Playing a Round of Golf Solo

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, newtogolf said:

I never said it bothered me, I was trying to help explain the mentality.  It's easier to vanity cap as a single (the topic of this thread) unless your playing partners are vanity cappers too and you all enable each other.

Depends what you mean by "enable", but so long as you don't play alone you're abiding at least by this rule. IDK about the others.

 

[DaveP043]

All this Handicap Committee talk is  pretty far off topic, so I'll hide it here:

Spoiler

12 minutes ago, Lihu said:

You're really serious about this and that's very good. I suppose it's easy to tell when a wayward score or round is posted improperly, but how do you tell when a score that looks reasonable was posted improperly?

At the moment, our first priority is to monitor the posting of scores, to work towards having everyone  post every appropriate score.  I check Ghin records against tee sheets, looking for both scores not posted, and solo rounds that ARE posted.  We then talk with the "offenders", always trying to keep things friendly, but letting them know we're monitoring in accordance with the rules. Once we get better compliance there, we'll request that scorecards be turned in from time to time, and check for ESC compliance, and match posted scores against the cards.

4 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Our club handicap chairman is more relaxed but no less strict about it, he just tells everyone to post every valid round and put down what they shoot no matter what the conditions while abiding by all the rules that they know. His stance is that as you get better or worse, your scores will more accurately reflect your scoring potential. He does not like practice rounds at all, just post everything.

I'm actually pretty relaxed too, we're not in a position to be very rigid.  I've been a member for a long time, and I just talk to a lot of the people.  The pro and the rest of the committee members also takes on some of the responsibility for talking to people.  At some point, we'll need to do some "enforcement", but that's not the right thing to do at this time.

 

 

 

[Grumpter]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 5:43 PM, Fourputt said:

Not sure that I'd have much respect for a pro who advocated cheating.  That's like a cop saying that if you are the only car you can see on the road, it's okay to ignore traffic laws.  Both put into question the integrity of the authority figure.

I think it is going to be a lot more common than you would like. It wouldn't be the first time I heard it this year from a club pro or pro shop employee.

[newtogolf]

11 minutes ago, Grumpter said:

I think it is going to be a lot more common than you would like. It wouldn't be the first time I heard it this year from a club pro or pro shop employee.

Unfortunately I agree, especially at private clubs.  Club pro's are in a tough spot because they have to maintain the integrity of their memberships handicap but accusing the wrong member could put them out of a job.  

My guess is they will not go out of their way to catch people posting scores as singles but will follow up on those that are reported by other members.  

[paininthenuts]

Playing a round solo? Not that bad, but to be honest I would rather do it on my own !!

[Golfingdad]

Relevant article" http://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-eight-absolute-worst-things-about-playing-golf-solo?mbid=social_facebook

And the portion regarding not posting scores:

Quote

Unable to input score into GHIN handicap system

Golf is trying to make the game more accessible and inclusive, which is why the USGA ruled that scores recorded when playing alone are disqualified for your handicap. Oh wait, that's in direct opposition to the sport's welcoming initiative.

Something odd about calling yourself a game of integrity, only to turn around and say, "But yeah, you need an observer for your round, because we don't trust you."

 

[DaveP043]

4 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Unfortunately I agree, especially at private clubs.  Club pro's are in a tough spot because they have to maintain the integrity of their memberships handicap but accusing the wrong member could put them out of a job.  

My guess is they will not go out of their way to catch people posting scores as singles but will follow up on those that are reported by other members.  

This is the specific reason that the Handicap Committee is required to be made up primarily of members, and the Committee Chair cannot be a club employee.  I can understand why this happens at public facilities, but at private clubs there's really no excuse, outside of lack of knowledge of the handicap system in general.

[boogielicious]

21 hours ago, newtogolf said:

It's funny how people get so caught up in lowering their handicap that they forget their lower handicap works against them in competition.  

Agreed. I play regularly with three retired friends. They don't keep an official HC, but we use their scores to calculate it. When they have a bad round, they don't want to include it. That just hurts their chances to take money from me!

[newtogolf]

54 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Agreed. I play regularly with three retired friends. They don't keep an official HC, but we use their scores to calculate it. When they have a bad round, they don't want to include it. That just hurts their chances to take money from me!

It's crazy but the ego is a powerful thing.  I got caught up in the vanity capping at my last club because my friend that sponsored me in joining the club convinced me that I'd have a tough time getting into games with a 20+ handicap.  Whenever we'd play he'd keep score and it was obvious he was manipulating his score and mine, fortunately I didn't play with him that often.  What's funny is that when we did play during the week he'd tell me how much money he lost over the weekend playing the money games.  

In the end it worked against him because some of the bigger money games were 2 against 2 best ball and eventually no one wanted to partner with him because his game wasn't as good as his handicap and his playing partners would have to carry him all 18 holes or lose money too.  

[Valleygolfer]

3 hours ago, newtogolf said:

In the end it worked against him because some of the bigger money games were 2 against 2 best ball and eventually no one wanted to partner with him because his game wasn't as good as his handicap and his playing partners would have to carry him all 18 holes or lose money too.  

I worry about this. Which is why I am predisposed to count every stroke. I already feel like my handicap is too low for the way I play. One day I am lights out and the next I play a round twice my cap.

[JonMA1]

Wish I could remember it verbatim, but I heard someone recently say something like "You get used to playing that way (not by the rules) then one day find yourself in a situation where you have to play the game right... and it's going to be ugly".

[Elmer]

On 5/24/2016 at 11:27 PM, JonMA1 said:

Wish I could remember it verbatim, but I heard someone recently say something like "You get used to playing that way (not by the rules) then one day find yourself in a situation where you have to play the game right... and it's going to be ugly".

I think there are a lot more people out there who have never learned the rules. I know some golfers and have encountered golfers who just started playing on the course with some buddies.
When you spend you life just going out with some buddies to hit the ball around, with no money on the line, no wagers, nothing to play for but pride, they never learn about OB's or any of these rules.

Golf is unlike any other sport. If you start playing baseball/basketball/football as a kid, you start on a team, with skills and instructions. the rules are modified, but it is still the same sport, unlike golf.
Golf is the only sport I can think of where on any given day on any given course half the golfers are playing strictly by the rules and the other half may not be.

I know a 80 year old Vet whose clock is ticking down, quickly, he does not bother to tee off on 1/2 the holes and may not put on the other half, but he is happy to be out there. Who am I to tell him he is not playing "Golf"?

 

[JonMA1]

10 hours ago, Elmer said:

I know a 80 year old Vet whose clock is ticking down, quickly, he does not bother to tee off on 1/2 the holes and may not put on the other half, but he is happy to be out there. Who am I to tell him he is not playing "Golf"?

 

I can't argue with this^^^. Hope I didn't come across as judgmental. I agree, golf is whatever an individual chooses it to be.

[cutchemist42]

On 17/05/2016 at 10:16 PM, boil3rmak3r said:

I am creating this topic after reading through the thread about the USGA's decision to not allow solo golf rounds be posted for handicap purposes....

In the very early years of my golf endeavor (well before I ever thought about establishing an official handicap), I learned that it would be virtually impossible for me to play a round of golf by myself while adhering strictly to the rules of golf.  Once I did establish a handicap, I always deemed my solo rounds as practice rounds (no matter what).  For me, I just can't help myself to do some "practice" when I'm playing alone.  Heck, when I play alone, I usually can't get past the 4th hole before my brain turns into practice mode.  I may re-hit a shot because I did so poorly on my first attempt; or I may re-hit a shot to see if I can replicate the great results I got the first time.  It's just not the same as when I play with a group of guys.  The funny thing is, when I play with a group, this mentality never even crosses my mind.  I play all rounds with a group strictly by the rules. 

My first question is, does anyone else fall into the same boat as me?  Do you struggle to play a round of golf by yourself and never stray from the rules?

My second question is for the guys that say they play a lot of solo rounds strictly by the rules.  I hope these lines of questions aren't off-putting.  Remember, these questions are coming from someone that does not have the willpower to do what you say you do and is skeptical because of that:

-  Have you never played a round that was just terrible and decided not to post your score?
-  Have you never re-hit a shot from off the green (even if you didn't "count" that shot)?
-  Have you never lost a ball and decided not to go back to the tee box to re-hit for the sake of time?
-  Have you never missed that 2' putt, chalked it up to just rushing it, and just gave yourself that putt?
-  Have you never left the pin in the hole when you putted out to save time?

I'm just in awe at how many folks say they can play golf alone and play 100% by the rules.  I may try to make a concerted effort to do it sometime.  I'd probably be fighting my "practice" mode mentality with my "it's a real golf round" mentality the entire way.

Jason

 

 

 

I dont keep an official RCGA handicap, but have a handicap on GameGolf.

-  Have you never played a round that was just terrible and decided not to post your score? Doesnt apply to me
-  Have you never re-hit a shot from off the green (even if you didn't "count" that shot)? Actually no. I've spent time putting on a past green if the group above is slow and no one is behind me. I forget if thats against official rules or not?
-  Have you never lost a ball and decided not to go back to the tee box to re-hit for the sake of time? Yes, and this rule is complicated for me. I hit the proper tee shots for OBs and when I think I wont find it in a provisional. However, we've all had times where myself and playing partners watched the ball, saw it bounce, and still cant find it. I adhere to the "gallery" rule sometimes that that ball would have been seen on the Tour. 
-  Have you never missed that 2' putt, chalked it up to just rushing it, and just gave yourself that putt? Im actually proper on this, finish the putt. No gimmes for birdie/par putts. No excuses for 3 putts.
-  Have you never left the pin in the hole when you putted out to save time? No on this as well, as I dont think it really takes up that much time to do it properly.

[9wood]

Take any given hole you have played. The same hole you got a birdie on one day and feel you've mastered the hole, then you ended up with a double bogey on the exact same hole on another occasion. One day you're one under for the hole and on another day you're two over on the same hole for a three stoke swing on the same hole. Funny how that works isn't it. 

[boil3rmak3r]

I appreciate everyone's responses on this.  I was out of town all weekend and didn't get a chance to play with my group.   I did, however, go out earlier tonight and played "some game that resembled golf."  In all honesty, I told myself to try to adhere to all rules.  That went out the window on hole 3 where I had an extreme lie in which the ball was a foot above my feet and was downhill.  I didn't hit a terrible second shot, but it went to the right.  The result was playable.  I decided to hit another shot from that lie to see how I might do it better.  "Official" round over (I know, official rounds are always a no go now).

Anyway, I want to specifically tell @dave2512 that I appreciate your feedback.  I know there are many guys out there like you and didn't mean anything bad.  Just know, there are some guys like me, and we're not all bad either.

Edited May 31, 2016 by boil3rmak3r

[Elmer]

On 5/27/2016 at 8:24 PM, JonMA1 said:

I can't argue with this^^^. Hope I didn't come across as judgmental. I agree, golf is whatever an individual chooses it to be.

No problem. I think there is elitism that is in the golf community. Those that think "golf" is only those who play exactly by the rules, for handicapping purposes and competitively.

I played a shamble format this past weekend, I didnt use the score for a handicap or to compare myself to other golfers. I told my wife I played golf.
What does anyone else care?

[Braivo]

On 5/18/2016 at 0:14 AM, Lihu said:

Playing solo is a different game for me. I know there are rulings I would not know how to handle, so solo rounds are a time to relax. I'd be lying if I said I play every time exactly by the rules, even though I try.

I play often by myself. Last year, when they counted for handicap, I would play 100% by the rules. Now that they don't count I don't sweat the small stuff though I still keep score to measure my progress. Sometimes I'll hit a shot twice for practice, or give myself the 1' putt instead of finishing out. I am really out there to just find some peace and quiet in my otherwise busy life.