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| So What's The Big Deal About Score Posting? |
| February 18, 2009 |
| By Paul Lucien |
|
As most of you know by now my primary job as Vice President is to see that to the best of our ability we play on a level playing field in Men’s Club events. We do that by following as closely as we can the USGA Rules of Golf. Our board believes that being able to know with some level of confidence that we achieve that goal is an important part of maintaining the Men’s Club integrity and our club’s reputation. Not just on our course but as you the members travel to other tournaments. For our tournaments we work in concert with our pro shop staff and golf course staff to have the course marked and in a condition that allows us to determine the best playing ability, in each division, on a given day. And it goes without saying we want to uphold the traditions of the game of golf. We all know that means honesty and integrity. You the members play a key role in that endeavor and may indeed be the most important.
My purpose in writing this to all of you is to see if I can provide enough information that alters, if even in a small way, some of the views held on the matter of posting scores. For those of you who are diligent in those efforts already can perhaps use this information with those you run across that are not as interested in seeing that they or their playing partners are.
First, let me pose a question. How many of you would, in a tournament, permit a player in your group to take a “mulligan” for a shot poorly hit? Would you let them choose the best results from the two shots and count that one? I’m fairly sure we would all come up with similar answers.
We know that on average in Washington State the average member of the WSGA plays about 20 rounds a year including tournaments. That is counting some 76,000 members statewide. We don’t have exact numbers but we know looking at clubs that have captive audiences that on average about 30% of the rounds played are not posted. So if that is a representative sample it is safe to say that 3 out of 10 rounds do not get posted.
The USGA handicap system does it’s best to assume that we are all honest people playing in competitions, for a small amount of money, in friendship through a common bond in the game of golf. You know what they say about assuming. That assumption currently is making a fool out of a lot of us. None the less the handicap system depends on calculating our handicaps based on the record of our scores and the number of rounds we play. All toward calculating an index that estimates your potential to shoot a score. Not just the rounds we prefer to post, not just the rounds we think will matter, there is no provision for “we decide what we think we need to post”.
All it seems to take is a belief on the part of some that since “not all the other guys are posting” I better to do the same in self defense. It becomes a vicious cycle. The USGA implementation of “Peer Review” may even exacerbate the issue a bit because you and I can go to the GHIN computer at the pro shop and look up any other WSGA member’s posting record (rounds played, scores posted, dates played). There is no trouble confirming one’s suspicions and off we go to the races.
We’ve all heard the chirping “You can’t believe how much sand bagging goes on over there”. “The same guys win all the time”. “No way is he a 20 handicap.” It goes on and on.
We are endeavoring in this club to be consistent and tenacious in our effort to identify those members who don’t see the value in posting scores or the necessity of following the handicap system. It is a requirement that the handicap system is adhered to in order to be a member in your club. We try to offer friendly reminders to those who on occasion forget. Most of your fellow members have played competitive golf a fairly long time so for us to hear “Oh, I didn’t know about ESC”(Equitable Stroke Control), or “I didn’t think it mattered”, or “I just play practice rounds”, I just play for gross” and the worst one, “As soon as you make them post I’ll post? And so it goes. Shaving strokes during a round in reprehensible. Manipulating handicaps is exactly the same thing and in many ways worse because it helps insure that strokes are shaved in every tournament round played. We always see a trend late in the year where the same players seem to put on a few “pounds” (handicap strokes) in preparation for the winter non-posting season.
Do some just forget once in a while? Of course they do. Do they fat finger the keyboard when inputting? Sure they do. Do they assume the course where they played that tournament will post their scores? You bet! Since we all make mistakes we are going to continue to look at this in the most positive light we can. To no surprise there are a number of members in your club and every other club that make that more difficult every day. It sure isn’t where I or any board member wants to spend their time. So we have asked several folks to help us in trying to keep an eye on it. We have learned the hard way that prudence requires we at least keep a watchful eye especially towards those that have the greatest opportunity to abuse the system that we all use and depend on.
I can tell you what the practice will be in the future. For those that don’t want or don’t get the message there are several possible outcomes. A reminder may be given. Penalty scores can be posted in addition to the score not posted. A handicap index can be modified. A player can be blocked from playing in an event. And in extreme cases a player can be removed from the club. While the Handicap Committee has oversight of this process the entire board is a party to that Committee and has the authority to see that action is taken.
For those of you who are entirely in the dark about posting requirements let me offer you information so you don’t have to look it up. First, there is no such thing as a practice round. If you play 7 or more holes you are required to post a 9 hole score. If you play more than 12 holes you are required to post an 18 hole score. You should use your handicap as a guideline for determining what you most likely would have scored on the holes you were not able to complete. If you use the method described, to a very large degree, the round will neither cause your index to go up or down. Any intent on the player’s part to avoid posting by not playing by the Rules of Golf voids any exemption that may exist for not posting a score.
Tournament scores should always be posted as a (“T”) tournament score. This component of the handicap system is a key safety net that is designed to keep the guy who comes in and shoots a low number only in tournaments to be held accountable for that phenomenon. When he shoots scores lower than his index and does so in a number of tournaments over the last 12 months his index is recalculated based on those low tournament scores. Regardless of where you play or who is hosting the event it is your responsibility to see that score is posted in a reasonable time after the round is played, regardless of what the course told you that held the event. In general that is 10 days or less. Yes, we know about the double postings but that can all be taken care of easily and quickly.
The habitual non posters depend on our unwillingness to stay at it and hope to out wait us. They expect we will tire and let it go. And who do you think is the first to cry foul when it is brought up to them?
It is truly your golf club and so there is a dependence on all of us, at least in a small way, to hold the other members accountable to the degree we can. If you want the best club you can have, with the largest payouts, the wealth spread around, large fields of players, and know you have as much chance as any other player in the field, then it takes all of us doing our part. Remember, you are a key element through peer review to seeing this issue improved. Moving the ball, when not permitted, to a perfect lie, kicking it out from under a tree, shaving strokes from the scorecard is cheating, plain and simple. So is the guy who doesn’t post or doesn’t post that very good round he played or not posting a score as a tournament score. So is the guy who is deciding we don’t need to know he played and what he scored. He is just padding that index a stroke or two. No big deal, right?
Remember the “mulligans” question I asked you earlier. Every time that player is in the field with you he’s taking “mulligans”. He is just not telling you.
Respectfully,
Paul Lucien
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 What's The Big Deal About Score Posting
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