Day 17 - Divided by a Common Language

No golf today: the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak... Instead, a trip to the Club for some admin work and a chat with the General Manager to discuss matters of mutual interest.  We ran through a number of things going on at Burhill, including all the work on the entrance and the tree clearing around the Clubhouse, as well as plans for the new Halfway House.

We also took some pleasure from the successful sign up for the Men's Invitational (see earlier post) as this was something that David and I had worked on together. At my Club in Florida. this would be called a "Member Guest Event", although the scale of our ambition at Burhill is a bit more modest (one day only and no special merchandising!).

Actually, it is fun comparing how the same game, golf, played to the same set of rules (Quiz question to be addressed in a later blog: "Which is the one rule of golf that is different in the US from the UK?) can yet be so different in the two countries.

One of the big differences is the way the handicapping system works on each side of the Pond. I must confess that I am more of a fan of the USGA methodology: roughly speaking, every round of golf is recorded and your handicap is based on the best 10 of your last 20 rounds.  For the regular golfer, this means that your handicap is a much more current reflection of your abilities - unlike in the UK where if you only play the minimum 3 competition per year, it can take almost 4 years to see your handicap increase by 1!

On top of that, in the US, every tee box, on every course, is separately assessed for its difficulty and the strokes you receive vary accordingly. This "slope" system makes a lot of sense as we can all relate to the fact that a handicap calculated, say, off the yellow tees at Pachesham golf Club must be a different beast from that on the competition tees at Royal St George's. Yet, in the UK, they are treated as one and the same.

If you're interested, there's lots more to read about the US system here.

Maybe one day, all the world's handicapping systems will converge, but this will be some time off. In the meantime, I shall continue to maintain two separate handicaps. Which is also great, as I can pick and choose which to play off....