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AROUND THE TRAPS |
‘Around the Traps’
All the latest
committee decisions and topics of discussion around the nnomads
Golf club.
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27/11/2015 – ‘Maximum score’ to be used for major events and
club championship A majority of a quorum of nnomads
Golf Club members voted to change the scoring approach to ‘Maximum score’ for
major events and the club championship. “Maximum Score” is a
new, additional form of stroke play. A player’s score for each hole is capped
at a maximum set by the Committee, which may be fixed (such as 4, 6, 8, 10,
etc.), related to par (such as two times par or triple bogey or par plus 4
strokes), or related to the player’s handicap (such as net double bogey). The
nnomads GC committee has set the standard approach
to par plus 4 strokes. For example, the maximum score on a par 3 is 7
strokes, on a par 4 is 8 strokes and a par 5 is 9 strokes. A player who does
not complete a hole (often referred to informally as “picking up”) will not
be disqualified, but simply gets the maximum score for the hole. Reasons for Change · The need to hole out on every hole in stroke play can have at
least two downsides: (1) it often leads to a slow pace of play, and (2) it
may discourage golfers who feel they no longer have a realistic chance to
compete or to make a good score for the round once they get a very high score
on one or two holes. · Maximum Score will be an alternative form of play that
addresses both concerns, by allowing a player to “pick up” when he or she
scores at or above the maximum and by capping the player’s score for any hole
at the maximum. · The Maximum Score form of play will be unlikely to be used for
elite play, but it may be useful in many other contexts, such as for play by
beginners or golfers who are less skilled or experienced and, more generally,
for club level and day-to-day play when pace of play is a particular concern. 13/12/2014 – Back to stroke for
major events and club championship A majority of a quorum of nnomads
Golf Club members voted to overturn a recent decision to change the scoring
approach for major events and the club championship. This means the status
quo will remain in place whereby stroke is used for all major events and the
club championship. 13/12/2014 – TSCC and BIT
joined at the hip again While not requiring a vote, BIT event sponsor Nurse Min
announced that after consultation with members, the Balnarring Invitational
Tournament (BIT) and the Tulum Sands Callaway Classic (TSCC) will be played
as a single event (as it was in the past). Nurse Min also announced that the
combined event will now be run at Flinders Golf Club on the Friday of the two
day event. 13/12/2014 – Ambrose event on
the Saturday after the BIT/TSCC A majority of a quorum of nnomads
Golf Club members voted to adopt the following: · That the Saturday event run on the BIT weekend should be an Ambrose
Teams event. · Details of the event have been left up to the organising committee
(i.e. the number of players per team - teams of two or teams of four). Note: Since the decision, there has been quite some debate with both positive
and negative responses from previous attendees and other club members. A
suggested trophy of the event was confirmed as not available by the owner. A
suggested name was also rejected by the original owner. The organising
committee will develop a new event name and introduce a new event trophy
assuming the event goes ahead in the form described above. 11/10/2014 – Move to stableford for major events and club championship A quorum of nnomads Golf Club
members voted unanimously to adopt the following: · All nnomads golf club major events will be stableford events as of the 1st of January
2014 · The nnomads golf club club
championship will be based on stableford points as
of the 1st of January 2015. The club champion will be the average
of the best four cards in sanctioned major events. A minimum of four cards
must be submitted to be eligible. Note: The Cardinal moved each motion and
Freddie Five Iron seconded each motion. While there was some debate during
the meeting, none of the eleven members in attendance voted against the
motion. 11/10/2014 – TSCC to become an ambrose event A quorum of nnomads Golf Club
members voted unanimously to adopt the following: · That the Tullum Sands Callaway Classic be
replaced by an Ambrose Teams event from 2015 onwards. · The new name of the event was agreed to be the Tulum Sands Ambrose
Classic (TSAC) · Details of the event have been left up to the organising committee
(i.e. the number of players per team - teams of two or teams of four). Note: The Cardinal moved each motion and
Freddie Five Iron seconded each motion. Again there was fierce debate during
the meeting about the structure of the teams which was left unresolved. None
of the eleven members in attendance voted against the motion. 27/1/2014 – Change to ‘1 shot penalty for lost ball’ rule in
major events A quorum of nnomads Golf Club
members voted (7 for and five against the motion) to adopt the following rule
effective immediately: New process for a lost
ball: As of the 27th
January 2014, if a player suspects they have lost a ball or hit it out of
bounds (OOB) they must immediately play a provisional
shot from the place where they hit the original ball with a penalty of 1
stroke. ·
If the player finds their original ball and it is not OOB,
they must play it from where it was found without penalty and pick up the
provisional ball. Players cannot choose to use the provisional ball if they
find their original ball (unless it is OOB). ·
If the player finds their original ball and it is in an
unplayable lie, the player may move the ball with a penalty of one stroke
consistent with the R&A Rules of golf (i.e. per normal rules). ·
If a player loses a ball or hits it out of bounds (OOB) and
has not hit a provisional shot, the player should return to the original spot
where they hit the ball and hit another shot with a penalty of one stroke. ·
If a player loses a ball or hits it out of bounds (OOB) and it
is not practical or possible to go back to the original spot where they hit
the ball (i.e. they can’t go back and play a provisional shot), a player may
elect to hit the ball from where they have lost the ball or hit it out of
bounds with a penalty of two
shots. 1/12/2012 – The New ‘Divot and bunker’ rule A quorum of nnomads Golf Club
members voted to adopt the following rule effective immediately: Part 1 - Divot rule: If a ball lands in a divot on the fairway, and that divot has
not been adequately repaired (based on own subjective judgement and validated
by one other player), the player may place his ball at the nearest point of
relief no further than one club length from the offending divot position and
no closer to the hole. Part 2 – Bunker rule: If a ball lands in a bunker in a position that is adversely
affected by human intervention (foot print, lumps, holes, depressions made by
humans or a manmade object), or is adversely affected by a lack of expected
human intervention (not raked or repaired properly by players or groundsman),
the player may move his ball to the closest position possible with a
reasonable surface, no closer to the hole. If such a surface doesn’t exist,
the player may rake the original position and replace his ball in the
original position. 29/12/2012 – Triggered Major
rule change to 7 players After a number of attempts during 2012, a quorum of club
members decided that the number of players required to trigger a ‘Triggered
Major’ is to be changed to 7 players from the previous 10 players. This means
that every time 7 nnomads Golf Club members play
golf a game of golf, that game automatically becomes a ‘Triggered Major’
event after which the winner is to be presented with the Triggered Major
Trophy. Logically, all Triggered Major events are eligible for inclusion in
Club Championship calculations. 1/1/2012 – New Handicap system
modified The move by the Australian Golf Union to adopt a modified
handicap system again prompted the nnomads Golf
Club handicapping committee to recommend making the same change. From the 1st
of January 2012, the club handicapping system was changed to a new
calculation method based on an average of the lowest eight (not ten) handicap
differentials multiplied by 0.93 (not 0.96) from the last twenty games. This
now the current handicapping method. 1/3/2011 – New Handicap system introduced The move by the Australian Golf Union to adopt a new handicap
system prompted the nnomads Golf Club handicapping
committee to recommend making the same change. From the 1st of
March 2011, the club handicapping system was changed to a new calculation
method based on an average of the lowest ten handicap differentials
multiplied by 0.96 from the last twenty games. 1/1/2011 – New Bladder system
introduced Following the controversial audit of the Bladder in 2010 a new
system for calculating the Bladder was introduced for 2011. From January 1st
2011, balls are totally separated from Bladder points removing any distortion
uncovered in the 2010 audit. Balls available for prizes are now based on the
number of players (see Prize ball allocation in Club Rules) and
Bladder points are allocated according to a totally different and independent
system. Bladder points now recognize winners in a more positive way (get more
points) and the number of total points available is dependent on the number
of competitors (see Bladder points table under Bladder results).
This should end any arguments about the fairness of the Bladder from this
point forward. 31/07/2010 - Cardinal proved
right by Bladder audit committee A controversial audit of the 2010 Bladder has found that the
Cardinal was absolutely correct when he suggested the club used
an inconsistent ball allocation system that was potentially open to
corruption and manipulation. The full report including detailed audit notes,
key findings and recommendations has just been released (see Bladder audit report). 20/06/2010 - Buffer saga
leads to handicap adjustments A recent audit
of handicapping procedures revealed that the nnomads
Golf Club handicap calculations have been based on the wrong buffer ranges for
some years. This means that the majority of member handicaps have been
slightly incorrect for some period of time. The club committee has now
rectified this problem and applied the fix to all records in the present
spreadsheet. The resulting handicaps are now available in the Members Area.
Any member affected has the right to contest these changes by submitting a
minimum of 100 pages of reasons why the committee should not ignore all
member submissions over a single page. Such submissions need to be submitted
prior to the 20th of June 2010, when the changes were formally accepted by
the club committee. 13/2/2010 - Trophy for
'bladder' to be reintroduced There was a
quorum of club members at golf last Saturday and a number of decisions were
made. The first motion passed was to reintroduce an annual trophy for the
person who wins 'The Bladder' each year. Previous Bladder winner names are to
be engraved on the trophy which will first be presented in 2010. In addition,
the winner of the Bladder each year will also win some golf balls (the number
is yet to be defined). Thus, the club will have a new trophy in the very near
future. 13/2/2010 -
Match play competition for 2010 - Another decision made at the last
committee meeting was the introduction of a match play competition for 2010.
This competition is to be set up in the short term so watch for further
details. 13/2/2010 -
Strike rate to be reintroduced The final decision
made last Saturday was to reintroduce a 'strike rate’ to the Bladder stats
and turn it into a competition. Roughly based on a 'balls won' to 'games
played' ratio', this index will become another separate annual competition
with its own trophy and prizes (balls agreed to at this stage). To avoid
distortions from members who play very few games each year, players will not
be eligible until they have played at least five games in any calendar
year. A committee of one, The Cardinal' has been set up review this concept
and make recommendations about its implementation. 28/12/2010 - 'Triggered
major events' introduced to 2010 tour There happened
to be a quorum of nnomads Golf Club members at Watterford Valley on the 28th of December and the
opportunity was used to great effect. Two major decisions were made including
the introduction of 'triggered major events' whereby if 10 or more
players turn up for a game, that game automatically becomes a sanctioned nnomads Golf Club major event and can be counted towards
the nnomads golf club championship each year). The
motion was passed unanimously. 28/12/2010 -
Best four majors for championship in 2010 The second
decision involved making the 2010 nnomads Golf Club
championship based on an average of the best four score cards from sanctioned
major events during the year instead of the three card system used at
present. Again, the motion was passed unanimously. "They use four
major events for the world rankings so that sounds right to me" suggested
Pete S to an agreeing tour party. Old news - New handicapping system The Australian Golf Union (AGU) is adopting a new handicapping
system as of 2011 year. The new system is essentially the present USGA system
that utilizes a slope rating for every course. The new system will calculate
players ‘handicap index’ based on the average of the best ten, of the last
twenty cards submitted. This will be subtracted from the slope rating for
each course played to produce a handicap for that course. The nnomads Golf Club Committee is considering the
implications of these changes, but is likely to adopt the new system. As
usual we welcome any comments from members. |
