Golf Thread

Back out today, weather turned out better than expected and overall another reasonable round albeit 2 shots worse than yesterday but it was a bit more mixed...

4 double or worse, 14/15 were doubles and just scruffy, 16 was a triple/pickup because I hit two awful drives and didn't find either, 6 was another triple as I went OB with the first drive. 6 is a short par 4, always been driver but they introduced some internal OB between holes 5 and 6 a bit ago, this is my first time going OB and it wasn't a great drive but given how short it is I might have to reconsider things, perhaps 5 wood would make sense, it would still be reachable with ease...

On the other hand 4 birdies \o/ First time ever getting 4 birdies in a round, had 3 a few times but not 4, happy days :D

I dunno if I've mentioned but the NCG Top 100s tour stuff I did some of last year have introduced a new handicap policy, which I completely disagree with, where to be eligible for prizes you need to have 5 competition rounds in your last 20, so I've not been putting in general play cards as I need to build up comp cards. Silly thing is these past two rounds would've been ~16 and 18 score differential, my current index is 20.7 so would've dropped a decent amount but no, gonna go into the first NCG event at Pennard in a couple of weeks with a higher handicap than I otherwise would've, genius.
 
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Can anyone name the the best / most picturesque golf course in the south. This year a few of us plan to pay to play some the best course.
It seems for some god awful reason that this is going to cost in the region of £120-200.

I have played The Downs course in Goodwood which has some lovely rolling hills and I've heard Hindhead is an amazing front 9...

Anyone got any recommendations?
 
After the 76 yesterday I followed it up with an 80 today, but I was 3 off the tee on a couple holes so that would account for the 4 shots straight away

Also had a number of chips check up hard on the soft greens which cost me with a few missed putts, so could quite easily have been mid 70's on another day

Starting to feel more confident about my game for this year, as long as my new home course doesn't bite me too hard initially once we manage to find time to get out there
 
Shot a new personal best on Friday - 75 (+5). Happy with that! Just more relaxed and didn't do anything stupid. Getting used to the new wedges now, much more bounce (12 degrees compared to 8 degrees on the old) on my 54 degree, so gets through the turf a bit easier. Easier to control the loft and spin once I got my head around it. Couple of birdies helped, but then finished off the last with a double :eek:

Let's watch the next round be a 95 :o
 
iGiDK said:
Sorry to hear that, wish you a speedy recovery
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Cheers. Should hopefully get back to somewhat normal before the summer comes around. Don't think I can cope with another golfless summer!

Mate and I have been planning some away days around the country so that's the motivation I need to sort myself out.
 
SKILL said:
I dunno if I've mentioned but the NCG Top 100s tour stuff I did some of last year have introduced a new handicap policy, which I completely disagree with, where to be eligible for prizes you need to have 5 competition rounds in your last 20, so I've not been putting in general play cards as I need to build up comp cards. Silly thing is these past two rounds would've been ~16 and 18 score differential, my current index is 20.7 so would've dropped a decent amount but no, gonna go into the first NCG event at Pennard in a couple of weeks with a higher handicap than I otherwise would've, genius.
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I can see both side of this argument....

General play scores can certainly be a little more "made up" etc.....

I know couple of old guys who play 3 or 4 times a week general play scores and have never put a medal/comp score in for about 18 months.... One of them recently whilst a bit tipsy happened to say that "of course gimmes are fine in general play"..... Confirming that some people don't exactly play by the rules....

I also played a guy in a team event last year - he was off 18.... He said he'd only had 5 general play rounds in the last 9 months..... No comp scores....

He was level par thru 10 holes... :cry: :cry:

However, to balance that, general play scores help to be more accurate reflection of your currently playing ability if done correctly. I plan on putting in more general play scores this year as most of mine are comp/medal scores only from Saturdays etc as I don't get out much during the week for 9 or 18 holes.....
 
booyaka said:
I can see both side of this argument....

General play scores can certainly be a little more "made up" etc.....

I know couple of old guys who play 3 or 4 times a week general play scores and have never put a medal/comp score in for about 18 months.... One of them recently whilst a bit tipsy happened to say that "of course gimmes are fine in general play"..... Confirming that some people don't exactly play by the rules....

I also played a guy in a team event last year - he was off 18.... He said he'd only had 5 general play rounds in the last 9 months..... No comp scores....

He was level par thru 10 holes... :cry: :cry:

However, to balance that, general play scores help to be more accurate reflection of your currently playing ability if done correctly. I plan on putting in more general play scores this year as most of mine are comp/medal scores only from Saturdays etc as I don't get out much during the week for 9 or 18 holes.....
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I kinda get that, and the gimme one seems quite common but that (and mulligans) only serve to lower a handicap, I'll happily play a comp against someone with a handicap based on gimmes but I'll make him put that 3 footer downhill breaking putt every time :D

The group I play with in Bristol used to do gimmes until very recently, and even 'one mulligan a round', they all had the vanity handicaps that they couldn't actually play to if following the rules, but again is that a problem for a competition? (I did do gimmes/mulligans when I started as well, but stopped years ago when I started doing comps as it's silly, even now not putting cards in I'm not taking gimmes or anything)

My local club put in a policy where you had to have 3 competition rounds in the last 12 months, think this may even be an England Golf reccomendation, and that I fully support. I'd even say 3 in 3 months would be fine. But 5 in the last 20 is madness imo.

Maybe it's biased as I play so much, March last year I played 25 rounds of golf and there were maybe 2 comps in that, that's assuming I played in both comps I'm actually eligible to play in at my local club (there's only one stableford and one medal per month). So after just that one month I'd be ineligible for prizes based on the NCG policy.

In my opinion sandbagging, which seems like it would be the main issue with a competition handicap is a minor problem and limiting to competition rounds doesn't really fix it. I could happily pay £2.50 per time for 5 times at my local club and duff my way to an inflated handicap before entering an NCG event and winning a £250 TaylorMade voucher. I won't obviously, but I could, the math maths.
 
SKILL said:
In my opinion sandbagging, which seems like it would be the main issue with a competition handicap is a minor problem and limiting to competition rounds doesn't really fix it.
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It's difficult for sure to find a balance.

As a lower handicap player I do certainly find it frustrating that any Open comps I tend to play in are generally won by people in the 12-18 bracket..... With like net 65/64 etc... Yes, everyone can have a great day and get lucky etc.... But I'd need to shoot like -3 gross to shoot net 64..... That's just not happening.

Then you look at the scores that person has put in, and 80/90% of the time, it's general play scores and it's 4 or 5 in the last 6 months.... Clearly sandbagging their handicap...

Also the "open play" stuff where people don't play at a club and just have a handicap from general play.... That's another weird one as there is no checks/balances on their scores/handicaps etc.

5 in the last 20 is fine for me - I think that's a decent number to ask for personally but I can see it from all sides.

I certainly think the changes a few years ago to a WHS have pro's and con's on both sides...
 
Yeah, I guess hard to find the balance. I think also I'm more whiny about it because it affects me and how I've gone about golf/handicapping for the past few years so I now 'have' to change. It also changed *after* I'd spent a chunk of cash entering events, although not really sure it would change my decision, but it might've done, I may decide not to do any events next year because of this policy.

For me I used the handicap index as a metric of how I was playing, I have in the past set goals for it to be a certain level, and that's based on lots of general play rounds as well as the comps. I probably only do maybe ~15 club comps a year and these NCG events last year so like 25 total maybe? Compared to ~200 'rounds', not all of those went on as general play anyway but now none of them are, so I'll likely do ~150+ rounds of golf this year that won't go on my handicap record (because I cba keeping track of whether I'll drop under the 5 necessary so I'll just do no general play at all) so my handicap index is now comparatively meaningless.

I guess Garmin gives me an index, maybe I'll start paying more attention to that :p

As a side, ish, note on the comps you mention. I've not looked tbh but that is a complaint I've heard and I do understand it obviously but also wonder if perhaps that's almost the expected result of a comp given the handicap system?

By that I mean higher handicaps, even 'mid' handicappers like 12-18, will inevitably be wildly more variable score wise than a low handicapper, it's kinda why they're a mid-high handicapper, but also that they will make up the majority of entrants, if average is ~17 then most will be around that. Add the two together and it feels inevitable that a mid-high handicapper would win most comps, even without sandbagging...

I almost think clubs should do more with the divisions/categories setup... My local has 2 divisions, basically above or below a 20 index, and that makes sense but at the same time there's a big difference in variability between a 20 and a 5 handicapper. Whilst you'd expect a 2 or an 8 to both be fairly consistently around their handicap without the wild swings. My last two rounds as a 20.7 index would've been net-66 and net-68 I think, my next round could easily be a net-80 :cry:
 
ChroniC said:
Can anyone name the the best / most picturesque golf course in the south. This year a few of us plan to pay to play some the best course.
It seems for some god awful reason that this is going to cost in the region of £120-200.

I have played The Downs course in Goodwood which has some lovely rolling hills and I've heard Hindhead is an amazing front 9...

Anyone got any recommendations?
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You could do worse than check out Hill Barn (hillbarngolf.com). Another Down's course like Goodwood with spectacular views out to sea once you get up to the high point of the course on 15/16. Just beware they have a bunker renovation programme taking place and are closing one hole at a time to do this.

SKILL said:
I almost think clubs should do more with the divisions/categories setup... My local has 2 divisions, basically above or below a 20 index, and that makes sense but at the same time there's a big difference in variability between a 20 and a 5 handicapper. Whilst you'd expect a 2 or an 8 to both be fairly consistently around their handicap without the wild swings. My last two rounds as a 20.7 index would've been net-66 and net-68 I think, my next round could easily be a net-80 :cry:
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Our Men's section is introducing an additional OOM (order of merit) this year to try and encourage more low index players. Best six gross scores from the ten qualifying OOM competitions will count, lowest total will claim first prize.


Looks like it was a busy weekend all around now the weather finally seems to have turned a corner :) I finally got out for the first time since the 18th Jan on Saturday to take part in the re-arranged monthly medal. Score was nothing to write home about, kinda expected when I hadn't played on course for so long and suffering with a dodgy back. Lost count of the number of 7w's I topped :p, normally one of my best clubs in the bag, suffice to say I left it in there for Sundays round. Weather was great and when the sun came out around the turn I stiped down to just a polo shirt up top. Biggest surprise was how dry the course was, bar the usual trouble shots. They were asking people to carry if they could so I was expecting the worst but they'd even been out cutting fairways where they could. The forecast for the week looks good and I'm off for a day to play in the mid week roll up so may break out the shorts! God knows after playing yesterday in the wind and rain for the new captains drive in I deserve it.
 
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Tried out a new indoor sim place last night for a change seeing as the range will be closing at the end of the month when my club closes and I am not a fan of the other TopTracer range along the road

Trackman IO monitor with access to pretty much every course that Trackman have in their library in the bay we tried and I reckon I will be back there on a semi-regular basis to practice and get numbers

We played The Hideaway Clive Clark course from around 6,400yds but it still had a couple par 3's that were well over 200yds that killed me as I didn't have my best swing - it always takes me a few sessions to get used to an indoor studio sim even though I know they are made to be appropriate for a full driver swing
 
Managed to get out for a few holes after work on Monday and yesterday, spring golf is finally here :cool:

7 holes on Monday, 3 birdies :eek:
Managed 14 holes yesterday - finished as the light faded!

Starting to really enjoy my new wedges - completely different bounce and grind, but much more workable around the greens and from 120 in.
 
Hour in the sim today....

Worked on some 80-110 yard shots - felt good controlling distance etc.

However, rest of the game was rough - just pulling the ball a lot at the moment - just a straight pull... Not fun...
 
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