golf league arguement

[Club Rat]

Most "GPS" devices have the capability of showing distance of shot/drives with shot tracking.

Seems like someone in my group always has a Garmin nowadays.

It would be simple for everyone to just note their distance on the scorecard and have any player in the group attest the distance.

Then at the end of the round the league manager could announce the winner.

This would build suspense and keep everyone honest.

Club Rat

[ghalfaire]

Yes, that is at least as stupid as you think it is.

One year in my Men's Club member/guest the tournament committee did something equally stupid.  They had a line painted down the center of the long drive fairway and the prize was for the the longest drive that was closest to the line, which is as stupid as it sounds.  One guy hit it almost 300 yards and was only 10 feet off the line, but he lost to a guy who hit an 8I so he could just reach where the line started in the fairway.  He was only 1 foot off the line, so he got the long drive prize, even though he only hit the ball 145 yards.   There were so many complaints that the board of directors had to post a notice a week later saying that they would not be using that formula again.  I applaud them for trying to find a way give the shorter hitters a chance to compete, but it was a really stupid idea right from the start.  Us short knockers just have to accept that we won't be winning many long drive contests.  We need to put our focus on the closest to the pin holes instead.

I agree with your conclusion, it was stupid.  But I have to admire the fellow with the 8I for knowing the rules and taking advantage.  Had to chuckle some too.

[Dave2512]

That is why our league does longest and closest to line as two different contests. Each week it's longest, closest to line and closest to hole. IMO all a distraction that take people away from what should be the real goal, low gross. My experience is it often leads to poor shots.

[CraiginKSA]

We stopped having long drive in our league because only a few guys could win it.  It was usually between me and about 4 or 5 other guys.  And it was usually whichever one of us hit the fairway.  That left out about 95 percent of the field.

It was always the same hole (straight away) and always whoever moved the long drive pole the furthest, write your name, last name wins.  Now we just have the 4 closest to the pin which everyone has a chance to win.

[Elmer]

Hey folks, got a issue and I wanted to know if anyone else has heard of this.  We had a traditional long drive contest on a designated hole every week during our league.  It was obviously, the longest drive from the tee would win.

Last year a few golfers began questioning that the longest drive may be farther away from the green and that it was not right.  They convinced the commissioner that it needed to be the "longest drive off the tee that is closer to the green."  So in theory, you could have the longest drive and lose because it wasnt closer to the green.

Anyone ever heard of this?  Is it as stupid as I think it is?

Thanks.

My league does a long drive at our mid and end of year tournament.

It is always the longest drive that is in the fairway.

We also hold it on the longest par 5.

but if your league is anything like mine as long as there is a quorum to vote, we vote and democracy rules!

We have held our tournaments that have held a separate "closest to the line" drive competition.

I would rather walk away with a par than a prize for putting my ball on a line!

Best of Luck!

[Fourputt]

That is why our league does longest and closest to line as two different contests. Each week it's longest, closest to line and closest to hole. IMO all a distraction that take people away from what should be the real goal, low gross. My experience is it often leads to poor shots.

When you have a large club (our men's club had 250 members) with handicaps ranging from scratch to 36+, you need to give guys more to shoot at than just score.  We did a voluntary skins game with most stroke play tournaments, as well as closest to the pin on the par 3 holes.  For a couple of tournaments we also had one par 4 with closest to the pin on the second shot, and on the 18th we gave a prize for the longest putt holed.  All of these side games were not active in every tournament, but there was always something to shoot for beyond just score in the stroke play events.  It gave guys something to shoot for on a day when they weren't otherwise in contention.

We stopped having long drive in our league because only a few guys could win it.  It was usually between me and about 4 or 5 other guys.  And it was usually whichever one of us hit the fairway.  That left out about 95 percent of the field.

It was always the same hole (straight away) and always whoever moved the long drive pole the furthest, write your name, last name wins.  Now we just have the 4 closest to the pin which everyone has a chance to win.

We only did long drive on a couple of select tournaments.  For most tournaments we played the format specified in the tournament rules and only had the closest to the pin contest on the 4 par 3 holes as a "normal" event.  We also had a voluntary hole-in-one pot that was active for most events.  The only time that these side games were not used was in a format like alternate shot where not all players got to hit from the tee.

[Dave2512]

When you have a large club (our men's club had 250 members) with handicaps ranging from scratch to 36+, you need to give guys more to shoot at than just score.  We did a voluntary skins game with most stroke play tournaments, as well as closest to the pin on the par 3 holes.  For a couple of tournaments we also had one par 4 with closest to the pin on the second shot, and on the 18th we gave a prize for the longest putt holed.  All of these side games were not active in every tournament, but there was always something to shoot for beyond just score in the stroke play events.  It gave guys something to shoot for on a day when they weren't otherwise in contention.

Sure, the mid flight guys tend to be more into it from what I've seen. Some of the stuff they do in our league has an individual buy in to keep the pot growing. The guys that don't stand a chance to be amongst the best in the flights are pretty serious about it because that is really their only chance to win anything. Honestly I should probably be more into it. I don't stand a chance in my flight.