A golf course I used to work at had the perfect system for their competitions.
A club stableford would run all day. Players could enter the online tee sheet as normal and enter the comp if they wanted, or not enter if they didn’t.
It was ideal in the summer. Players nipped around after work, and if they fancied doing a card, they’d leave them under shelter by the pro shop door for me to examine in the morning.
Not to say the club invented fire with this system, but why should competitions look any different?
I played in a roll-up last Saturday. Like the competitions at the club where I worked, players put their names down as normal. Some entered the comp, and some didn’t.
Yellow tees for men, and red tees for women. That’s right – men and women in a stableford in the same group on the same day. What next?
Why should it be any more complicated than that?
It isn’t rare that, when I enter a weekend competition that isn’t a roll-up, I look at the tee sheet on Friday night and see empty spaces, even after the reserve list substitutes have been brought on.
These spaces can’t be filled because the tee sheet is formally logged with a competition. Fancy a game but without a card in your hand? Nope. Either wait until after the last tee time or come back tomorrow.
In the group behind last weekend, a dad and lad were playing. They’d seemingly taken advantage of the open tee sheet, put their names down, and enjoyed a brisk, autumn walk together.
This wouldn’t have been possible if six hours of tee times were full with hackers like me sweating over three-footers for nett bogey. The dad would’ve been locked in this regimented block, with only competitive golfers allowed on the course.
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Roll-up competitions are informal, inclusive and make perfect sense
A roll-up cuts the tension of a regular competition where you’re drawn at a random time with random people. You can choose who you play with, when you play and whether to enter the comp. No biggie either way. Maybe you don’t fancy the stress of a card in your hand. That shouldn’t mean you can’t play.
I’m sure many clubs regularly hold roll-ups at the weekend, which is great. For those of you who always have the benefit of playing in them, that’s great, too. But I wish there were more in my case. The first club I ever joined never had roll-ups. Looking back, they’d have been perfect for me in my development.
Of course, some competitions deserve order. Board competitions and days with steeped trophies on the line should be reserved for competitive golfers. No complaints from me here – all eyes should be on the comp on those occasions.
In a world of pure roll-ups, members might complain that non-competitive golfers flood the tee sheets, leaving those feverish for some action at home.
But weekend tee times have always been fastest-finger first, well before golf’s post-COVID boom. It’s always been dog-eat-dog when pursuing that 9 am slot on a Saturday. I don’t think roll-ups change that.
If you don’t bag the tee time you want, or not one at all, don’t fret. There are other weekends, and consider the players often left on the outside looking in when you and the rest of the medal warriors pull into the car park for a day reserved just for you.
Roll-ups are the perfect onboarding strategy for new members and juniors, too. Put your name down, learn how the card-signing formalities work, then pluck up the courage to submit your own competition card next week.
Most of the time, there is no need for a brick wall on the BRS that says you can’t play unless you’re in the comp.
Lower the drawbridge, leave the tee sheet be and let the players decide for themselves.
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