Yup. First and last comment. The world is not a village and golf is not life. Golf is a sport, save the pro tours. For the Pros, it is an occupation and the best play against the best. The only equalizer is the course and the rules. Other sports have equalizers such as "seeding", or drafts, or revenue sharing, or class etc. The Olympics are the only amateur event that I can think of where there is no equalizing. There probably are others but I can't think of them.
At our level, golf is an enormous social sport. It is the golfer against the course. It is a game. It does have rules that reflect some of our social rules and niceties though. Most of us don't play golf to earn some money, we play because we enjoy the friendship and comradery. Some use golf for business meetings. Left to it's own, the good golfers would play by themselves and golf would not be very sociable. The handicap system is a reasonable attempt to allow various levels of golfers to play each other with some modicum of competition. The outcome of each game is the result of how each person played the course relative to their general ability. This is part of the game. It is what allows various levels to compete. It's a sport. It can be fun. It keeps a lot of us in pocket change. The sky is not falling. Al At 03:47 PM 8/29/2002, you wrote: >Ah well, I tried. > >Some folks simply cannot "PLAY BETTER," no matter how loudly you shout. I'd >gladly play crappy player at scratch any old time. The sad and sorry thing >is that crappy players don't want to play against better players unless they >have a head start. There's been mention of pool games and boat racing as >examples of all players competing without an "edge." Well, two more >non-pertinent sports to add to the mix are horse racing and dog racing. >They're handicapped by the addition or removal of extra weight. > >This could go on forever I suppose, but not by me any longer. I've said my >piece. I'll let others have at it. > >TFlan > >BTW: If there are any believers out there that what's fair is to play golf >against other golfers without handicap, and you're a really shitty player, >let me know, We'll play even up for house, house, car ;-) > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Jonathan LaChance" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "'Shoptalk (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 10:53 AM >Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Sandbagger's Open, DuPont > > > > > > PLAY BETTER! > > When I played in college SOME PLAYERS WERE BETTER THAN OTHERS (guess who > > won?)...That's life. None of this handicap junk..You go out and play with > > what you have and do the best you can! Nobody said life is FAIR! > > > > That's my 2 cents > > JP > > -----Original Message----- > > From: tflan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 11:21 AM > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Sandbagger's Open, DuPont > > > > > > Hi; > > > > That's an interesting take on handicapping but how can it be fair to those > > of lesser ability? The answer is pretty obvious to me. If everyone plays >at > > "scratch" then there must be some kind of laddering system or "seeding," >or > > "flights." How would one devise such a system? By charting an individual's > > performances over some period of time and then placing that individual in >a > > group with others of like ability. As near as I can recall, that's done in > > virtually every sport; "A" leagues, "B" leagues, junior, senior, ladies, > > mixed leagues, and so on. If there were no "seeding" in competitions how > > could persons of lesser ability compete? > > > > TFlan > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Harry F. Schiestel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 11:20 PM > > Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Sandbagger's Open, DuPont > > > > > > > Sorry if this is long and not golf, but a different perspective on > > handicap > > > from another sport (billiards). > > > My brother wrote the letter. Last year his son played at the 32 person > > > World Jr. 9-Ball Championship. > > > Not suggesting it is even relevant to this post but some of the members > > > might enjoy the read. > > > BTW, this letter got published in one of the Cdn. Pool magazines. > > > Thanks HarryS > > >
