Those of you who read my musings on the game of golf and, more specifically, the World Handicap System will know I’m a nomadic golfer who submits a card every time he plays.
As I don’t get out as often as I’d like, every round is a special occasion and I enjoy the challenge of knowing every shot counts. If I’m not submitting a card, I feel like something is missing and I don’t get the same level of gratification.
However, I understand golf means different things to different people. If you’re a club member and play in regular competitions, you probably don’t want to be putting a card in every round; casual golf presumably becomes a very attractive option to break up the rhythm of competitive play.
The trouble is, casual and competitive play take different amounts of time. On any given day at any given course, there’s likely to be a mix of members playing casually, members putting in cards, members playing with guests, visitors playing casually and visitors putting in cards.
I’ve written about before about what I perceive to be a growing divide between members and nomadic golfers – not just in terms of handicapping, but also attitudes towards the latter from the former. Everyone needs to remember they’re sharing the fairways with people who may have different motivations. Courtesy, respect and understanding are paramount, but sometimes in short supply.
Anyway, I digress. We recently published a round-table article about whether golfers should put a card in every time you play, which elicited plenty of responses. One of them focussed on the pace-of-play angle and made some good points, which I concede I perhaps hadn’t considered as fully as I should have.
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
“I was very interested in the debate about the World Handicap System and the question of whether a card should be marked and recorded for every round played,” wrote this particular GM reader.
“You are correct in noting that this has become the main topic of clubhouse discussion, even replacing the usual complaints about slow play. Ironically the two are linked as my main objection – which your contributors did not mention – to every casual round being recorded is the effect on slow…
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