Hi Bruce,

This is my very first post on ISG. and I hope you could shed some light on this topic.
Last Sunday a golfing buddy of mine who is a member of Twin Creeks Golf Club invited me to there Sunday Open Comp, I have played TC for a few years now as a paying guest. to cut this story short, I came in with 43pts thinking I’ll have a chance to win the day, (my H/cap that day was 14) that afternoon I get a message from the golflink app on the iphone that my H/cap had dropped down to 12, I checked online for the results of the day and I was very happy to see my name at #1, bloody awesome and won by 1point I might add. The wife and family are very happy for me on my win. Monday comes around and I check the results in the paper, telling my work mates I’d had won, my name should be there for proof. What a shock I got when I saw the guy who I beat by 1 point as the winner of the comp. This was very upsetting for me, I love this game of golf with a passion, and I work hard on my game to improve on my 14 now 12 H/cap will allow. I rang my friend and told him of the situation, he said he’ll send a email to the GM of the club. this is the email.
Morning Grant
Happy New Year!!
Grant, just a quick question my visitor Paul won the comp yesterday at Twin Creeks with 43pts as stated in Golf Link.
Yet his name wasn’t printed in the paper this morning stating he won the comp the second place person as in R. Rivett with 42pts was stated as the winner? How does that work?
Paul pays the $10 to enter the comp like all members & guests?
Look forward to your feedback as I would be disappointed if a non-member is not allowed to win an open comp, and in that case there is no point them paying the $10 comp entry.
Regards
JB,

This was the GM’s reply,

Hi JB
Happy New Year to you too.
The structure with our competitions is that we run a separate event for visitors. Therefore the visitors can win the Visitors competition but not the Members Open Competition. To be honest and this is definitely nothing against your guest Paul, it was structured this way to protect the integrity of our Members competitions.
I have checked the competition results from yesterday and you are correct on the winner being R Rivett with 42 points. Paul is listed as the Visitor Winner and has a $50 voucher in the golf shop. To my knowledge the winners of the visitor section of the competition are not listed in the newspaper.
I hope that the above answers your questions but let me know if you have anything further I can help you with.
Thanks GM.

JB also replied,
Hi Grant,
Thank you for getting back to me.
I have never heard of a visitors competition? In my five years at the club this is a first, I would never begrudge a visitor winning the comp, they pay $10 for the comp they pay the $70 or thereabouts to have the privilege to play a round at TC they buy food in the clubhouse & spend money on the beverage cart on course so that said they are entitled to win in my view.
I have played at many other courses Australia wide and have won Saturday & Sunday comps and have been acknowledged as the winner although I am a visitor and in the paper it would read JB (11) Twin Creeks & my score..
We are requested as Members to bring guests to play the course throughout the year with special guest offers and in my view there is no point for visitors to play the course in a comp situation if the below is the norm and I would be surprised if many Members were aware of a visitors competition??
Anyway it is your call and there is nothing I can do about it just so you know I disagree with the concept as a Member.
Thanks again,
JB

There reply was,
Hi JB
This structure was introduced approximately 2.5 years ago and the competition matrix was developed by the members and adopted by the MAC.
Personally I believe that both Members and Visitors could reasonably argue their perspectives in relation to this topic. Ultimately we decided to protect the Members perspective in relation to the weekly competitions. Competitions like the Callaway Challenge are open for visitors to win the overall competition and the prizes.
Unfortunately there were some examples back prior to the new competition matrix that we saw Twin Creeks competitions won by visitors that had questionable handicaps from other Clubs. As I mentioned in my previous email this is definitely not directed at your guest Paul. The Members argument was ‘why can someone come in and win the competition when they are not Twin Creeks Members?’ To avoid a situation where a visitor was paying to play in a competition but wasn’t in contention to win was why we structured the Visitor category of the daily competitions. A similar situation was also implemented for Ladies playing in open competitions.
I appreciate you bringing guests to play at Twin Creeks as it forms a vital part of our operations growth, but I personally believe that the current structure is fair and reasonable all things considered.
If you disagree with the existing competition structure I would suggest writing an email to the MAC mac@twincreeks.com.au and raise the question. All correspondence is included and discussed during the monthly meetings and you will receive a response to your enquiry.
I am happy to discuss the matter further with you if you have any other questions.
Thanks GM.

That’s it in a nut shell..
TC’s answer to me is “here you still got $50 to spend in our pro-shop or bar”
If you want to win the comps and get your name in the paper….join our club…....
I was only upset because I had won and wasn’t recognized as the overall winner.

Thanks Bruce for your time. (sorry for the long post)

Bro
you should put this in golf talk for general discussion
just for your info when i play comps at other peoples courses all who enter the comp are playing each other regardless of status (visitor or member) you got ripped
kiwi

Cheers Kiwi

I will do that, I’m sure other members.on ISG would agree with your reply on this topic. I sure do.

Hi Bro

I see you have taken Kiwi’s advice and out this in Golf Talk where I am sure you will get a reaction.

I can understand both points of view here. The chance to maintain the intergrity of club comps for members in order that they may be protected from non members whose handicaps may not always be bona fide is commendable.

I appreciate yours is but perhaps it harks back a time when this was happening on a regular basis.

The guts is that a club can do what they like but you also have a point in that you were not aware of it and maybe there should be a greater effort by the staff to inform members and their guests they are playing in separate competitions.

Bruce
Very good points & sorry to hijack your thread
Kiwi