Playing "Alone" Doesn't Count Anymore Sez USGA

[sp0rtsfan86]

Well there go most if not all of my rounds. I get it, but still in summer out here when it's 105-110 no one wants to play ever.

[RoverRick]

For the record, I told the Proshop today that since I was playing by myself, it didn't count as a round. So they should not charge me. They did not read the rule that was. Haha

 

(I pay the same whether I play or not but I thought I would ask.)

[sp0rtsfan86]

So just another add on: Someone leaves after 9. Does it count or not now? What if a group now wants to slow down? Do I have to wait on them?

 

USGA opened a can of worms with this one. Luckily, I play enough that if I really felt like posting a handicap, I have enough people that will "verify" my score because I take pride in my handicap.

[PlaidJacket]

 

 

I'm confident that my handicap is accurate and of late it's been up, up and away - I wish I didn't have to post some of the scores that I've been shooting.

 

I feel your pain Rev. I just posted an 83 from yesterday. As some of you might be aware my goal this season was to initially shave 2 points off my handicap which I did by early summer. My revised goal was to drop my handicap below a 6 to somewhere between 5.5 and 5. I'm having some doubts right now. Yesterday I shot an 83 which included 2-doubles and triple. Good grief! But boy did I have fun doing it.

[fozcycle]

I read this last night but I was home alone, so I wasn't sure if it counted as a rule or not.

I checked, it didn't count so you have to reread it and have it attested.

[wbealsd]

I often play solo, simply because I've retired earlier than most of the folks I'm used to playing with, but most of them never post scores to maintain a handicap.

 

I've only paid the GHIN fee for convenience to track my progress, or lack of it anyway, so I'll probably just quit bothering with it and average my scores for an estimate.

[revkev]

Wbeal there are plenty of places that will track your handicap without giving you an official GHN.  In the end I think this is much ado about nothing - people that want to cheat will still cheat and people who play in regular events that require a legitimate handicap will have no trouble posting enough rounds to establish one.

 

It's not going to stop me from playing alone on occasion I just won't post those scores - I've never felt comfortable posting those scores anyway.

[MattF]

Wbeal there are plenty of places that will track your handicap without giving you an official GHN.

 

You could join The Grint for free. They use the offical system and you get (at this stage) a GHN.

 

I just sent them an email asking what effect it will have on their service, if any.

[xxio]

For the record, I told the Proshop today that since I was playing by myself, it didn't count as a round. So they should not charge me. They did not read the rule that was. Haha

 

(I pay the same whether I play or not but I thought I would ask.)

Maybe they have a different answer in 2 months

[MattF]

Just received a reply from the Grint.

 

 

 

Hi Matt, good morning,

 

Thank you for contacting us.

 

We are working on it.  We will develop a Tool where you would select if you were playing by yourself or with someone (like it is now, where the other player would Attest your Score).

 

We will announce the new Feature as soon as we have it ready.

 

Thank you for asking.

 

[Kenny B]

The way it sounds to me The Grint will work just like GHIN under USGA.  If you play alone, the score may get posted, but likely won't be reflected in your handicap unless attested by another player, more than likely another Grint player.

 

I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this one.

[ZenGolfer]

I think its stupid but honestly, for most golfers who just like to get out and knock the ball around and have no plans to play competitively, it really doesnt matter anyways.

[BIG STU]

Is it April Fool's already?

It is April Fools day everyday at the good old USGA 24 hours a day 365 days a year.  Those people never fail to amaze me. But in reality other than some folks that I call serious golfers that are on here and other blogs the average "Joe" could care less about a handicap or the USGA for that matter. I was using some software to do mine and honestly I do not know why because I do not play in any amateur sanctioned events anyhow. The bunch I play with knows each other's game and we make matches accordingly and it is pretty evenly matched up.

[Kenny B]

Here's the problem: playng alone, I can post a legitimate medal play score.

 

Playing with somebody else, there are conceded putts and pickups if one is out of the hole.

 

I am amazed that nobody has mentioned this already.

 

This is covered in Section 4-1.

 

Section 4 ADJUSTING HOLE SCORES

4-1. Unfinished Holes and Conceded Strokes

A player who starts, but does not complete a hole or is conceded a stroke must record for handicap purposes the most likely score. The most likely score may not exceed the player's Equitable Stroke Control limit, defined in Section 4-3. This most likely score should be preceded by an "X." (See Decision 4-1/1.) 

 

There is no limit to the number of unfinished holes a player may have in a round, provided that failure to finish is not for the purpose of handicap manipulation.

[NiftyNiblick]

Thank you, Ken.  That's valuable information that I must have known once but have long forgotten.  I appreciate it.

 

-Nifty

[westy]

As my European colleagues have said, single players can't put in handicap cards. But, I do understand why many of you don't like this change.

 

Seems that the UK system is coming closer to US, but at the same time some changes bring you closer to us. Quite frankly it mystifies me how in our global game we don't have one way of doing things.

[~^~]

I predict the USGA will reverse this rule before the end of 2016 when their membership drops off the cliff.

[sp0rtsfan86]

Here's my other thoughts. I carry a handicap or did when I played in one county sanctioned tournament a year. All of the golfers were semi-serious and never saw a truly outrageous sandbag attempt other than a guy who had back surgery and shot 78 on a 20 handicap. That was fishy to say the least, but when I played him, he honestly played like a 15 or 16 in match play. So now I have to find serious golfers, schedule a tee time and have them verify a score. At some point, I wish they would just all out commit to having the club pro put in scores. I get that they have a lot of other responsibilities but if they know the membership well, they'd probably be able to tell the sandbaggers and the real golfers apart. Complex issue, but one that the USGA seems to have made a lot more difficult.

[revkev]

Here's my other thoughts. I carry a handicap or did when I played in one county sanctioned tournament a year. All of the golfers were semi-serious and never saw a truly outrageous sandbag attempt other than a guy who had back surgery and shot 78 on a 20 handicap. That was fishy to say the least, but when I played him, he honestly played like a 15 or 16 in match play. So now I have to find serious golfers, schedule a tee time and have them verify a score. At some point, I wish they would just all out commit to having the club pro put in scores. I get that they have a lot of other responsibilities but if they know the membership well, they'd probably be able to tell the sandbaggers and the real golfers apart. Complex issue, but one that the USGA seems to have made a lot more difficult.

Yes but what happens if you don't belong to a club? This is a no win scenario for the USGA and it makes no sense at this time. Way more significant issues facing golf like how to get the average length of a round back closer to three hours or how to make the game more fun for more people.

 

There has always been sandbagging. I don't see any evidence that it is either more or less prevalent now that it was in the old days.

[Kenny B]

For the last several years my wife and I belongs to a club where I did not record any scores.  We played there mainly for fun and practice.  The reason was the course was mis-rated IMO.  I think the pro who built the course bribed the raters; again, JMO.  If I recorded into GHIN every round this last year that I played at this course, I would be scratch.  I can shoot par about half the time.  It's a short course that sets up well for me; it is imperative to be in the short grass, but I don't have to hit it long.  The greens stimp about 4; you get used to it, but then it's difficult to play any other course.  

 

So, we joined an "eClub" and have been recording scores at all the other courses we played.  There is no physical club.  I don't know any of the members, and I guess they are probably like me and are not members of a golf club in the area.  Now that we joined a nice club in town, we will move our GHIN membership and that will allow us to play in the Men's and Women's events at our new club.  

[NiftyNiblick]

As a mostly weekday player, I don't play in our club's  formal events except to reciprocate member-guest invitations.

 

Golf is strictly social and / or recreational for me these days.  At this point I'm not ultra-competitive in my approach.

 

The bets among my gang of geriatrics are nothing to loose sleep about, and I continue to play with ever-diminishing skills because it still doesn't hurt so much that it's not a lot of fun. 

 

As we all know here, it's quite a game that we have, this regardless of the level of intensity with which we approach it.

 

I just like having a handicap to see what I've got left, and the reminder about how to turn in cards from match play rounds becomes important now that the solo round scores won't count anymore.

[Guest Electric Pig]

It's probably been said before but:

 

You've been allowed to submit cards without them being signed by a marker (you know, like every other competition or tournament?) Wow. It would be nice to be off 18 again...

 

Welcome to the way the rest of the world does it- in accordance with rule 6.6. The marker checks the score with the competitor, and the competitor makes sure the marker has signed the card before it is submitted. If neither of those are met (because, for example, there is no marker), in simple but absolute terms the round has not been played in accordance with the rules of golf, and should not be taken in to account.

 

But what would I know. I'm only a rules official in a non USGA realm, where the handicap requirements make all this quite clear.