Keeping your handicap when leaving a club

[macleod]

Just wondering about how long a handicap stays valid if you are no longer a member of a club.

Is the card limitation the calendar year on from the date of the last official card?

I can't afford royal gailes anymore and im not playing so I've got the resignation letter ready to go today.

i figure if i leave it doesn't matter since if my hcap is still valid i could just play on sundays for $8.80 and be an open comp spectre.

[AndyP]

Your handicap would not still be valid, because you would not have paid your AGU fees, which are chucked in with the membership fees.

[Fishman Dan]

You need to have a club of sorts - a place where your handicap 'lives'. Not sure about Brissy, but in Sydney you can be an 'Affiliate' member at places like Riverside Oaks or Camden Lakeside, where you pay $70 per round and you are expected to play there 3 times per year, and hand in a total of 5 cards per year.

The 5 cards per year i believe (someone correct me if i'm wrong) is required to keep a handicap alive.

Most rural clubs can offer 'Country' memberships with reduced rates, as long as you live outside 'x' kilometres. You can be the 'Open Comp Spectre'... and the rural clubs could do with the support.

For instance, if you were to join Casino GC (hypothetically, of course), for $140 you get a years country membership, with no requirement to play there - cards just need to be returned by the club where you play a comp.

[macleod]

i thought as much.

well i think i need to officially withdraw from the ozg champs then...

[AndyP]

well i think i need to officially withdraw from the ozg champs then...

I think only one of the rounds is in an actual comp.
Don't know if there is any need for you to pull out though.

[drunken]

It depends, your Golflink number will still be active until such a time as your club notifies Golflink that you're no longer a member.

I have a mate who used to be a member at Ballina (read two years ago) and his Golflink number is STILL working, the problem is that he hasn't had 5 cards in the past year so the actual handicap has lapsed.

[macleod]

so technically i can't play in open comps anymore? ah bugger....

[markTHEblake]

Macleod, it's not technical but Official!

according to the handicap rules, you cant play in any competition, if you are not a member of an affiliated body with the AGU.

However if you do join another club at a later stage your existing handicap remains, provided that it hasnt lapsed. In short if you played 5 rounds in 2004 up until now, your handicap wont lapse until Jan 2006.

On the otherhand, at Coolangatta Tweed they are not asking for Golflink cards before you play. So there is nothing stopping you playing at all - you just cant win anything.

Plenty of people have done that before - in fact I have my name on an Honour Board without being a member anywhere. ( i diddnt cheat they let me play knowing my status).

[macleod]

ok, so no proper golf till jan 2006, done, that's a nice limbo to be in.

i didn't want to broach the subject of the 'fairness' of my playing in comps still since i can eaily foresee the reactions here.

let's just say with the hcap i have there is little chance of ever actually winning anything per se....so im not particularly troubled, others might be however.

as much as i'd love to become a stalking horse on the subject.....

[goughy]

The country membership could be the answer for you. Brisvegas is a country member of city gc in woomba, and isn't andy a country member of nambour (could be a full member tho). They might be able to give you the rates.

If need be maybe someone can help you find a way to play the oz-golf champs (both rounds) but not submit the card for the comp.

[Fishman Dan]

How much notice do you give the club before the membership is terminated? If you resign tomorrow, aren't you still a member for the champs?

Don't worry too much about the 'fairness' aspect, i was never challenged playing semi-regularly at Gordon here in Sydney. Although i don't condone ripping the system off, you are still paying membership fees - however i still manage to play a dozen or so rounds a year at Casino, most of those being in comp.

Think of it this way - most venues holding open comps are happy enough to be filling the field and therefore they are still making money. Just don't try and play the same course every weekend religeously, that's pushing the 'fairness' aspect.

[goughy]

When I first moved to brissie I had been a member at toowoomba golf club for 3 months, which was reciprocal with gailes near where I lived and where a work mate played. I played a few social and comp games there, where they charged me no social fee and only standard comp fees.

In the end I probably played there regularily for about 16months (regularily beeing once a month or so), even tho my membership lapsed at toowoomba gc .

Infact I may have played there more often because the guys in the pro shop never asked me about my membership, I think they just figured I was a member and always waved me onto the course without checking.

Best free golf I ever had.

Hence I am partial to gailes as a course.

[BrisVegas]

The country membership could be the answer for you. Brisvegas is a country member of city gc in woomba, and isn't andy a country member of nambour (could be a full member tho). They might be able to give you the rates.

Would work out cheaper to get a membership like golfer69 has at Emmy Lakes or choppa has at Gainsborough Greens. I think they're both around $100 per year to maintain a hcap.

As I understand it, to join a club as a country member, you'd still be up for nomination fee. Even then the rate for country membership is still probably more than $100. City is $250 or so.

[markTHEblake]

Macleod - PLAY! thats an order.

Or is this a thinly veiled attempt to cover up the fact that Mrs Macleod has cut back your allowance.

[goughy]

Yeah macca, you better play. I wouldn't worry about hc's and that sort of thing. Arrangements can be made. It's happened before

[AndyP]

I'll second Vegas' suggestion of the $99 membership at Emmy Lakes. Although the country membership at Nambour is $195 with no nomination, Macca would not be using the rounds up there.

goughy, are you still a maybe for the champs, or are you definitely out. We have had a few withdrawals.

[Fishman Dan]

Does Emmy Lakes require you to play a certain number of rounds there per year? Isn't it something like $35 a round for that $99 deal? If there's no nomination fee though, then you're laughing.

Now you just have to sort out these reasons why you can't play golf as often

[AndyP]

Does Emmy Lakes require you to play a certain number of rounds there per year?

No. This is the deal damoocow just signed up to.

[damoocow]

Fishfinger - as long as you submit 5 comp cards for handicapping purposes per 12 months [from anywhere] Emerald Lakes do not require you to play there [couldn't afford to at their rates !] - what a deal !
damoocow

[Fishman Dan]

Sounds like a good deal - Giddy-up!