Representative Club "Pennant" golf, do you have it?

[Brett_Morrissy]

An important part of club culture in Australia, Club Pennant, is team based representative golf against other clubs in your local area or district.
Juniors and some Women and some Senior "Vets", play handicap Matchplay.
The majority are Men, Colts and Women playing Matchplay off the stick. (hope I haven't forgotten anyone)
Support from local lovers of golf and club members will come along to watch the premier golfers in the district, although the crowds have become smaller over the last 20 years...and friends, family and fellow members will often offer their services to caddy, not normally carrying the clubs like in pro events, but rather using the pull buggy/trolleys, sometimes for actual advice, and sometimes just for moral support.

Matches are hostd by different clubs throughout the season, so for many it is a great chance to see and play at other courses, usually at no cost.

Do other countries have the same? How do your experiences differ? Is it wildly popular or not?

If you do, what are the challenges going forward, funding support, continued interest, players with enough time to commit to the team?

Cheers
BM

[Sean_A]

Yes, at my club there are several club matches VS other clubs and societies - home and away.  There is no league as such for these matches.  It is more social golf, but more social if the side wins - tee hee.  There is also a club team playing in a massive league with maybe 8 or 10 divisions.  It works like UK football leagues with clubs moving up and down the divisions depending on how well they have done.  I think one of the big issues for the club matches is the dinner afterwards.  A lot of guys won't sign up for matches because they don't want to sit through dinner.  I also think an issue is getting decent fixtures.  Everybody wants to have matches against clubs with good courses, but there aren't that many quality courses around a lot of areas.  So what ends up happening is some of these clubs with good courses have to travel quite a bit for matches - a lot of prospective players are not interested in doing this.

Ciao

[Brett_Morrissy]

Sean,
 Certainly some similar issues here, division one Metro pennant is based in the Melbourne Sandbelt, and includes relegation, clearly, that is a large incentive for plays to get into this division.

We also have some more social type interclub matches, many with long histories, and some brand new, eg the Black Saturday bush fires have been the genesis for some new interclub relationships to assist in continuing to develop the golfing community spirit.

[Rory Connaughton]

The GAP matches played amongst the clubs in the Golf Association of Philadelphia works similarly but it is limited to men's play.  I believe the Women's Association has a similar competition.  There are also plenty of "friendlies" involving two or more clubs. 

I know that Ireland has a model very similar to the one you describe.

[David_Tepper]

Brett M. -

The Northern California Golf Association has been running a interclub mens' league competition for at least 20 years. The teams from each club are comprised of 12 players and the matches are played at full handicap. The divisions within the league are comprised of 4 teams and the teams in each division play a home & away match against one another. The clubs winning each division have a playoff to determine the overall league champion. It is a nice way to play other courses and meet other golfers.

DT         

[Jason Topp]

Public courses in Minneapolis have a 24 man team competition consisting of home and away matches at scratch with 3 points available for each match 1 for the front, 1 for the back and 1 total.

Private courses have stroke play competitions, generally with 5 players per team and points awarded for the place one finishes in each position. 

We dropped out of the private competitions because we were always getting killed and instead got two people from four different courses together for a more informal set of interclub competitions.  The hosts pay so the price is right and the courses are very good.

[Andrew Bertram]

Pennant golf is very serious in Melbourne, in particular in division 1

Waverley Golf Club made an arrangement 6 or so years with some members of the English National Squad and it has become a very successful arrangement for them with 2 young players being boarded with members and they get great support from the Club Members.
To stay on level terms "recruiting" has become a part of what happens at each club.

At Yarra we were introduced to a couple of young New Zealanders who are both wonderful players but more importantly they have become great role models to our younger Members.
They have both moved to base themselves here and live with Members.
The membership have become very supportive of them as they do play golf with rank and file Members and are around the Club a lot. 2 of our guys do some part time work on the course as well so the Members do see them a lot.

To be competitive in Division 1 you need to be proactive in bringing in good young players as well as bringing young players up through the ranks.
Yarra's best team plays off +4, +4, +3, +2, +1, 0, +1

In the ladies we are less proactive as we have had more success bringing home grown players through, and have been in the finals regularly in the last 8 years i have been at the Club. This year may be more challenging as there has been a real increase in the recruitment process amongst the division 1 clubs in the ladies.

On the whole pennant golf in Melbourne gets a lot of support. Each division is held at one club every Sunday and across the 8 clubs in each division you will often find a few hundredClub Members at the venue supporting their team.




 

[SL_Solow]

In the Chicago area there are at least 3 leagues for competition among various clubs.

[Ash Towe]

Brett,

The situation in Auckland is almost identical to what you described.  It is taken very seriously, at all levels.  Often seen as the first competitive step for able players.

I believe the area champions play off, to eventually find the national club champions.