Is "Competitive Golf" losing interest?

[DaveP043]

14 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Membership is way up but participation in tournaments is flat or slightly lower.  Many golfers don't like the pressure of tournament play and many are vanity cappers so they don't feel they can win, not because they vanity cap but because of sandbaggers.  

In my experience, most of the vanity-cappers think that someone who posts all his scores and plays by the rules is sandbagging.  They blame those people, instead of looking at their own faulty handicap.

[newtogolf]

29 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

In my experience, most of the vanity-cappers think that someone who posts all his scores and plays by the rules is sandbagging.  They blame those people, instead of looking at their own faulty handicap.

Exactly Dave and that was my point.  I'm finding most vanity cappers don't know they are vanity cappers.  They don't realize a foot wedge here, a mulligan there, a few gimmes and a dropped ball rather than hitting a provisional or going back to the tee can have a pretty big impact on ones score.  

I used to play with vanity cappers so in effect I was one too, the vanity cappers I played with had convinced themselves and me that the rules bending was common and for the sake of pace of play.  The net result was my handicap was lower than it is today (even though I'm a much better golfer than I was then) but it wasn't legit and when I played in tournaments I was at a disadvantage because I should have been getting more strokes.  

When the vanity cappers play in a tournament under all the RoG, their scores are much higher than usual so they have no chance to win gross and because their handicaps are lower than they should be, they have no chance at net either.  They automatically assume people sandbagged because their score relative to their handicap wasn't as far off as theirs.  

[metbid]

21 hours ago, Jeremie Boop said:

This is the first year I've actually taken part in any competitions, so I voted increase because I don't really know any different. I may have jumped the gun a bit on the "increase" vote I put in there because I can't know for sure.

You know it is up at least by one :)

[WUTiger]

Hard to say. We have several subgroups in our club, and participation seems to be steady.

The club has several themed scrambles which draw mostly members and close friends, and they generally fill up. And, Walters Golf Management sponsors scrambles between Stonewolf and nearby Far Oaks.

Our seniors group plays team scrambles a couple of times a week - teams selected on first tee by blind draw. It's a $5 buy-in per person, and we normally have 3 or 4 foursomes per outing. Mild competition, with braggin' rights stronger reward than cash flow.

And, several of our 40-somethings play events on the GolfWeek Am Tour (Edwin Watts), the Golf Channel Am Tour (Srixon), and - if it's still around - the am tour named after one of the Anheuser-Busch beers. 

One phenomenon at the club - this year six of our seniors are downsizing and moving to Florida. They bought retirement homes on the course around 1998, and significantly shaped Stonewolf's friendly culture. The rest of us will miss them. If this continues, it may thin out the ranks of the senior "league."

I have no sense of how the Millennials view competition and golf, although the young adults who show up seem to know what they're doing with a golf club.

[DrvFrShow]

I don't participate in competitive golf anymore for a number of reasons. 1) they tee off too early in the morning and I need my sleep; 2) Hitting drivers + LW on 5000 yd courses feels just weird; 3) lost interest in it. 

My casual playing partner is a 71 year old woman and we play from the men's tees most of the time unless they're over 6000 yds.Then we'll move up to the senior tees. She hits a 220 yd drive and a 200 yd 3W. My problem this year is that I didn't practice ... hardly at all. 

[Psyber]

On 9/22/2016 at 1:21 PM, krupa said:

Are these new members also new golfers?  

I'm not a good golfer and so I don't bother with my club's tournaments.  I don't mind losing when it's competitive, but I see no value in donating.

(I don't know if golfers use the same terminology, so in case you don't know, in pool (pocket billiards) circles, "donating" means that you're playing in a tournament even though you have no chance to win it.  i.e., you're donating your entry fee to the prize fund.)

I you don't do some donating how will you improve your tournament play? All educations come with a price.

[krupa]

4 minutes ago, Psyber said:

I you don't do some donating how will you improve your tournament play? All educations come with a price.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying, "You [krupa] don't play tournaments because your tournament play is bad and it won't improve without playing in tournaments."

If the first part of that statement was true, I would agree with the entire thing.  However, the reason I'm not playing tournaments is not because my tournament play is bad, I don't play tournaments because I suck at golf.

I do play pool tournaments that I know I can't win but I also know that I'm a better-than-average pool player.

[JxQx]

I know the one thing stopping me from playing more competitive golf is that a lot of the events are during the week. If there were more events on weekends I would probably participate more.

[Psyber]

3 minutes ago, krupa said:

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying, "You [krupa] don't play tournaments because your tournament play is bad and it won't improve without playing in tournaments."

If the first part of that statement was true, I would agree with the entire thing.  However, the reason I'm not playing tournaments is not because my tournament play is bad, I don't play tournaments because I suck at golf.

I do play pool tournaments that I know I can't win but I also know that I'm a better-than-average pool player.

Fair enough. I took it as you didn't play because you didn't perform well in competitive golf. Hopefully you can enjoy the tournaments when you improve more.

[Groucho Valentine]

Im noticing a massive decline in medal competition at the club level. The club championship at the course i play the most only had 45-50 players in it this past weekend, including women and seniors. (which i choked away by bogeying the last four holes yesterday.. ). The championship flight only had 7 players in it.  But partner tournaments are still as strong as they've been from what i can recall. 

Edited September 26, 2016 by Groucho Valentine

[easyjay39402]

Net tournament play participation has fallen off the cliff at our club over the past two years, largely because of sandbaggers ... the same two or three guys always win.  (Do the women golfers have this problem?) We don't have a handicap committee, and no one - myself included - wants to be confrontational.  But we play with these guys every week and watch them manipulate their HIs in the run up to the big paying events.

There has been a big increase in subgroups, especially the younger members. They play gross and for significant sums. Perhaps that is why they do not play net ...

[Hoganman1]

Our tournament participation has decreased significantly over the last decade. One reason is the fabric of our club is changing. Thirty years ago when I joined the average member was around 50 and most were salesmen or small business owners. Golf was extremely important to them and tournaments were a big deal. Today our average member is a 45 year old doctor, lawyer, or banker. Most are what I call social golfers. They don't play that often, but when they do they play in guest days  or member- guest tournaments where the emphasis is on drinking, eating, and partying. Of course there is nothing wrong with "social" golf. It's just not for me. I like to walk 18, carry my bag, and beat my buddies in $2 Nassau's. I still play in club championships, but usually avoid the other events.

[bkuehn1952]

On 9/22/2016 at 0:49 PM, Club Rat said:

... participation in competitive competition seems to be decreasing ...Any thoughts?

I agree except for certain segments.  Our City Championship formerly was sold out every year (156 spots).  Over the past 10 years the number of entrants has slowly declined and this year we had less than 100.

At the same time, the City Senior Championship has increased in participation and actually had more entrants than the regular championship.  Our club-without-real-estate runs 13 single day net events and all but two events were sold out (110 or so players).  We anticipate 2017 will be completely filled.  The state golf association (GAM) has been adding more events each year and most of the "net", 2-man and senior male events are over-subscribed.

My conclusion is that competitions for seniors (age 50+), "net" and 2-man team events are booming. Gross stroke play events are hurting.

If I had to hazard a guess, many seniors retire early or work a limited schedule (like me) and have the time to practice, play, and compete.  Younger players have more competition for their time.  Also, we hacks of all ages are in the majority as far as the golf population and "net" and team events fit better with our games.

[JonMA1]

I really want to compete in a tournament - even it's just one to see whether I'd do ok or fold under the "pressure".

I just don't know of any close to my area. I also don't know anything about how much the fees are or how they setup the different skill levels. There's a little bit of insecurity with regards to my knowledge of the handicap system and the rules of different formats.

Still, I'd sign up in a heartbeat if it was an easy deal.

[DeadMan]

For my men's club, the long term trend is downward, but we've held more or less steady the past 2/3 years.

[Kalnoky]

On 9/23/2016 at 5:11 AM, DaveP043 said:

In my experience, most of the vanity-cappers think that someone who posts all his scores and plays by the rules is sandbagging.  They blame those people, instead of looking at their own faulty handicap.

This rings of truth to me. 

I have not played any tournaments, but I confident a lot of the handicaps I hear quoted are fantasy. This not golf experience speaking (I have little next to none) this is just 17 years in marketing and business development and reading people. Someone who is full of hot air in all other aspects of their life will probably be full of hot air in the clubhouse too.

 

[chilepepper]

13 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

I really want to compete in a tournament - even it's just one to see whether I'd do ok or fold under the "pressure".

I just don't know of any close to my area. I also don't know anything about how much the fees are or how they setup the different skill levels. There's a little bit of insecurity with regards to my knowledge of the handicap system and the rules of different formats.

Still, I'd sign up in a heartbeat if it was an easy deal.

   Have you checked out your states golf association? The one I belong to , SCGA, has numerous tournaments throughout the year for all levels.

[phillyk]

At my course, any scramble event, whether it is a one person, two person, or four, always gets a great turnout.  When it's a best ball type event, it's hard to find enough people.  But, our men's league plays 9 holes wednesday nights during the summer and that gets filled super fast.  So, it depends on type of event I guess.