cdak

in theory, but there's still nothing stopping players from not playing many tournaments and then cleaning up at the big ones. Sandbaggers and bandits are a tough crowd to thwart! for many genuine players over here handicaps simply aren't accurate because there's not enough data to go on as most of our rounds don't influence our handicap. there are arguments for both methods of course though...

Hey, Ennis Golf Club itself is a nice parkland track and around 30 euros a round which is quite decent. i would suggest Lahinch but it doesn't exactly fit your criteria! as far as i remember there are a lot of cheap courses in the shannon region but i cant think of any more at present... oh ennis' website is http://www.ennisgolfclub.com/

i wish we had USGA regulations over here...only rounds we count for handicap purposes are those in competions, which basically means you have to pay for the privelege of a chance to lower your handicap in the form of entry fees!