A: 131. What is the Q?

131, a figure plucked from the annual captain's report I received from my away club this week. Thought it must be a typo at first - an astonishing figure in my opinion. Can you guess what it signifies?!

Cat 1 golfers?
Worse score in a medal round?
Total donation from Captain's bunker/pond/stream/bush etc.

I give up now, I'm bored of this

the winning nett score in your Captains prize (2 day total)?

Number of chins Nine Chins will have in 2015?

The number of black members.

Sounds like the number of holes I play before I get my next birdie.

Shane Lowry's BMI?

incontinentia wrote:Shane Lowry's BMI?

      

The number of days the course was closed in the last year?
The number of new members recruited in the last year?
The number of members who left/died/switched to honorary?
The number of juniors in the club?
The number of ladies in the club?

Hole- in-ones by a member called 'Faderick'?

Number of NRs in competitions?

Average cost to the captain's wallet each time he plays?

Number of no-shows throughout the competition year?

Most users who have been on the forum at any one time?

Pitchmarks on the eighteeneeth green or similar.I have genuinely heard a number like that

Maverick's scores on the last 3 holes en route to a course record destroying 56?

ralphjohn69 wrote:Maverick's scores on the last 3 holes en route to a course record destroying 56?

And what was his score on the front 9?

The number of follicles on Tiger's head?
The number of members who left the club?
The number of disqualifications from club competitions?
How many people are going to form the lynch mob if you don't give an answer soon?

George1507 wrote:The number of days the course was closed in the last year?
The number of new members recruited in the last year?
The number of members who left/died/switched to honorary?
The number of juniors in the club?
The number of ladies in the club?

Correct. Highland club and the catchment area for golfers is comparably vast and sparsely populated (many must travel a good distance to play) versus my Edinburgh club, which has a relatively dense population (basically the course is on the doorstep of hundreds of families), and though competing with other clubs in the area will still have on balance, a far greater pool of youngsters to potentially pull in. Despite this junior membership totals just 29, a little over a 1/5th of that of my away club.

My away club has an extensive recruitment and coaching programme for juniors, and these seem to be paying off very well. Pleased to see such a programme being taken so seriously and hopefully they will inspire some long term members and perhaps a few more great players too.

 

I guess you all think juniors are a waste of space then... 

Seriously, how well do your clubs welcome juniors? Sure they can cause a bit of trouble now and then, but it really bugs me when I hear older members moaning about juniors taking tee times away from adult members etc. In my opinion, to be a good club, there must be a strong up-and-coming junior section with a passion for the game and plenty of encouragement from the adult members. Get them playing in adult comps where they can hopefully learn from some experienced golfers. Get them representing the club when they've progressed to a high standard. Sort them out with free tuition etc. etc.

we have a new category of members in our club since approx 2009. "cadet members". its for 8 to 10 year olds. theres now some seriously good players that are around 12 or 13 yrs old. probably 5 single figure players including a 13 year old off 3.

Why don't clubs offer free membership to under 18's. Maybe on the condition they attend a few clinics in the summer and volunteer at one or two events a year.

barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections. It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day? How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

gaelgowfer wrote:barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections.  It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day?  How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

I know  

I know one club that does free juniors, costs them as they still need to pay the golf union fees for each one (same as for an adult!) but possibly a good investment.

We're keen to promote and offer free lessons, practise sessions and introduction to the course sessions giving opportunity to play and learn a bit of etiquette from the organisers.

Whilst the drop off rate is still high when they get to mid to late teens, if you don't invest there won't be any new blood at all!

super_realist wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections.  It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day?  How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

I know  

Prove it! 

gaelgowfer wrote:barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections.  It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day?  How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

Could it be that the people most likely to sit on the committees in these clubs are the husbands of the over 60s female members?

George1507 wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections.  It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day?  How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

Could it be that the people most likely to sit on the committees in these clubs are the husbands of the over 60s female members?

No.

F&R gael

super_realist wrote:

gaelgowfer wrote:Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

I know  

 

gaelgowfer wrote:barragan ... given collapsing m'ships across the board, methinks there are many clubs now regretting not having given greater encouragement to their junior golf sections.  It also has to be recognized that half the population is female so why is it that male members hog weekends to themselves for club competitions and yet male dominated club ctts still persist on pandering to over 60s female members who prefer to play midweek during the day?  How is such a policy suppose to retain the interest of girls when clearly it wouldn't work for boys either?

Still trying to work out to which highland club you refer? (insert long nose emoticon)  

My wife won't play for precisely this reason (even if she could find someone in her age group to play with). Why pay all that money and be limited to when you can play. As a working person she could only play at weekends and although ladies are allowed on at weekends, woe betide any that try on a Saturday! And although I hate being stuck behind the gossipy female 4 ball I do agree with her. So I suggested she didn't join and let me have my fun...

Gael - do clubs have men hogging weekend tee times for male comps? Not where I am. Ladies actually have more comp dates than men, at weekends. Most ladies comps double up so they can play weekend or midweek, which has always struck me as odd, but in every respect memberships have equal rights. If it wasn't that way my wife and I wouldn't have joined!

puligny wrote:Gael - do clubs have men hogging weekend tee times for male comps? Not where I am. Ladies actually have more comp dates than men, at weekends. Most ladies comps double up so they can play weekend or midweek, which has always struck me as odd, but in every respect memberships have equal rights. If it wasn't that way my wife and I wouldn't have joined!

Not where I am either puligny. In fact often on a Saturday if there is a large-field men's comp, the ladies still get an hour right in the middle of the men's start times so they can keep their own weekend comps

barragan wrote:F&R gael

That's very interesting barra and, good for them.  Although Brora and Golspie are a bit more welcoming to juniors than, shall we say, the well-known clubs, I came to the conclusion they were a bit too far north.  So, Tain and F&R were next on the list of 'possibles'.  Don't know what the situation with Tain is now but I do know they were fully immersed in the clubgolf scheme at one time but then I thought, it wouldn't be on my list of second courses to play so, scratched that one out!  Tried googling F&R to see if I could glean any info on their juniors but, not a mention.  131 juniors is just amazing.  Nice to see a club with one eye on the ball and the other to the future.

Lovely wee course that, but fiendishly difficult when the wind blows

i was up there a few weeks ago and the new bunkers going in look like a return to the bad-ass pot bunkers of the past which is very good news - disasterous decision to bring up the bases in the first place. they've also extended 8 of the tees (2,3,4,7,8,11,12,17) over the course of last season so looking forward to having a go on them next season. sss rating up to 70. should be fun. course can easily play a half dozen shots harder when the wind gets up - expectations need to be adjusted accordingly!

puligny wrote:Gael - do clubs have men hogging weekend tee times for male comps? Not where I am. Ladies actually have more comp dates than men, at weekends. Most ladies comps double up so they can play weekend or midweek, which has always struck me as odd, but in every respect memberships have equal rights. If it wasn't that way my wife and I wouldn't have joined!

puligny ...  my club, which has hosted many major amateur events has produced barely any girls who have made silver division, never mind single figure h'cap, never mind county standard, never mind champion standard in the time I have been a member which spans the thick end of three decades.  The vast majority of female playing members are in my age group ... the 60s.  There are weekend competitions available but are fatally flawed in that (apart from one right at the end of the season) they are not 'drawn' so are not supported.  Quite apart from that, there are also two midweek (one drawn) competition days.  The reality is that we don't have a Ladies' Section ... we have a Ladies' Senior Section.  And yet and, in spite of eu regulations prohibiting sex discrimination, these 'wumin' are allowed to continue to hold their own AGM even though there is no constitutional provision for this (how can there be?).  Ultimately, of course, the responsibility for this lies with the constitutionally elected club ctte, made up usually (there has been the odd female exception) of male members who are only too happy to accede to the 'wumin' in their preference for midweek competitions.  At almost 4 to 1, the male to female m'ship ratio remains dire so that doesn't help either.  It's not that girls don't 'get started' at Nairn.   It's quite simply that, at a practical level, what is available to the boys is not available to the girls.

Gael - great shame. I came to golf late and had heard lots of stories about "attitudes" but for the most part have found these to be exaggerated. I hear lots of "b....y women clogging up the course" comments, but happily am part of a group that deal quite effectively with that. When we were looking for a club to join even got some disparaging comments about lady golfers from the pro at a very good course (s..t club) nearby, but once I had loosened my wife's grip on his throat we withdrew and took our joining fees and subsequent 10 years of annual subscriptions etc elsewhere.
We don't have many junior girls, but have programmes in place with enthusiastic support from pros and most members, to encourage more juniors, boys and girls.
I hear Nairn is quite special. What an opportunity forgone!
Keep smiling!

puligny ... "keep smiling" you say.  Basically golf club culture remains pretty much the same across the board in that weekends are for the men and midweek is for the women.  This culture is so embedded, I can't see it ever changing in any meaningful or substantial way.  It's self-perpetuating because the current system is mutually beneficial.

I fought the club for years on this one issue at AGM after AGM and got absolutely nowhere.  Finally, I had to put the whole thing aside or I'd have ended up in the loony bin!   

Glad to hear that your club is a little more proactive though.  

In so far as the Nairn course itself is concerned, it's now playing more like a links course again.  For a number of years, this wasn't the case.  Definitely worth a play.  Scenery's no' bad either.

For a good number of years after we joined Nairn, the course and, in particular, the greens were absolutely superb.  This changed when the club hosted the Walker Cup and every flippin' championship that came after.  Everything had to be brought to perfection for that one week and to hell with the rest of the year.  Basically, too much fertiliser (including the rough!) and water.  I recall in the lead up to one event, the greenkeeper telling me that, due to the vagaries of the Scottish weather, he'd had to apply three lots of fertiliser in quick succession to ensure getting the greens right for the week of the event.

gaelgowfer wrote:puligny ... "keep smiling" you say.  Basically golf club culture remains pretty much the same across the board in that weekends are for the men and midweek is for the women.  

Only in your club - at least two people have stated here that it's not a normal thing. Find another club

Interesting this one.We started 21 years ago on the basis of same fees and rights for all and it works fine.But that was how we started which makes a difference.Last weeks texas scramble we had three groups of girls /ladies in the comp and a couple of mixed groups.You cannot force kids to get interested the attention span of a round of golf is not teenage friendly.A lot of the younger lads drop out at 18 loads of youngsters pitch up for lessons but its not the easiest game to get into for a lot of reasons.My daughter is sport mad but golf -you must be joking dad!

Dyna - I take your point, but my home club reaches 125 years in 2015! Attitude of members has to be the key?

Quite agree -lots of old school in our county.Slow job to change things to any extent.Get a slightly better feeling now than 15-20 years ago but no queues of ladies and juniors on a Saturday morning.For a lot of folk joining a golfclub is an aspiration when you are settled in job and life maybe late twenties.