How to make open competitions fairer at golf clubs

It is quite clear from our recent survey on Open competitions that many of you feel uneasy about precisely how fair they are.

Most of us who have played in these events walk away shaking our heads in utter disbelief at some of the winning scores. I know that I have. When you and your team play really well and lose to scores of 20 under par and better and you come nowhere close to the prizes it can be pretty soul destroying. The answer is to either stop playing or simply accept you have no chance of winning and go along just to enjoy the chance of playing a new course.

So what, if anything, can be done to level the playing field for everybody?

What About Retaining The Status Quo?

Do we leave things exactly as they are, accepting that most of us had no opportunity to win prizes. And how important are prizes anyway? Maybe it is enough to play a new course in the company of like-minded people and just enjoy the day.

• PROS: Most of us already know we cannot win so why bother to change things?
• CONS: You are arguably creating a cheats’ charter.

Set a Handicap Limit

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

I am certain there would be plenty of support for introducing a handicap limit of 18. That would eliminate the high-handicap "bandits" who manipulate their handicaps, but let’s be honest, there are still plenty of 18 handicappers who must struggle to look at themselves in the mirror.

• PROS: A limit of 18 would probably give a sense of there being a level playing field.
• CONS: There are many high handicappers who are legitimate and asking say, a genuine 26-handicapper to play off 18 hardly seems fair to me. I could be wrong but my gut feeling is that we would see reduced fields.

Make All Open Events Scratch Only

So, what about making all Open events scratch only? In other words, what you score is what you score, with no handicap allowance 

• PROS: The best club golfers would surely relish such a challenge, knowing that impossibly low scores would not be possible.
• CONS: You are essentially ruling out everybody with a handicap of, say, 10 and above because they would have absolutely no chance of competing for prizes.

How do you make competitions fairer without discouraging higher-handicap or newer golfers?

Insist on Competition Cards For Handicap Purposes

The first thing I would do is insist that everybody who enters an Open competition has to provide proof of having submitted at least six competition cards in the calendar year. This would at least prove that they were not trying to protect their handicaps. We all had to start somewhere and I have no issue whatsoever with high handicappers competing in Open events as long as said handicaps are legitimate and they can prove it.

I have also been surprised, to say the least, at how few of these events insist on competitors playing from the back tees. I am no genius but it seems pretty obvious to me that if you allow high handicappers to play from the yellow tees then they clearly have an advantage. Let’s see everybody being properly tested, and that means using the championship tees,

• PROS: Playing from back tees would provide a proper test and may just find out the high-handicap "manipulators". Insisting on six cards would surely help to weed out the bandits.
• CONS: Higher handicappers might be put off at the thought of being asked to play off the championship tees.

Create Separate Divisions For Events

This is a simple one. At my golf club all our major events are played in divisions - first, second and third. This means that we all know we are competing against golfers of a similar standard. And that would be all well and good in Open competitions for individuals but how do you make it work for pairs or fourballs? We have a couple of knockout pairs competitions where we set a minimum combined handicap. Conversely, you could also set a maximum combined handicap. I see no problem with setting a handicap limit but organisers are going to have to accept that their field sizes might decrease.

• PROS: Would work well in individual events but how do you make it work in a pairs event when a single-figure player wants to partner his best mate, who happens to play off 27?
• CONS: Again, setting handicap limits eliminates many individuals who might want to compete.

Myself and my mates have largely stopped playing in Open competitions unless one crops up that allows us the chance to play a special course at a bargain price.

Some Golfers Have Stopped Entering Competitions

And we are not alone. This is what one of you had to say: "High handicappers have a massive advantage. In my club they had a mixed competition. We did not enter because they capped it at 54 for men and 54 for ladies. As a 12.1 handicapper, what chance have we got? The WHS has completely finished open competitions. My wife and two friends used to play every open competition we could and we spent more than £800 one year. The past few years we have spent nothing. They should be ashamed of themselves. A friend of mine was something like a 20 handicap, when the WHS came out they jumped to about 25, absolute stupidity, so needless to say we never enter any opens now, we miss it, but…"

In conclusion, if I could make one change it would be insisting that everybody has to provide proof of having submitted at least six competition cards in the calendar year.

What do you think is the best solution? Share your thoughts in this brand new survey!

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