The 9am sweep you chuck balls into every weekend may well be worth a bit more than the fiver for front, back, and overall. Your handicap could depend on your performance.
Should your clubs count a traditional gathering or roll-up as a competition? If they do, you would have to submit your scorecard.
Let’s look at the process. You go into the pro-shop, sign in, and pay an entry fee. You have a scorecard, you get a marker, you invariably play a measured course, hole out, have a scorecard signed and submitted – either to a committee or into a box or touchscreen.
The scores are checked and prizes are doled out.
Is there any difference between what happens in a competition and a more informal roll-up? Roll off the check list above and see how many apply. It is likely to be most.
Should some social golf games count towards your handicap?
When they don’t count, it might be an easy way for some players to try and manage or manipulate their handicaps. How many roll-ups do they compete in compared to club competitions? In a roll-up game that is just played socially, they can play well, win prizes, and it won’t affect their handicap. In many ways, that could be more beneficial than playing in a club competition.
Chiefs encourage players to submit scores for handicap purposes – because the more scores that go into the system the more accurate a player’s handicap is.
And they have long looked at roll-ups and other such swindles, as a way of boosting those numbers and protecting the integrity of competitions and the wider system.
Of course, it’s ultimately up to clubs to deem whether such gatherings be considered an event that counts for handicap purposes.
But if your group roll-up plays to the Rules of Golf, over a measured course, and you all hole out, then you might think about whether your weekly round is really that social at all – or if you’re actually playing a competitive event.
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Have your say
What do you think? Should roll-ups and the like, played to the Rules, count towards your handicap? Why not let us know your thoughts on social golf via X.
