From Monifieth to Home

UK Handicap; 3.6 USGA Handicap; 2.2

After the highs and lows of Montrose, it was time to play Monifieth Medal on Saturday and Sunday, the first time being a warm up for the 18 Hole Open the following day.
Monifieth is very similar to Montrose; east coast of Scotland, lots of gorse, 3 clubs sharing 2 links courses, par 36 out, par 35 back, same SSS, almost identical USGA Course and Slope Ratings (134 and 135, so they are tricky courses).

On Saturday I putted absolutely terribly, and lost a ball on the 9th costing 2 shots, yet somehow still managed to go round in 4 over par 75. Having played the course literally hundreds of times, it’s interesting to come back once a year and see the differences that maybe wouldn’t be noticed if I played the course every week. Because it is links golf, and dune based, the ground can move over a period of time, and slopes that were in one place 10 years have either disappeared or moved somewhere else.

On Sunday I never really got into 2nd gear, and we weren’t helped by the most torrential rain shower I have seen in a long time on the 4th and 5th holes. It only lasted for about 10 minutes, but it reduced visibility to about 250 yards, not because of fog or mist, just due to the density of the rain.

I made several bogeys in the first 6 and found myself 4 over par on the 7th tee. I rattled off 4 pars before hitting into 2 bunkers on 11 and walking off with a double bogey. Managed to make another run of 4 pars before finishing birdie, bogey, birdie for a 76 nett 72.
I don’t know my exact placing but it was in the region of 12th place, which is alright out of over 100 competitors, but not quite as good as my 5th place from last year. The good news is that I played to my handicap, so after a week of narrowing missing buffer zone and going up 0.1 each time, I was able to stop the rot.

This is one area where the UK system doesn’t work particularly well. I have spent most of the last month playing difficult courses, that I don’t know very well, that are set up for Championship play. It is not surprising that my handicap has gone up. The CSS at these competitions occasionally moves up 1 from the SSS, but even if it does, 1 shot is not an adequate compensation for the increased difficulty of playing these courses, compared with either a home player or an easier setup. In Scotland, if there are more than 20 home players and 20 visitors, clubs have to calculate two different CSSs, one for home players and one for visitors. Whilst this is one small step in the right direction, it has not been rolled out to the rest of the UK, probably because it is an admission that the UK system of handicapping is not transferrable from one club to another due to the lack of a slope system.

Playing in these Opens and have my handicap increase also raises another question; If I want to become a scratch golfer, why don’t I pick and choose my competitions to give me the best opportunity of getting cut? I suppose I could do that, but I wouldn’t be very comfortable with it; I’m a firm believer that a handicap should be representative of what actually happens, not some cherry picked competitions. I’ll play in conditions that mean I have virtually no chance of getting cut, but if that makes my handicap realistic then so be it. I’ll also continue to play at other courses, because it’s by gaining these experiences of playing against different, and often better, players, which will ultimately make me a better player if I learn from them, even if the short term outcome is that my handicap goes up.

What I’d like to see on a player’s handicap record is a number in brackets which contains the number of scores submitted away from the player’s home course for the last 12 months. It wouldn’t alter the handicap itself, but it would give some indicator to whether the player is testing his handicap in a wider environment, and whether it travels well, or if his handicap is reflective of his ability only on his home course. Too many people in the UK have a handicap that may reflect their ability to knock it around their home course, but put them somewhere else and their handicap should instantly double.

I’m on the train back to London now, where I’ll be for the next 4 weeks. As good as the last month has been, with trips to the Highlands, working at the Open Championship, Murrayshall, Montrose and Monifieth Opens, it will be good to settle down in the one place for a few weeks and try and regroup, before making my last golfing trip of the year back to Scotland in September, for the Craw’s Nest Tassie at Carnoustie.