jimbo843

In Germany you're allowed to play 9 holes in a tournament that will have an affect on your HCP, but the other 9 are always assumed to be 18 Stableford points.

Had the test yesterday. Got 31 points from 9 holes which I'm very happy with. I am now "ripe" to play properly! So I have an official HCP of 54 which I want to get down to 28 by the end of Summer. Thanks for your wishes and interest.

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1106/1106.1698.pdf Good luck if you have a PhD in Geometry. And from what my poor addled brain can work out, it only applies if the green is 100% flat.

Thank guys. Gerald - yes, I know you're right. I'm suffering from the problem that I really want to put all I've learnt into practice on the course (and I've not been allowed to play apart from the Course Management lesson where we played 6 holes).That can of course lead to a 250 yd drive - where I end up on the next fairway, still with 200 yds to play on a par 4. I'm tempted to play every hole as a bogey hole (i.e., plan for 4 on a par 3, 5 on a par 4, etc.) because then as long as I make my fake par, I'm in like Flynn. Is it the same process in The Netherlands?

This was posted in another thread: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/usopen/2011/hole-by-hole/ You can see the changes they made for the US Open, and if you click on the "how the hole has played" link you can see average strokes plus individual results. According to that the toughest holes are 2, 10, 11, 14 and 18. Any of those would worry me (plus about 12 out of the 13 remaining holes )

If anyone read my intro in the Welcome section (I suspect not) - apologies for repeating myself. I'm a UK ex-pat living in Germany for the last 10 years. As you may have heard from other European forum members - playing golf in a lot of EU countries ain't as easy as just turning up and paying your fee. You have to go through a "Platzreife" (literally: course ripeness(!)) course. You get 6 group lessons on irons, chipping, putting, course management, etiquette, rules etc.. At the end you do a test on the rules, and then play 9 holes. You need to get 11 Stableford points based on a HCP of 54 (yes, 54). Given the slope index on the course where I'm doing this, effective HCP is 60. So anyway, after hitting many, many, many buckets, making lots of new friends (both on my course, and other members of the club), tomorrow is the big day. We get tested on the rules, and then go out on the front nine and see what we can shoot. I'm aiming for 36 Stableford points tomorrow for the 9 holes tomorrow. Anything about 27 I'll be happy with. Anything less than that I'll be disappointed. I should say that I played golf for about 15 years before I moved to Germany and started a family 10 years ago. So I'm not exactly new, but I was never that good (mid 90's was a good round for me). So wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes, and barring all kinds of disasters, I'll be able to put a handicap number (probably the highest one on the whole board) in my profile tomorrow night.

Had three (for me) great shots, all yesterday playing a 5 hole short course where I took my kids. 1. 271 yd Par 4: I'm not a long hitter, but I got hold of my drive and ended up about 25 yards shy of the front of the green. Gentle wedge into the green, lipped out to couple of feet, birdie! 2. 145 yd Par 3: uphill, next to the clubhouse. First time round I played an 8 iron and put it off the back of the green. Next time I took out the 9 and shanked it. Finally I got everything right and nailed it right into the heart of the green. Best part for me was that I got a bit of backspin (which doesn't happen often) - I could tell from ball position relative to the pitchmark. Two putted for par. 3. 136 yd Par 3: over water, due to some trees you can't see the flag. Great wedge into green, pin high, 15 foot putt for birdie. I'm normally a bogie (plus) golfer, so 2 birdies in a round feels like a great achievement for me.

I've just started playing regularly again after a 10 year break, and have been hitting the range a lot lately. I started with loaner clubs and almost immediately got a massive blister on my middle right finger between the base and the first joint. I spoke to the Pro and he said get some clubs fitted. Since doing that (I have long fingers and needed a thicker grip) they are more in line with what you're all experiencing (base of left hand middle thru pinky).

I sell software in Europe for a Silicon Valley company. My job takes me through Europe weekly, and to the US about 8 times a year. Looking forward to playing some courses outside of Germany.

I'm from Germany, so I'm sure there are others wi a better knowledge than me. That said, I played Chardonnay in January this year in 3 four-balls with some colleagues and we had a great time. The course is very interesting - I don't remember which hole it is but there's a short par 3 downhill where the green is 125yds wide and on four levels. A fair bit of water, lots of sand, some tight holes, some easier. It's set amongst the vineyards, and seemed to be in pretty good condition for the time of year. Staff were friendly and I think we paid ~$70 per head (which may have been discounted for time of year). My only other experience in the US was Spanish Bay, and it doesn't compare to that - but we played there late September and paid $350 (including cart, club hire, balls, glove, tees etc) for a dusk round!!!

Thanks for the welcome At first I was very skeptical about the whole point of doing a course. But I have to say, having almost been through it's done a few things: - given me about 18 hours of group lessons (which I probably wouldn't have bothered with otherwise) - got me known to the Pros, who in turn have introduced me to loads of the members - introduced me to 8 others who are also learning And when I read on here about the issues with slow play that seem to crop up because people can't hit further tha the ladies tee, I have to say thats the main point of it - not to let slow players out onto a course before they're ready.

Hello there. This is Jim: I'm a Brit who's been living in Germany for 10 years. Before I moved here, I played golf pretty regularly (but also pretty badly) in England. I moved to Germany to be with my wife (she's German) and we started a family. Apart from a few rounds with work when I've been travelling overseas, I haven't played for 10 years. It's not easy, or cheap, to play golf in Germany, and apart from a few 6 hole short courses, you need a handicap and a club membership to be able to play at a course. But a renewed interest saw me sign up for a course of six lessons which you need to do before you're allowed out on the course here (you get a handicap of 54 at the end of it). The local club (see avatar) has a couple of Brit pros and they've been a great help in getting me hitting the ball reasonably consistently. I have my final test in the middle of June (need 11 Stableford points from 9 holes). So I thought I'd join this forum to share with you what it's like learning golf in a foreign land, and let you all track my progress. I've just invested in some new clubs (for the first time ever - my set in England are some that I won in a bet!!), and really have found a passion again for hitting that tiny ball into a slightly larger hole a few hundred meters away. Looking forward to making acquaintence with you all! Jim