Unpopular opinion I'm sure... I HATE net golf.

[MasterP]

I agree, for club champ it should be straight up, best player that day wins.

But if I'm in a head to head, or group pot match with money on the line I'll take my handicap strokes. Otherwise an 8 is usually just throwing money away playing a 0 straight up.

[max power]

I think their should be no net, but instead certain skill set leagues, as in if your handicap is 1-5, your in a, 5-10, b.etc... There really is little difference between a 6 handicap and a 8, so lets see who is the better player that day.

Agreed-but there's a huge difference between an 8 and a scratch golfer. I think cutting the line at anyone below a 5 is a good idea. 5 or better, 5-15, 15+.

[Stretch]

5-15 would be too big a bucket, I think. Maybe <5, 5-10, 10-15, >15.

[3 wiggle]

Dont like it myself. For me, a handicap is a way to judge MY game. If i beat a better golfer because they gave me strokes...i would feel like a johnsonville. When i play with better or worse golfers and we want to make it interesting, we divide based on skill and scramble, or if its closer we play stroke play.

[iacas]

I don't know if I've never met a low handicapper who likes net golf.

Now, that doesn't mean that even I (at scratch) won't take strokes from a Tour player. They're better than I am. I'd rather have a close match than one that's pre-determined (99 times out of 100 anyway).

[billysandy]

I think if you have a handicap within 5 stokes of your opponent, you shouldn't get strokes. above 10 stroke difference should be full difference, and between 10 and 5 strokes difference should be half difference.

[Jay-Bird]

Our club championship is a 9 hole HANDICAPPED match play event. I lost in the first round. I made THREE birdies and one bogey. I lost shooting 34. I lost to a sandbagger. I also J
HATE net golf.

[Fourputt]

Alright, don't take this the wrong way. I understand the handicap system, why it's needed, what it's good for, etc, etc... However, I HATE net golf. Hate it. If I'm playing somebody with a lower handicap, I REFUSE to take strokes, I'd rather play even up. I think once you reach a certain level (roughly 8.0 or so, "Championship Flight" in most tournaments), that you should play even up.

With a .7 handicap you clearly have the ability to compete with most anyone straight up, so I have to agree with you in that respect. And the club champion should always be the low gross player in the championship flight. No argument there either. Anything else is just pathetic. All they are doing is selecting the handicap champion, not the actual best player in the club.

My Men's Club plays low gross in championship flight (the Club Champion can only come from that flight), and anyone in the club can opt for that flight, but they compete at scratch if they do. Every now and again a 9 or 10 handicap will move to the top flight, and a few times they have done fairly well there, but I've never seen the Club Champ come from a player with that high a handicap. My course handicap has never been below 10 (9.4 is my lowest index ever), and I've never considered moving out of whatever flight my handicap places me in. I have won handicap (or net) champion in the past, but that is a very secondary award to Club Champion. I wouldn't feel right trying to claim the Club Championship if it was based on my handicap rather than on my true playing ability. That is just wrong.

[enis750]

Alright, don't take this the wrong way. I understand the handicap system, why it's needed, what it's good for, etc, etc... However, I HATE net golf. Hate it. If I'm playing somebody with a lower handicap, I REFUSE to take strokes, I'd rather play even up. I think once you reach a certain level (roughly 8.0 or so, "Championship Flight" in most tournaments), that you should play even up.

absolutley 100% agree in every shape, way anf form

"net" golf ....... pfff.... and the worst is when the 10 index beats you by 3 "net" (after you give him 7, shoot your index and shoots the round of his life) and brags about it....really dude????? sorry...not bitter at all

[alomar123]

Also, in this months Golf Digest they gave some stats on this:

If you give 1 stroke, the chance that you will win is 53%
If you give 6 strokes the chance is bettered to 60%
If you give 12 strokes you will win 74% of the time.

So, basically the chances of you winning if you have the lower handicap are always in your favor. Just something I found interesting.

[Dad-2-3]

Even as a high index player I have to agree with the OP. There is no way I would accept the "title" of Club Champion based on a net score. Asolutely absurd!!

[Doctorfro]

I am always amused by those who play in our club championship but don't play in the championship flight. They would rather try and win a little gold man on a platform and a gc for the pro shop. Who cares about a NET champion? or a flight champion? Play the stinking tournament to win the big prize or don't play at all.

[rebby]

The "winner" this weekend was a 12 capper who elected to play in the "Championship" flight instead of his assigned flight (First). The winning score was 10 strokes better than the course rating (or -14 relative to par, the 18-hole course record BTW is -5). For a 12 capper, the odds of shooting -5 net in a single round are 276:1, the odds of two -5 net rounds in 20 are 821:1 (I don't know his 18-hole totals so I can't cite exact odds). I don't know what the odds of going -10 over 36 would calculate out to, likely around 76,176:1. For the record, the winning scores in the flights were -9, -9 & -10 (again, relative to the course rating).

Roughly 80% of the field came in under the course rating (net). Based on the fact that that according the USGA, your odds are 5:1 or 6:1 of shooting net course rating in a tournament (again, single 18-hole round)... I'm confused, mathematically this doesn't add up. The numbers didn't come out this way for the State Open Championship (obviously a gross score tournament but handicap calculations were pretty easy for this one, only about 5-10% of the net scores broke the course rating).

Flashback to my middle/junior high school days. I got a job at the golf course to handle the scoring for the men's league. After a few weeks I noticed that the average net score was roughly 4 under par over nine holes, this was 3 under the 9-hole course rating. As a result, I started tracking rounds long term and even included rounds and handicap information that the course had on record from the previous 5 years. Ironically, I discovered that (again, on average) everybody was 2-4 strokes BETTER over 9-holes on league night than any other day of the week (league rounds vs official GHIN rounds). The biggest discrepancies were found on the teams that won week to week, year to year. I brought this to the attention of the Pro and he said to start calculating a "league handicap" and to publish this next to the GHIN handicap in all of the league documentation (ie: GHIN handicap: 9, league handicap 4). Once this was out in the open, people got pissed! No way were they a 4, they'd been a 9 for YEARS! I don't believe it. For a silent minority however, the numbers lined up almost perfectly. After a while, GHIN handicaps started to drop across the board. Our men's club saw the greatest GHIN handicap improvement in club history. The next year we went to using a combination of GHIN and league handicaps for all men's club play. The competition became fierce and the disparity in the league was the best that it had ever been.

Now I'm not making any specific accusations but the handicap system is only as good as the information that is put into it. When you give guys fiscal incentive to post falsified information, what do you expect? This is the biggest reason that I hate net golf.

[Fourputt]

I am always amused by those who play in our club championship but don't play in the championship flight. They would rather try and win a little gold man on a platform and a gc for the pro shop. Who cares about a NET champion? or a flight champion? Play the stinking tournament to win the big prize or don't play at all.

Allow me to bow before your greatness. Maybe even feel the velvet touch of your aura.

Not all of us are endowed with a perfect swing. There is zero chance that I will ever achieve your lofty pinnacle, so what's wrong with my trying to win in my lowly second flight of 12-14 handicappers? By the way, within the flight we too play scratch.... but we only have to compete heads up against players near our own ability rather than against the gods of golf who play the championship flight like you do. I can feel perfectly fine winning my flight and spending my money in the golf shop. No guilt at all.

[rebby]

Allow me to bow before your greatness. Maybe even feel the velvet touch of your aura.

As I stated before, I support this 100%. That's what the flights are for. I actually like flighted golf. When flights are put together correctly, this can be some of the most exciting golf of the tournament, especially match play tournaments. I spent a lot of years as a caddie for my dad (when I was a kid) as he worked his way through the flights. This was a lot of fun. There is no shame in taking home the 2nd or 3rd flight trophy.

[Fourputt]

As I stated before, I support this 100%. That's what the flights are for. I actually like flighted golf. When flights are put together correctly, this can be some of the most exciting golf of the tournament, especially match play tournaments. I spent a lot of years as a caddie for my dad (when I was a kid) as he worked his way through the flights. This was a lot of fun. There is no shame in taking home the 2nd or 3rd flight trophy.

I'm with you 100% on this issue. Sounds like your club has too many mid to high handicappers (with unhealthy feelings of repression) on the competition committee. Nobody who really understands the game would run a club championship like that.

[Bump-n-MI]

A championship flight that is net? Crap, total crap.

I'd be at every board meeting cracking skulls (figuratively speaking).

I am always amused by those who play in our club championship but don't play in the championship flight. They would rather try and win a little gold man on a platform and a gc for the pro shop. Who cares about a NET champion? or a flight champion? Play the stinking tournament to win the big prize or don't play at all.

We have several guys that choose to "win the big prize" playing straight-up with the big boys in our Tuesday money game. We call these guys donators.

Flights are an absolute necessity for tournaments with broad ranges of handicaps.

[deronsizemore]

Also, in this months Golf Digest they gave some stats on this:

Can you explain how your chances of winning increase the more strokes you have to give up? Is it just that the ability of the other golfer gets worse compared to you the more strokes you have to give?