As we prepare for what may be a banner year for the WHV – with Pete in the Green Jacket, an injection of new members and some top quality courses with very large turnouts in the months ahead, concluding with what is sure to be a well behaved and sedate visit to La Manga in October – tomorrow is WHV 100 Day.
Our sponsor has done us proud – no longer a slog round WMGC waiting for Millers to post 40 points with 3 bats, when he can only manage 25 with a full bag. Tomorrow we are teeing it up at a premium venue, but also a tough track for the first outing of the year. The Marriott website and twitter feed provide no clues on winter greens or tee boxes, but there may be a couple around the lake. Also, not clear if trollies are allowed or whether we are pick and place. It will not be easy tomorrow – I will be looking carefully at anyone posting 36 or more!
I have thoroughly reviewed the handicaps at the end of the 2016 tour year and believe the current handicapping system is performing well – victories are being spread around. Only those of us who spend a bit of time trying to improve our golf, or play often, have a higher likelihood of winning a close event.
As has been noted before, the only members to see a drop across they year were the Jug winner, the OoM winner, the Presidents winner and Honourable Huge of Wales – he fully accepts his WHV cap is a fiction and plays to the lower of his WHV or prevailing club handicap. A gentleman on the course, if not always in his private life.
The rest of the society needs to have a word with themselves, there seems to be a general drift towards category Z, which would be delightful but might not help if we want to play some of the better tracks in the future…
Tomorrow, we welcome 2 more boys via PK (and Hollywood, he is at pains to underline) – Stav and JP. Both are claimed to be general WHV standard hack monsters, indeed the introducing member has tried to prove that they should be introduced on 28. This is far from acceptable, and I have decided to follow standard society protocol to protect weathered veterans from upstart bandits – they will play off the standard noob cap of 24 until they return sufficient stapleforth cards to warrant an official WHV cap. Both Martin (the Cat?) and Hollywood have been through this process to land at their current playing caps.
In the table below, you will see how some lads had a bad 2016, and the difference (due to penalties) between your actual tracked handicap and what you are scored against.
Don’t forget a woolly hat, bring some spare balls, and have a good golfing 2017…
