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McLaren wrote:Ben

I am not doubting jas and believe him that the guy handed in a score for 51 points. I am just astonished by 51 points, as I said this is a score that I have never seen before. This is more about acknowledging the rarity of this event.

We are talking rarer than a hole in one, this guy has shot a nett score that only a handful people will ever have shot.

It just seems like others on here are not as blown away by a 20 handicapper shooting +5 as I am.

As a junior in the early 80s, I shot a nett 56 (a +4 or 5 round I think) and a 58 in the same Summer. I didn't cheat, but I did get cut a lot that year.

McLaren wrote:Super

I am currently under no pressure thankfully. Like you I am too selfish. I meet friends with kids and they ask incredulously "How come you have so much time to play golf or play playstation". The answer is simple. Every evening and weekend are yours if you don't have kids.

Like you I am too selfish to give that up. Plus I hate children.

Jesus H, I’ve just realised you 2 could have been the inspiration for the writers of Still Game!!

I haven't watched that Jas. It is that Scottish working class thing I don't engage with.

McLaren wrote:I haven't watched that Jas. It is that Scottish working class thing I don't engage with.

Yes Mac, it's about two weedgie coffin dodging peasants who live in a high rise building in some fictional armpit of Glesgae.

I remember my parents watching it back in the day. I felt ashamed that the liked it.

McLaren wrote:I remember my parents watching it back in the day. I felt ashamed that the liked it.

I was the same about Rab C Nesbitt as it represented everything I hate about Scotland. I still despise Elaine C Smith to this very day (she was an actress in it) who is basically as  scummy as the character she plays, a real poster child of the SNP. I also find Frankie Boyle to be extraordinarily unfunny and toe curlingly embarrassing.

super_realist wrote:

McLaren wrote:I remember my parents watching it back in the day. I felt ashamed that the liked it.

I was the same about Rab C Nesbitt as it represented everything I hate about Scotland. I still despise Elaine C Smith to this very day (she was an actress in it) who is basically as  scummy as the character she plays, a real poster child of the SNP. I also find Frankie Boyle to be extraordinarily unfunny and toe curlingly embarrassing.

Whilst I also find all those programs cringeworthy, probably because they’re quite accurate :-/ They are still funny in places. I think Frankie “where’s the line I’m going to cross today” Boyle is great mainly because he’s the politically correct, professionally offended’s worst nightmare. What about Kevin Bridges then Super? I find him hilarious even though he’s a rampant jungle Jim and quite gratuitously rips the pish out of Rangers when the opportunity presents itself.

Frankie Boyle used to be good until he turned all woke and right on. Trouble with most comedians is they have a limited shelf life, and he's well past his. Boyle used to attack everyone, now he only attacks those who don't share the same politics as him, and he's a rabid independence supporter too.

Bridges is fine, not fantastic but tells a good story rather than being all that funny, it's more the way he tells it, bit like Mickey Flanagan. Generally safe and gentle humour which is preferable to Boyle who blatantly tries too hard now and comedians that hint towards their political views are really really boring i.e. Nish Kumar who simply isn't funny at all.

super_realist wrote:Frankie Boyle used to be good until he turned all woke and right on. Trouble with most comedians is they have a limited shelf life, and he's well past his. Boyle used to attack everyone, now he only attacks those who don't share the same politics as him, and he's a rabid independence supporter too.

Bridges is fine, not fantastic but tells a good story rather than being all that funny, it's more the way he tells it, bit like Mickey Flanagan. Generally safe and gentle humour which is preferable to Boyle who blatantly tries too hard now and comedians that hint towards their political views are really really boring i.e. Nish Kumar who simply isn't funny at all.

You mean he suddenly turned pish when you realised his political views weren’t aligned to yours? Good job he’s a comedian and not a politician then eh? I saw a fairly right wing comedian at the fringe a couple of years ago, I thought he was hilarious. It wasn’t that he was really right wing but he was certainly anti political correctness. It got even funnier when a scattering of offendeds started walking out. “You’ve got the internet, you know what I’m like...what did you expect...tossers !!” There we’re Irish walking out, gays walking out, women walking out. The funniest bit of all was he clocked this bloke walking and said, “wtf did I say to upset you?” the bloke turned and said, “nothing mate, I thought you were great but that bird that walked just before me...she’s got the car keys!!”

No, he didn't really used to be that political he used to just lay into everyone, then he became quite political around the Independence thing. Like I said, comedians have a limited shelf life and the novelty of Frankie Boyle wore off years ago, he's simply nothing like as funny as he used to be.

That's a great response with the car keys though. I like that. Never understood why anyone walks out of a comedy gig though on the basis of "offence"
The only reason to walk out is of it isn't funny, like a Karen Dunbar or Nish Kumar gig, but then you should know that before you go.

Storm Alex won the day really, the 36 holes event was reduced to just the morning round. I was in the last group out in the morning and from about 14 onwards, we were all having problems keeping the ball on the tee and on the greens it was pretty much impossible getting the ball to come to rest. 2 people broke net 80 in the morning, nobody in the bottom half of the field broke 90. Nothing to be gleaned from yesterday other than don’t play in a named storm again.

Bloody hell Jas. It was flat calm at St Andrews.

I had a turning point at the weekend. New low punch shot from my lessons brought into play. 7 birdies in 36 holes and numerous missed chances for birdie. Looking forward to a good winter of dialling in the scoring clubs and putting.
Turned up at a club match without a putter yesterday too.

JAS wrote:Storm Alex won the day really, the 36 holes event was reduced to just the morning round. I was in the last group out in the morning and from about 14 onwards, we were all having problems keeping the ball on the tee and on the greens it was pretty much impossible getting the ball to come to rest. 2 people broke net 80 in the morning, nobody in the bottom half of the field broke 90. Nothing to be gleaned from yesterday other than don’t play in a named storm again.

Jas the key to playing in a named storm is doing mental exercises in the weeks leading up to it. You have to focus on removing the intimidation factor that comes with a named storm.

super_realist wrote:Bloody hell Jas. It was flat calm at St Andrews.

I had a turning point at the weekend. New low punch shot from my lessons brought into play. 7 birdies in 36 holes and numerous missed chances for birdie. Looking forward to a good winter of dialling in the scoring clubs and putting.
Turned up at a club match without a putter yesterday too.

Oh what I’d have given for flat calm :-p

I was ok initially, obviously it was always going to be attritional and damage limitationy, bogeys ok, pars felt golden. There were still a couple of doubles on the front 9. By the turn we could see others walking in, it was really hideous, really difficult 3 hole spell before birdying 13, after that we turned back into the wind & rain again and it was well nigh impossible. A normally 4 iron wedge hole had become driver rescue & still short, from there on putting just became a farce. I don’t mind a tough test, indeed I enjoy it but that just went beyond it yesterday.

My course was closed over the weekend, JAS - 92 mm rain. (for those in old money about 4 inches).

McLaren wrote:

JAS wrote:Storm Alex won the day really, the 36 holes event was reduced to just the morning round. I was in the last group out in the morning and from about 14 onwards, we were all having problems keeping the ball on the tee and on the greens it was pretty much impossible getting the ball to come to rest. 2 people broke net 80 in the morning, nobody in the bottom half of the field broke 90. Nothing to be gleaned from yesterday other than don’t play in a named storm again.

Jas the key to playing in a named storm is doing mental exercises in the weeks leading up to it. You have to focus on removing the intimidation factor that comes with a named storm.

When did a standard wet and windy day begin to require to be described as a storm with a name?

super_realist wrote:

McLaren wrote:

JAS wrote:Storm Alex won the day really, the 36 holes event was reduced to just the morning round. I was in the last group out in the morning and from about 14 onwards, we were all having problems keeping the ball on the tee and on the greens it was pretty much impossible getting the ball to come to rest. 2 people broke net 80 in the morning, nobody in the bottom half of the field broke 90. Nothing to be gleaned from yesterday other than don’t play in a named storm again.

Jas the key to playing in a named storm is doing mental exercises in the weeks leading up to it. You have to focus on removing the intimidation factor that comes with a named storm.

When did a standard wet and windy day begin to require to be described as a storm with a name?

4 or 5 years ago now, I think it's all a bit of a dumbing down, much easier to say storm Alex, Betty etc than deep severe low pressure area 950Mb at the centre causing wind gusts of up to 70mph and 2 inches of rain in some parts of the circulation. Having said that, giving it a name and assigning all its changeable attributes then tracking it as it develops also helps build up a more accessible storm history for meteorological research. A bit of a storm index as it were.

Trouble is, over in the States NOAA & NHC cover the Atlantic, Caribbean & Pacific hurricane areas and are pretty international. Over here the Irish, French, Spanish & UK Met Services all have their own set of names. I don't know if they have different characteristics for definition of a named storm and how do they decide on whose territorial water the storm became a storm? all a bit duuuh!! Our measurement criteria seems to be based on the likely damage it might do rather than the physical characteristic of the storm itself. Seems a bit odd.

How bad are some of these Europro pipe dreamers? Some hacker has shot +30 for two rounds.

Well that's my season basically finished, very underwhelming performance in my matchplay semi final yesterday. Did well to be only 2 down at the turn to a 13 handicapper who went out in 2 over gross (so 4 under handicap). Hung with it but just couldn't get any momentum building. I thought he might start getting a bit nervy as we got deeper into the back 9 but he didn't. Used his shot holes well, canned a 20 footer on 14 to go 3 up, we both missed the green on 15 but he chipped close meaning that I basically had to hole mine, I didn't, game over. Really disappointing given the opponents I'd put to the sword in the previous 2 rounds but that's handicap matchplay for you, you never know what opponent is going to turn up.

Hard lines Jas.
How are you expecting the World Handicap System to treat you?
Have you had enough good rounds in your last 20 to see you safe Cat 1?

super_realist wrote:Hard lines Jas.
How are you expecting the World Handicap System to treat you?
Have you had enough good rounds in your last 20 to see you safe Cat 1?

I think I'm right on the cusp, having said that, one of my best rounds was an away one (a county comp) which I'm sure the course it was played on has a higher slope rating than ours so I don't know.

That's going to be a fun calculation once next season gets into full swing and I start playing and scoring decent away from home :-p

JAS wrote:

super_realist wrote:Hard lines Jas.
How are you expecting the World Handicap System to treat you?
Have you had enough good rounds in your last 20 to see you safe Cat 1?

I think I'm right on the cusp, having said that, one of my best rounds was an away one (a county comp) which I'm sure the course it was played on has a higher slope rating than ours so I don't know.

That's going to be a fun calculation once next season gets into full swing and I start playing and scoring decent away from home :-p

Do you, and everyone else, think it’s worth having a WHS thread so we can discuss our HI, when we get it, and how we progress or otherwise? Don’t mind setting it up. As our club Handicap Secretary, I have been finding it all a minefield!

Yes definitely LP, I think there will be plenty to discuss in the coming weeks! I was talking to a 2 handicapper at our club at the weekend, he said the average of his best 8 scores in the last 20 qualifiers is 71. Does that make him +1 in November?

Good idea LadyPutt, go for it. Although to be honest at this point in the season I've only got 2 more qualifiers left before the white tees come in, I tend not to play qualifiers off the yellows in winter as SSS is 2 less and having things like a mud ball 6 inches off the fairway frustrates the hell out of me as does trying to swing with 4 or 5 layers on. I won't start qualifiers again until mid/late March. This year may be a bit different as I'm not sure the slope differential between whites and yellows amounts to a full 2 shots but the other discouraging factors are obviously still there.

What date does the new system start?

My understanding is that the start date is Monday 2nd November

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes definitely LP, I think there will be plenty to discuss in the coming weeks! I was talking to a 2 handicapper at our club at the weekend, he said the average of his best 8 scores in the last 20 qualifiers is 71. Does that make him +1 in November?    

Depends on the course difficulty and slope rating of the courses he had those scores on. I think it might also matter what the CSS was on the day i.e how the rest of the field fared on average, but could well be wrong. Apparently everyone with a current competition handicap (e.g more than three counting cards) will be informed before 2nd Nov.

The question would be, why is he off 2? Surely he should be lower if his scores are that good, unless he started from a lot higher, or are they his nett scores?

Yes super nett scores. I guess he is off 2 because in the other 12 scores he didn't make the buffer zone?

If they are nett scores then why would you think he should be plus 1.
If he was +1 he would be below par in his gross score.  His average is 73 gross (71 nett) , which if par is 72 then he is effectively playing to 1 if slope and course index aren't impacting it.

In my experience anyone who is cat one, NEVER talks in terms of nett scores, it's like pulling a push trolley, using iron covers, squatting down to put your tee in the ground or using a sucker to get your ball out of the hole as an indication of your talent.

Super

One thing that I think has helped my game from a young age is that when playing with my dad (which I did a lot) everything was measured against par. By the time I played with him he had stopped playing competition golf, so didn't have a handicap, but would normally go round our home course in a couple over par. Nett scoring just wasn't something we did. This forced me to use par as the benchmark and I think without the crutch of a handicap it made me get better.

Basically what I am saying is that if you ever want to get good at golf you just have to forget about nett scores and aim for par.

Exactly, I haven't played nett golf since I was a junior.

I'm aware that probably comes across as conceited and snobby but it's not intended to. The best way to improve is not to try to equalise the difference between two players with a measurement system which just deludes the lesser player.

Yes, it allows two players of differing ability compete against one another but it doesn't really help them improve.

Doesn't come across as snobby at all. I would recommend to a player of any standard to pick a more ambitious goal than their handicap.

In my first couple of years of golf level 5's was the aim and then aim to break 40 for each nine and then moved to aiming for par as I said above.

Trouble is that most golfers don't want to improve Mac. They're happy remaining bad at the game. Don't quite understand how your interest can be maintained in something you don't get better at but everyone is different.

Sweet Jaysus, I’m actually finding myself concurring with both of you at the same time

Yes sorry I mean't gross scores of course.

New Handicap Index's issued today, anyone had a look at theirs?

BlueCoverman wrote:Yes sorry I mean't gross scores of course.

New Handicap Index's issued today, anyone had a look at theirs?

Not had an email.

My club have issued them and you can also obtain from the England Golf Website.

My new Handicap Index is 6.7, my CONGU is 6.6

I stay at 7 off our yellow tees, increase to 8 off the whites.

BlueCoverman wrote:My club have issued them and you can also obtain from the England Golf Website.

My new Handicap Index is 6.7, my CONGU is 6.6

I stay at 7 off our yellow tees, increase to 8 off the whites.

Scottish Golf must be lagging behind as usual.

New putter in the bag this week. 10 single putts in one round. Will it last?

Super

What was your GIR?

I had four 3 putts yesterday. And the putter isn't to blame.

McLaren wrote:Super

What was your GIR?

I had four 3 putts yesterday. And the putter isn't to blame.

I hit a shocking 8 Mac, uncharacteristically poor off the tee. Funny how when one part of the game isn't working another kicks in to make up for it.

Not saying 10 single putts isn't good whatever the circumstances but I guess you had the chance to chip it closer than you would normally get from a full iron approach?

McLaren wrote:Not saying 10 single putts isn't good whatever the circumstances but I guess you had the chance to chip it closer than you would normally get from a full iron approach?

A couple of the chips were stone dead, but a lot were in the 6-12 foot range so to hole all of them is gratifying.
Could be new putter syndrome but it is a lot easier to line up than all my other putters. Might sound silly.

What is your new putter? Might have to check it out.

Ping Fetch Heppler.

Whereas a chav has tons of kids, I have tons of putters.

This guy?


Is it a bit weird at first having a hole in the back of your putter. The range looks nice. I like the look of the Floki and Ketsch.



Floki


Ketsch



I would probably go for the Ketsch just based on how much confidence I think the shape behind the ball would give me.

It aids with alignment Mac and the lines frame the ball perfectly.
What I like is the length from toe to heel is very short which seems to suit me.

I have the same thing about face length on a putter. The Scotty newports and Answers feel really long and ungainly for me.

McLaren wrote:I have the same thing about face length on a putter. The Scotty newports and Answers feel really long and ungainly for me.

I bought a Scotty Squareback and sold it after one round because it was too long in the face.

super_realist wrote:I bought a Scotty Squareback and sold it after one round because it was too long in the face.

Surely the ideal companion super

BlueCoverman wrote:

super_realist wrote:I bought a Scotty Squareback and sold it after one round because it was too long in the face.

Surely the ideal companion super :laugh: ;)

So true, it's what all his tinder date reviews say about him.