Long Drive

gents,
have been given the task of arranging the 1st annual members only long drive competition in our club. any tips,thoughts suggestions?
I was concerned that only the top few guys the club with a realistic chance would enter so with that in mind am also planning on having a juvenile, cat.2 cat 3 and over 50's token prize.
3 drives each and top 5 make it to the final.

Dont be suprised if your cat 2's arnt longer than your cat 1's!!

Not sure what to suggest really- unless there is a possibility for you to incorpoarte other skillz..

Long drive contest is really just that tbh.. Obviously a juniour one may go down a treat..

Our lot paint a line down the middle - closest to the line wins a prize! (make sure it starts from about 250 or you have some buggers hitting wedge...)

i like that idea monty... something to get everyone involved.... as much money to the local charity as possible!

good idea monty- very good

You could reward consistency.  All 3 drives must be in the fairway, all must be greater than x (which can vary by category if you like).  Subtract the shortest of the 3 from the longest of the 3 for each golfer, and see who has the smallest difference. It would give the shorter long hitters something else to go for !

Sounds more like an accountancy exam over a bit of fun dude!

Sorry, but I'm an actuary ! I run a small golf outing at work each year.  We have formulas to determine winners of various categories so we have to take a laptop with us (making my husband cringe).  But we do end up with an event where absolutely everyone knows they have a decent chance of winning something !

Plunky I quite like computers but that is bordering on the ridiculous.

I'm sure you're not alone with that thought ! But we only have 12-20 golfers, most of them don't have a handicap, and it's not easy to come up with a format where everyone has a chance of a prize. We have prizes for low gross and low net (using a formula I found on-line), but the trophy is determined by our own formula which has a random component but tends to favor the people who would be high handicap if they had one !

Even with conditions, long drive will always favour a certain type of player. Be it the long cat1 or 2 players or the wilder but long cat3 and 4 players

Go for a nearest the pin comp instead. Pick your shortest par3 and even go for yellow or even red tees. You are doing it to raise money for charity right? Give everyone a chance.

Even a genuine cat 4 player can hit a 120 yard par 3. The good players will still come out on top but even the hackers will have a chance

You can twist it by adding a Happy Gilmore finale.

Why do people feel everything must be dumbed down?

If plunky and co have a better but slightly more complicated system, it is still true that it is better.

It is not essential to be morons people, use what works whether it is complicated or not.


You could always run the long drive as a matchplay comp. With each match being best of 5 drives (so first to three game points).

Paint a line up the middle starting around 200 yards as monty suggests, allow 3 drives each. Have a prize for outright longest drive and drive closest to the line. You could also have a prize for longest drive subtracting the distance away from the line, (I.e. 270 long 30 right = 240). That's quite easy as you only need to record 3 sets of two numbers for each player- fire it into a spreadsheet and you're done.

some great suggestions guys thanks!

McLaren wrote:Why do people feel everything must be dumbed down?

If plunky and co have a better but slightly more complicated system, it is still true that it is better.  

It is not essential to be morons people, use what works whether it is complicated or not.


You could always run the long drive as a matchplay comp. With each match being best of 5 drives (so first to three game points).

 you really dont get it do you?

Its not about dumbing it down- its about a clear fun enviormoent and trying to get as many people involved..  He is trying to raise money.

Simple and effective skillz challenges is the way to go..long drive- nearest the pin, accuracy over 250 etc etc

"better" is totally subjective.

What works for Plunky et al isn't necessarily optimal for Hend. Neither is necessarily "better" or "worse".

If raising money is the real target I think a pure "long drive" in isolation might not be the best but if that is what is required do it as it says but if you can incorporate other elements to be inclusive to all it should (opinion again!) be more fun and more inclusive.

How's about a Driving Prize hole in a normal comp at which you have the longest drive as one prize (simple, one shot deal longest on fairway wins), closest to line (as described above, but independent of longest drive ie can't win both) and a shortest drive past (say) 130 yds (line across fairway, winner is the closest to that line, but ball has to be on fairway and past the line to count) and(/or) a "closest to target" where you draw 2 targets off fairway as well (possibly one target rough right, one rough left at diff distances but reachable by most).

That way everyone would have a chance long, short, accurate and sprayed and I'd have thought everyone would have a go. If you could (be bothered!) to do all that, everyone has a chance of winning something and the charity should win (esp if prizes sponsored).

McLaren wrote:Why do people feel everything must be dumbed down?

If plunky and co have a better but slightly more complicated system, it is still true that it is better.  

It is not essential to be morons people, use what works whether it is complicated or not.


You could always run the long drive as a matchplay comp. With each match being best of 5 drives (so first to three game points).

Mac you are a miserable git
But the long drive matchplay comp is a cracking idea

we have a pro shop day every year where there are novelty prizes on every hole, longest drive for A and B section on a couple of holes each, closest to the 150 yard marker on a couple of holes, closest to the pin on all par 3s, closest to the pin in two on some of the shorter par 4s, longest drive with a left handed club (right handed club for lefties obviously), closest to the pin with a junior club. usually there are a couple of holes missed out, and a few unusual tee positions setting up some different holes. it's quite good fun and usually played in teams of 5, with the first 6 or 7 holes played as a texas scramble and the back 9 played in a novelty stroke play format. prizes are usually golf bags, shoes, boxes of pro v's, bottles, etc. good fun providing you don't take it too seriously!

Have a large bell or gong about 250 out, but in the rough (or maybe a couple of metalic items at various points at that sort of range). Call it a Clangers competiton, and it's an extra £1, £2 or £5 to enter it (depending on what you're setting the main entrance fee at). Half the money collected, divided across the number of hits - like a Twos club. Keeps people who are concerned about hitting the fairway interested.

love the idea of a bell!

here's how to do it... maybe you need a larger bell though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu3OIT7mxDQ

How do you signify the competition is over? The bell end as it were.

I'll get me coat.

barragan wrote:Paint a line up the middle starting around 200 yards as monty suggests, allow 3 drives each. Have a prize for outright longest drive and drive closest to the line. You could also have a prize for longest drive subtracting the distance away from the line, (I.e. 270 long 30 right = 240). That's quite easy as you only need to record 3 sets of two numbers for each player- fire it into a spreadsheet and you're done.

"Fire it into a spreadsheet".  So I'm not the only one who would contemplate taking a laptop to a golf course ?!

We run a Callaway scoring tournament at the start of our season Plunky which means I bring my laptop to complete the scoring. It's amazing how fast people think it should be done because you have a laptop....

How about a competition whereby the person who can get the ball into the hole in the fewest number of shots wins?

You could call it something like um........golf?

starting to sound like Mac there Hibbz! do you have to use hickory shafts?

It'll never catch on ! Seriously though, we do our funky formula thing because even when we use the Calloway system (which is supposed to be good when you have players with no handicaps) we find that usually the player who is 2nd or 3rd gross wins the Calloway net prize. We have 2 or 3 players who are good and the rest are hackers. We didn't want the same people winning everything every year. It works for us !

Ha ha I share quite a few of Mac's views if I'm honest.

I also don't particularly like all the "fun" competitions that people feel the need to invent rather than just play golf.

Our Captain's day is in a couple of weeks and there are all sorts of irritating longest drives/straightest drives/drive nearest a particular point etc etc and whilst I'm well aware I don't have to play on that particular day when the alternative is shopping then I guess I'll be taking part with a superior and sour expression on my face.

why don't you enter an open instead of playing the captains day hibbz? i usually opt for an open over the pro day, but trying to take my golf a little less seriously right now so will probably just dig out my best smile and mix it with the hackers.

I did look for one Barra but nothing suitable. I played in an Open for £45 (practice round, 36 holes on day, breakfast, lunch and dinner) rather than pay £75 for invitation day at my place. That's another problem, Captains Day is £10 which isn't a lot of money admittedly so doesn't really bother me but I'm not a fan of paying to play my own/home course.

presumably the prize fund is decent though on captains day? i've stopped playing home opens for the same reason - £20+ to play your own course is not on when the prize funds only marginally better than a normal medal we only pay £3 for. played lundin links this year instead of ours and it was a really enjoyable round and well worth £20 as a visitor

Plunky wrote:It'll never catch on !  Seriously though, we do our funky formula thing because even when we use the Calloway system (which is supposed to be good when you have players with no handicaps) we find that usually the player who is 2nd or 3rd gross wins the Calloway net prize.  We have 2 or 3 players who are good and the rest are hackers. We didn't want the same people winning everything every year.  It works for us !

That's interesting Plunky. I thought the system was designed to get low gross to win but make it appearer close. Our last one we had a tie but the win goes to low gross in that instance.

Uh-oh, then I totally misunderstood what it was supposed to do (not unusual !).  I thought that it was supposed to level the playing field and give you a low net winner when you had no handicaps available.  But your description certainly fits what we've seen each year in terms of results.  We give a prize to low gross and a prize to low Calloway (but low gross is ineligible for low Calloway), then we have best newcomer, most improved, etc and the formula determines the champion !  I use the word "prize" loosely as it's mostly just ball markers, unwanted golf-themed christmas presents etc.  Every golfer gets a can of some kind of English/Scottish beer, part of the entry fee goes to our company summer charity, and everyone goes home happy !

Hibbz wrote:That's another problem, Captains Day is £10 which isn't a lot of money admittedly so doesn't really bother me but I'm not a fan of paying to play my own/home course.

Don't you pay to play in comps at your own course then? Or do you just not play in comps?

Entry to most of our comps is a fiver. I wouldn't mind paying a tenner to play in a special day if part of the entry fee is going to charity

I happen to agree with most on paying to play at your own club our medals are £3 main comps £5 but we only have about 80 in the members trophy this weekend and really struggling to get teams out for a b c matches when you are probably going to spend another £20 on meal and drinks.Big change over last 10 years or so.Cost related I think.If you just want to play say 10 rounds a year at a variety of courses it can be done for probably £200 at present.Stil a big challenge for the members clubs to keep the income up

So are some of you folks playing a medal comp every week?

How are you gonna watch the Open today Big Mac?

mystiroakey wrote:How are you gonna watch the Open today Big Mac?

On the sofa with a beer and my dinner. How about you?

Dinner? What does that mean up north.. When dinner time comes for me the days play will have finished

To me... Dinner meant the middle meal of the day. Breakfast. Dinner. Tea. So dinner is dinner!

To support that, schools had dinner ladies rather thant lunch ladies. Although I expect that's not PC now and they are Vice Presidents of Paediatric Nutrition or some such!

(incidentally after only 5 uses of the word, dinner now looks like a completely nonsensical word)

I dinna want any lunch today.
First week back at work after 6 months at home(and on the golf course) and I picked Open week and 30 degrees.Mixed feelings but reality check