Disqualified!!

A friend of mine was disqualified from a recent competition because the person who marked his card has an inactive handicap. Was this correct?

I've looked at the CONGU website and the England Golf website but cannot find the answer.

I remember when i was in the process of returning 3 Cards to get a handicap that i signed a Members Card in A Comp.

I asked a committee member who gave me the OK because i was a member of the club, although yet without a handicap.

Is the marker still a member of the/a club?

I don't believe that a person with an inactive handicap is unable to mark a card. It purely reflects that they haven't or have been unable to put 3 (I think) cards in qualifying competition in the current/previous season.

I don't believe it is a correct d/q unless it is a local stipulation by the committee/comp comittee etc as to who is eligible to mark cards (but I haven't come across that anywhere).

RC, yes the person who marked the card is still a member of the club.

If these are the rules what happens if he is playing in a comp as a 2 ball - the other person wouldn't be able to enter the comp as there would be nobody else to mark his card, just the person with the inactive handicap!

Worth checking with the comp sec. Sounds odd to me.

It depends on the competitions secretary at your club. If there is a club rule that says that only fellow competitors may mark cards in competitions, then it's probably the right decision.

Seems a bit odd although to be fair, it is a complex process marking a card and only a fully qualified person should attempt it . Still, George is undoubtedly right if there's a club rule stipulating this. If that's the case, sounds as if someone should maybe raise that with the appropriate committee.

Would he have won ?

Possibly he had the same number of points as the winner but I'm not sure how their back 9 compared.

That would be a tad annoying to say the least.

The winner wasn't by any chance the competitions secretary who did the disqualifying was he??

Just checked the club regs and it states that the marker must have a current playing history although I can't find a definition for this term. But I suspect this is why he was disqualified. But why doesn't it just say "must have an active handicap"!!

Sounds like that's the intent.

I get the use of inactive handicaps stopping people from practising, improving, not playing comps then rocking up and sweeping the board but I've never heard of them being prevented from playing and marking a card - just from receiving a prize.

Still - another new way golf clubs can find to dissuade players from playing/paying.

Fortunately participation in golf is on a huge up curve at the moment.

Oh, hang on...

Seems like a very strange rule to have. A "marker" can be anybody appointed by the committee. They could theoretically be someone just walking round watching the golfer and not actually playing a round at all.

"current playing history"...who writes this nonsense?!

It's probably a term from years ago, before handicaps became active (competition) or lapsed.

Clubs just don't update this stuff often enough. Once every forty years seems to be the norm.

So... we enter a comp, do all our preparation, the draw gets done and we turn up on the first tee....we now have to specifically ask the question "Excuse me old chap, I'm your playing partner for the day, can I see proof of your active handicap please?"

If the draw was done knowing that the other guy had an inactive handicap then the Club Sec or whoever did the draw should have made sure there was marking capability in the group. I think your mate has been very harshly done by Humpty

JAS as usual is being too kind - suitable club captain material for sure.

I'd say Humpty's mate had been royally shafted

Active playing history I'd have thought means that even if your handicap is inactive, if you've played the requisite 3 rounds this year you're ok. It's always been my experience that a marker has to have a handicap, but doesn't have to be at the course being played.

If you'd played the three requisite rounds this year, wouldn't your handicap be active and not inactive?

Not sure when it's reactivated. Presumably sometime between submitting a 3rd card and it being acknowledged you'd have an 'active history'.

We had a Dq this morning before the round started one of the guys practise putting on the 18th green!!
re the above anyone can be a marker I believe

This is only about club rules. If there's a rule saying only competitors can play and mark, then the only sanction for someone playing with a partner who has a lapsed handicap is dq.

It's going to be tough on someone who enters in good faith with a guy who later turns out to have a lapsed handicap.