front of the tee and not the rough !!!!!! OOPS, is that another can of worms that has just opened. !!!!!!!!!

3/4 handicap or full ?

Yellow or White tees ?

Some high handicappers can't have it every way they want. We may not lose as many shots but we don't have many either. The EGU recently changed the rules on singles matchplay which is now full difference and not 3/4. I don't hear the higher handicappers complaining about that !!!!!

My own personal opinion and have spoken to Darren about this, is that any Golfshake Open competition should be played off the Medal "White" tees and I would be happy then to give full handicap and also make it Medal golf rather than this ridiculous stableford scoring system !!!!!!  

Well said Martin, golf is a game of strokes, not points, and playing off forward tees is taking away the pleasure of playing a course the way the designer intended.

I couldn't agree more with the above. The open should be a medal round off the back tees and in two categories.

Oh and while im on the subject, have it played to proper rules. Not like the jokers who think it is acceptable to lose a ball off the tee and just drop one down where they thought it was 'lost' and carry on. 

Martin / Dave, I agree but can you imagine how long it would take if we played medal format? I think my 4 ball were the only one that managed to stick within the 5hrs. I can't imagine what must have happened behind us to cause such a hold up??? These kind of things will be what puts people from entering next time. I also agree that if you have qualifying events with 2 categories off full handicap then you should carry it through to the final. I don't envy Darrens job & think he does azp fantastic job.

No one said Golf should be easy !!

But it's not necessarily the format of the game that is the problem. The conditions of the day and the course itself are a major factor whether you play medal or stableford.

Does anyone ever take the time to measure your five minutes to find your ball ? I know for a fact that not many people do and consequently probably take longer. This adds time to rounds. Walks between greens and tees at these corporate venues also has a huge amount to play in round timings.

3 hours to play 9 holes yesterday just takes the piss. 1.50 mins for the first four holes !!!!!! 

Thanks to Darren and the team for the hard work that went into making the final happen.  Well done to all those who managed to make it into the Final throughout the year and my fellow organisers.  We know how much hard work goes into organising these events so we can all fully appreciate the effort the guys put in. 

With regards to the rules of the day, they were set out before qualifying started and were clear and understood by all.  They were the same for everyone on the day.  If you don't agree with them, don't try to qualify is my opinion.  As regards the rules set out by the R & A, I'm afraid those of us here are not in a position to change those.  Some are stupid, some should have been scrapped long ago, but they are the rules and like them or not we have to abide by them as agreement to waive rules is not permitted.

As regards playing to 'proper' rules, there was someone with each four-ball to ensure the rules were adhered to and advise on rulings.  I know the guys in my four-ball - Alfred, Joe and Andy (thanks for a good game guys) - all played by the rules.  They checked with me if they needed a ruling, even if they knew what to do, and played the game as it was intended.  

chris, re dropping a ball to replace a lost one, was this made clear either way before the game or was it expected that you either go back to the tee or don't score?

Alan, that rule shouldn't have needed confirming. If you lose your ball off the tee you MUST go back unless its lost in a lateral hazard & you are 100% sure its in there.

With regard to Wychwood, they did have local rule in place for the "Nature" hazards. Directly in from the tee - Three off the tee. In from the side - treat as lateral hazard and take a two club length penalty drop. 

john, that's what i thought, infact 2 of us did go back after a lost ball

Alan, 

Any chance of a lost ball a provisional was taken.  No-one needed telling that. One of our guys put a ball in the nature reserve on the 7th off the tee.  He took three off the tee.  The other three of us all found it from the fairway......

Incidentally, there was a discussion I started earlier this year about playing a provisional and then finding your original ball was lost in a lateral hazard and what the correct course of action was.  I'm glad I did as this occurred twice in our round and I knew what to do!

Agree totally with Chris.  We had two incidents yesterday, a putt from another player on the green striking another ball and a provisional played and then the original ball found.  The three players in the main competition seemed happy having an official with them and penalties were applied without question.

I haven't heard of anyone simply droping a ball yesterday (although I know this happens in society games to keep them moving) apart from the local rules described by Martin above.

Yet another huge thanks to Darren and all the other guys involved in organising Saturdays event. Was only my second official competition, the first being the Scottish qualifier but it will definitely not be the last.

The three guys I was drawn with, Paul Carey, Dave Ley and Wayne Santorini made the day one of the most enjoyable I have experienced playing this damn game.

Thanks to all three and I look forward to catching up with all of you in the future.

Who knows we might even get the hang of the Happy Gilmore shot :-)

chris, the 2 lost balls were ones that we were certain we would find but didn't, and the nature reserve came into play as well, btw what is the ruleing if you play a provo and your first ball is in a hazard?

The rule is if you get down to the area and it is "known or virtually certain" that your ball is in the hazard, you pick up the provisional and play in accordance with rule 26 i.e. as if you knew the hazard was there.

What brought it about for me was when I hooked a ball into some dense trees on a new course so took a provisional.  I decided to have a quick look in case I got a friendly bounce and found red stakes and a wide stream.  I took a drop and played both balls cos I wasn't sure what to do and asked on here.

cheers

Santo,

I got distracted as I was about to step up to the ball so I started my pre-shot mental routine again.  I don't think you would argue with that being the right thing to do

I think it was a great Idea having a referee and rules official in each group. Fortunately for myself,Mark and Paul ours was easily bribed ,very cheap ! infact a mars bar and a can of Vimto! So we cheated like #eck all the way round to amass our great scores Mark last time I listen to you ,26 will walk it Dave  

Have had a smile on my face all day

Chris, you are the GS Slug you were leaving a silver trail all over the course!!  

Dave,

That's just cracked me up.

A big thank you to everyone involved.

I played like a complete beginner but still really enjoyed the day.

There were three things that spoiled it a little bit for me...

1) The weather, it was blowing a gale and really made things tough.

2) The rough, far too rough for me!  Every time your ball went in there you had to search for it, never ever walked straight to it.  I was told after that they are letting it grow as they are holding a seniors tour event there soon!

3) Bunkers.  Despite all the rain on Friday night nobody had been around and raked the bunkers.  The only time I got a fair lie in a bunker was if I landed on a spot were somebody else had been before me, and they had raked it.

Other than that it was a really enjoyable day and I am now looking forwards to Portugal in February and my next major GolfShake event, whenever that may be.

On the fact of the tees used on the day.  If the wind had not been blowing then I would have said use the white tees.  But I think it was a tough course in that wind off the yellows!  Looking at the scores I think the yellow tees were the correct choice.  Did we even get a choice of which tees to use or did the club stipulate the yellow ones?

Thanks to everyone who organised the day and also to the players.

Russ