Inactive Season

[Uisce Beatha]

I'm kinda known for beeyatching about the USGA handicap system so I figure I'd better christen this ship post haste.

Inactive Season

An “inactive season” is the period during which scores made in an area are not accepted for handicap purposes determined by the authorized golf association having jurisdiction in a given area.

I understand the thinking behind this but in practice it simply doesn't work.  An AGA can cover a very wide area and courses under its jurisdiction can significantly vary in their condition and playability in the winter months.  We have courses at 6000 feet that are covered by snow from Nov. to Apr.  We have others that are open half the winter.  There are quite a few courses in the southern part of the state that don't have an inactive season but some of them are 30 minutes from others that do.  It's totally arbitrary.

Consider this.  A course that's soggy after three days of May downpour is easily less playable than a lower elevation course in early December.  Yet scores on the former must be recorded and scores on the latter are ineligible.  And aeration?  It's a sandbaggers dream.

Played at Bandon Dunes in the first week of Dec.  Very close to the best conditions I played all year.  Oregon has an inactive season so the scores were ineligible.

It's ridiculous.  The courses get a piece of the pie for supporting the system.  At least they do around here.  $2 for every AGA member who designates a particular course as his home club.  They should be required to set their own inactive seasons and submit to the AGA.  (For Spacey) A place like Valley View could close for four months while a place like Wingpointe could skip the inactive season altogether. 

Reason #340957 why our handicap system is vastly inferior to that of England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, etc.

 

[Clive]

[hypothetical]

If there were no inactive season and handicaps were based solely on tournament rounds, I'd enter a shotload of bad-weather tourneys.  I like adverse conditions, and I'd end up with a LEGALLY higher handicap that would benefit me if I ever did play in fair weather.

[/hypothetical]

[Uisce Beatha]

[hypothetical]

If there were no inactive season and handicaps were based solely on tournament rounds, I'd enter a shotload of bad-weather tourneys.  I like adverse conditions, and I'd end up with a LEGALLY higher handicap that would benefit me if I ever did play in fair weather.

[/hypothetical]

(a)  Hypothetical?  Shame on you.

(b)  Handicaps on tourney rounds aren't workable here though.  You agree with that I think.  Unfortunate though.   

(c)  You'd enter bad-weather tourneys?  You wanna provide your prognostication techniques to my local TV guy?  He gets the current conditions wrong when he's standing outside.

(d)  I definitely play better when it's 35 than I do when it's 100.  Bad weather (U.S. context) rarely has anything to do with playability or determining the validity of a round.  I'd suggest the guys who brought this game along would scoff at the notion a round isn't any good because it's played in the winter/rain/wind/etc.  Snow and hail sticking to the ground and/or flooded courses are about the only good weather-related reasons to DQ a score - and then basically because conditions don't lend themselves to actually finishing.

[Uisce Beatha]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ing_in_the_United_Kingdom

Handicapping in the United Kingdom

In the UK, a "Scratch Score" system was previously in place in order to rate courses and be fair to golfers of varying ability, and to make allowances that courses may play "easier" or "harder" than par, overall, to the amateur field. For this reason, a Standard Scratch Score (SSS) is used as a baseline for how the course plays in practice (e.g. an SSS lower than par indicates a course which golfers find slightly easier, and vice versa).

Akin to the SSS is the Competition Scratch Score (CSS). The principle is the same, only this describes how easy or difficult the course played during a given competition. It is against this CSS score that a player's handicap is adjusted by the club. Golfers with a handicap of 5 or lower are said to be Division 1 players. Higher handicap players are categorised as Division 2, 3, or 4. For every stroke the Division 1 golfer's net score is below the CSS, their handicap is reduced by 0.1. For Division 2 golfers, this figure is 0.2, for Division 3 golfers it is a 0.3 reduction, and 0.4 for Division 4 category golfers.

Similarly, amateur golfers are allowed a buffer zone to protect their handicap on "off-days". For Div 1 this is 1 stroke, for Div 2 this is 2 strokes, etc. This means that if a Division 1 golfer's net score is one stroke higher than the CSS, their handicap will not increase. If a golfer's net score is higher than the CSS plus buffer zone combined, their handicap will increase by 0.1. This 0.1 increase covers all golfers and does not vary by division.

[Clive]

(c)  You'd enter bad-weather tourneys?  You wanna provide your prognostication techniques to my local TV guy?  He gets the current conditions wrong when he's standing outside.

I was thinking more of the Oregon inactive-season course conditions: sloppy wet, balls plugging (and getting lsot) in the fairway, inescapable casual water everywhere, including bunkers, ...

Not that I'd require all of those things, mind you.  Just a couple would adversely affect my score (if such a thing is possible), and sodden courses (for example) are the norm in some parts of the country.

[Uisce Beatha]

(c)  You'd enter bad-weather tourneys?  You wanna provide your prognostication techniques to my local TV guy?  He gets the current conditions wrong when he's standing outside.

I was thinking more of the Oregon inactive-season course conditions: sloppy wet, balls plugging (and getting lsot) in the fairway, inescapable casual water everywhere, including bunkers, ...

Not that I'd require all of those things, mind you.  Just a couple would adversely affect my score (if such a thing is possible), and sodden courses (for example) are the norm in some parts of the country.

What you say makes sense but I'll repeat my notion that it's better addressed by the course calling the inactive season rather than the AGA.  As you mention Oregon I'll bring up Bandon again.  Foundation of sand with great drainage.  None of the problems you noted apply to Bandon.  There is no reason whatsoever for those courses to ever be in an inactive season.  I suspect it's the same at Ocean Dunes and the like.

[Clive]

Sure, but I was working off the idea of having NO inactive season anywhere, instead going back the the approach of "you golf, you record".

The danger in letting each course set its own inactive season is the unbelievable variations you'd endure.  Bandon Dunes/Pacific Dunes/Bandon Trails might decide that "golf as it was meant to be" means always active.  Given that the winter days are far likelier to present the player with storm conditions than with sunshine and serene, Mediterrean breezes ... anyone who plays that trio of courses would legally inflate his handicap.  Meanwhile, Sandpines (just up the coast and having many older members) might decide that such weather dictates inactive status.

It's routine for people to play both those courses on an Oregon Coast golf trip.  (I've done it twice, and only a lack of tee-time prevented a third.)  Same weather, same conditions ... one score counts, another doesn't. 

[1puttpar]

Here's another inequity.  If your home handicap course has an inactive season, you can't post scores played elsewhere as well.  Imagine living in Maine, for example and travelling for the winter months playing 2-3 rounds (or more) per week.  None of these rounds are postable.

[Uisce Beatha]

Here's another inequity.  If your home handicap course has an inactive season, you can't post scores played elsewhere as well.  Imagine living in Maine, for example and travelling for the winter months playing 2-3 rounds (or more) per week.  None of these rounds are postable.

1puttpar,

Actually they are postable.  In fact, it's mandatory you do so. 

If I play in Arizona during January I have to submit those scores here in Utah (assuming they're otherwise eligible).  There's a provision in the system that says my AGA doesn't have to issue me a new index during the inactive season so it might  be months before it shows but they're obligated to accept it and I'm obligated to submit it.

[1puttpar]

UB,

Thanks for the clarification.