Playing a 9-hole Counting Medal Round an 18 - hole Course

Now heres one for you guys !!

We normaly have a Wednesday medal every week over 18 holes, but now because of getting dark early they have reduced it to 9-holes over the front 9 of the course (Counting Competition)

Facts = Par of course 69, par of front 9 = 35 & back 34 / My handicap is 8. (7.5)

On the computer they have setup a new course with the 1-9 stroke index to reflect the 9 holes & also
we are playing a stableford competition.

Anyway last week i went round in 38 which is 3 over, 19 points i thought, entered into the computer comes up with 18 points. I questioned this with the match secratary he says oh, its not as straight forward as half the handicap, the handicap is worked out based on your exact handicap.

Im not sure what equation was involved to work out the strokes, but it turns out i only get 3 strokes for the 9, this suprises me as the front 9 is a higher par than the back. Lastnight i managed to claw myself round in 2-over 37 which added up to 19 points.

Ayone have any thoughts on this ??, seems dodgy to me !!

Sounds like css for front nine is one below the par.

That is possible but after the comp the CSS was PAR !!

dr_peeps wrote:That is possible but after the comp the CSS was PAR !!

I'm guessing that s_r meant the SSS is 1 under par? The CSS is variable, depends on what scores are returned on the day whereas the SSS is fixed.

Forget about the CSS or SSS its the handicap calculations that are odd, based on your exact handicap eg playing off 7.5 (8) only got 3 shots)

I briefly saw the equation used to calculate my shots for the 9, cant remember what it was but the answer was 3.25, also par 69 & 35 were involved with a bit of dividing involved. seems complicated.

Think ive worked out the maths

Par of course 69 + Exact handicap 7.5 = 76.5
76.5 / by 2 = 38.25
38.25 - par of nine 35 = 3.25

3 shots !! got it !!

dr_peeps wrote:Think ive worked out the maths

Par of course 69 + Exact handicap 7.5 = 76.5
76.5 / by 2 = 38.25
38.25 - par of nine 35 = 3.25

3 shots !! got it !!

Your maths is correct but not actually sure you've got that right. I don't think exact handicap would come into it, it would be either 7 or 8, in your case 8 which would give you the following results:

Par of course 69 + Exact handicap 8 = 77
77 / by 2 = 38.5
38.5 - par of nine 35 = 3.5

3.5 = 4 shots.

I think

DP (unfortunate contraction): So, using that calculation method you get 3 shots on the par 35 nine, and 4 on the par 34 nine? That sounds counter-intuitive

Drive for show, i only got 3 shots though !!, i was told it is based on exact handicap !!.

The back nine doesnt really matter as we don't play it, its calculated that you get 18 points for the back 9.

I told you this was a dodgy setup, if legal ??

Regardless of calculations, it should work that if playing handicap is 8. Over 9 holes rregardless 4 strokes should be received under the way that S.I is calculated. Unless they formed their on way of working this out a have for want of a better term "done you out of a shot"

dr_peeps wrote:Drive for show, i only got 3 shots though !!, i was told it is based on exact handicap !!.

The back nine doesnt really matter as we don't play it, its calculated that you get 18 points for the back 9.

I told you this was a dodgy setup, if legal ??

If they "give you" 18 points for the back nine, could it be that there are only 3 holes on the front nine that have a SI below 8?? If so it sounds like they are fr1gging it, rather than doing things correctly?

DOesn't make much sense to me either. Surely you should get 35 69ths of your handicap on the front 9 and 34 69ths on the back 9. For 7.5 this would give you four shots on each 9 and off 7 would give you 4 on the front and 3 on the back.

Although I do think it is a great idea that the club has reduced no of holes competitions. More clubs should do this, including having medals over 9 holes or even 6. Personally I think this, the ability to gain or maintain a handicap without having to commit to a 4 hour plus round on a weekend, would do much more to encourage golf participation and club membership than power play ever will.

Isn't a handicap counting competition over 9 holes a little bit of a joke anyway?
Sounds like we're in danger of getting into the US system when you can walk off after 9 holes and hand it in as a counter.

The reason the 9 hole comp is setup is that theres not enough light to get everyone round 18 holes on the Wednesday night now. They have made it a counter because if they didn't no-one would play, this has been proven at the club over time. Its the only time 9 hole cards are accepted you can walk off on a Saturday after nine resulting in a NR & 0.1 as you would expect!!.

The American system is dodgy, you can play any course and decide if you want to put the card in or not. not much risk in that !!

The biggest issue is im not convinced there is a SSS for the 9 holes the SSS is for the 18 holes as a package. To be honest the front 9 is easier anyway, so i guess dropping a shot is a small price to pay. Also its the same system for everyone playing so atleast its an even playing field !! or is it ??

In order for your club to hold qualifying competitions over a nine hole course the EGU should have been assessed the 9 holes for an SSS.

The below has been extracted from the EGU website.

22.3 A Nine-Hole Competition Handicap shall be calculated as follows:

[Exact Handicap + Nine-Hole SSS – (Nine-Hole Par x2)] / 2
For example, if the player has an Exact Handicap of 12.8 and the Nine-Hole SSS and Par are 69 and 34 respectively the Nine-Hole Competition Handicap is:
[12.8 + 69 – (34 x2)] / 2= [12.8 + 69 – 68] / 2 = 6.9 rounded to 7

By my reckoning for you too have received just three shots the SSS must have been assessed as either 68 or 69

SR I agree that you should not be able to quit after 9 holes of a full round and hand in a card, that could be open to abuse. But if the medal is set up as a 9 holer then what's the issue? It should be clear at the start of the round the number of holes to be completed.

I would also make it mandatory to hand in a card if you start a medal and if you don't a NR should be recorded. I know plenty of players who will not enter their card after a bad one.

Caito wrote:

I would also make it mandatory to hand in a card if you start a medal and if you don't a NR should be recorded. I know plenty of players who will not enter their card after a bad one.

Perhaps I'm missing something - but this just doesn't make sense

NR = No Return ... so surely if you don't hand in a card, that is (by definition) a NR

You would think so, I could be wrong but my understanding is that it only registers as a NR if you actually submit the card (or enter it on the computer). Then it is an NR, if you don't it is as if you had never started.

Not in the UK

If you are talking about somewhere other than the UK a NR should be renamed a "CBA"

I'm in the UK. I'm just surprised the club are tracking who actually starts and then recording the NRs.

I would think every club knows who has entered. If they fail to show and not register then I'm not sure what position is - but if you register then you are automatically in - and therefore a no return is (by definition) a NR