Greetings Golfers and welcome to the first edition of “By the Fire.” In the next few months we plan to use this Blog to keep members up to date with what’s happening at the club and celebrate successes and endeavours of our members.
One issue which will very soon be on the agenda is the new World Handicapping System(WHS) which comes into play in November this year. There will be lots of procedures which have to take place to establish the system, most requiring a phd in Applied Mathematics to understand. But the good news is ….the computer will do it all for us!
The purpose of the over-hall is to make a standard system which is fair to all levels of golfers throughout the world and beyond. When the dust settles each course will have Slope Indexes for each tee: we will all have a Handicap Index and using both the Slope and Handicap indexes, we will be able to determine our playing handicap for any tee and any course in the world. There will be information sessions planned for members. So the next time I’m in the Maldives……well maybe not!
No doubt there will be some teething problems. Familiar things will cease to exist e.g. CONGU, categories, .1 back, Man.Utd in the Premier League, but this time next year I’m sure it’ll be second nature and bandits will be bandits no matter what!
Correct Completion of Cards
It has long been a bone of contention with me that not enough care and attention is given to completing score cards and score entry in the computer. Yes, we can all make mistakes. Yes, our internet can be unreliable…. But you’d be surprised at the number of incorrect score entries that we see every competition. It is a hard job being Competitions Secretary without having to deal with unsigned, un-totalled cards, cards that are illegible and cards that are returned but not entered in the computer. So come on…. Give the guys a break. Total your score and enter it in the computer. If the computer is down indicate this on your card. That way, the closing of competitions will be smooth and the Competitions team can spend their time checking the winning scores.
As a footnote to this rant, when the WHS system comes into play all handicaps will be updated at midnight on the day of entry. Therefore it is incumbent on all of us to try to get it right!
Charity Bunker
Finally, it has been suggested that we establish a Charity Bunker on the course. Anyone landing in this bunker would be expected to pay a €2 fine in a Charity box in the clubhouse. I personally think this is a lovely idea and, on top of raising funds for charity (exact charity is to be decided) it should lead to a bit of banter among players as it will be up to playing partners to insist that the fine is paid! Now which bunker will I choose?