Would our handicaps be more reflective of our abilities if we always had to mark a card? Or is social, informal ‘friendly’ golf still too important a part of our enjoyment of the game to let go?
It is a question that has been put into sharper focus by the move towards a World Handicap System. On a golfing vacation in Dubai last year, I was surprised to learn that our resident hosts had to register every score they returned. A similar system already operates in the USA.
My own club has recently increased the number of qualifiers to include all roll-ups but there is still an opt-out choice on the first tee. Some complain that the initiative has slowed play with everyone forced to putt out, others simply prefer the stick-or-twist challenge of the kind of go-for-it golf that is encouraged by a match play duel against good mates for a precious fiver.
I know the range is the correct place to practice swing changes but I also like to experiment a little on the course when time and company allow. A good ‘mulligan’ can teach you a lot. I enjoy the nervous buzz of a ‘counting’ round, I find a different mindset and intensity when my card is in someone else’s back pocket.
Handicaps are one of the great wonders of golf. They promote a unique kind of competition between young and old, men and women, good and erratic. No golfer worth their salt doesn’t want to get their handicap down. A cut is both the kindest and unkindest cut of all.
I prefer to keep qualifiers as special occasions, ‘our’ tournament rounds.
What are your thoughts? Please use the comments area below or on the Facebook post.
Mum, wife, businesswoman, and golfer… but not always in that order since I took up golf 4 years ago. Passionately hooked on a game I thought looked boring until I got the bug. Handicap 18 and falling, I think! Range junkie – can get through 100 balls in a session! – and I play as many times a week as my working life allows. Member at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club, one of the most beautiful courses in the UK (when I play well!). All our holidays are now golfing holidays. Biggest golfing regret – I went to University in St Andrews and never held a club!
Follow Golf Peach online
Website: www.golfpeach.co.uk
Instagram: @golfpeach
Twitter: @golf_peach
