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Okay so I’m reading the latest Golf Digest and I ran into a Q&A about handicaps. I recently tried to explain to a friend that handicaps aren’t what you should be expected to shoot above par.  This sums it up nicely:

Q: How often should you beat your handicap?

A: Not often. In fact, you should average about three shots higher than your handicap.

For example, if you have a course handicap of 16, and the Course Rating is 71.2, you should average 90, not 87. The USGA Handicap System is based on 96 percent of the best 10 differentials (corrected for Course and Slope ratings) of your last 20 rounds. More than half of your scores should be within three strokes of three over your handicap (87 to 93 in this example). Most golfers beat their handicap (86 or better in this example) only 20 percent of the time and beat it by three strokes one out of every 20 rounds.

For a person with a course handicap of 16 to break 80 (beat his handicap by eight strokes), the odds are 1,138 to 1. To do it twice, it would take the average golfer more than 700 years. In other words, it ain’t happening.

Source: Golf Digest, May 2008

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I’m in love.

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Okay so check this out. The USGA has a bunch of numbers that represent how good a player is, how tough a course is, etc. At first glance they seem like they might make sense. The math behind them boggles the mind.

USGA Course Rating. Through some documented procedures, a USGA team must come and evaluate the course. The number this represents is what they believe a scratch golfer should shoot on the course, when the course is playing in average conditions. Lots of variables, some black box math, and they’ve got a number that has one decimal place.

Bogey Rating. At the same time of the USGA Course Rating, the team also determines what a bogey golfer should shoot. You with me? They’re trying to determine what somebody who makes bogey every hole on an average course of average condition playing in average weather would shoot at the course in question when playing in its average conditions. This number is certainly not scratch plus 18 strokes.

Handicap Index. This is probably the number you’re familiar with. Us duffers will be well into the double digits here - I’m a 19 handicap or so. Now you may think this is just the average over par you are after 18 holes. Thinking it is that easy makes you look like a schmuck. Here’s how the USGA defines a Handicap Index:

A “Handicap Index” is the USGA’s service mark used to indicate a measurement of a player’s potential ability on a course of standard playing difficulty. It is expressed as a number taken to one decimal place (e.g. 10.4) and is used for conversion to a Course Handicap.

Okay, so let’s see how we actually figure it out. First, you must be able to calculate Handicap Differentials. To do that, you’ll need your adjusted gross score, the USGA Course Rating, Slope Rating, and the magic number 113 (I’m not kidding). Here’s how the USGA describes this process:

To determine the Handicap Differential, subtract the USGA Course Rating from the adjusted gross score; multiply the difference by 113; then divide the resulting number by the Slope Rating. Round the final number to the nearest tenth.

Handicap Differential = (Adjusted Gross Score - USGA Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating

Now, depending on how many rounds you’ve played and you’ve calculated the Handicap Differentials for, you’re going to take about half of them. You take the lowest 10 of your last 20 or if you only have say 16, you’ll use your lowest 6 for some reason (there is a sliding scale to determine this). You finally get to do some math here that makes sense… you merely average these numbers. “Am I done?” you naively ask. No! You’ve still got to multiply this number by 0.96 and then truncate to the tenths of a number. Why 0.96? That is called the Bonus for Excellence and is there to make it easier for golfers closer to scratch to score better after handicap adjustments.

I’d write about more stupid math but I’ve already got a headache. Maybe later.

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I got spanked by TCI, but not as hard as I was expecting. From what I heard about the course, they have some of the harder greens around and you really have to choose wisely which shots to play. I decided to get really agressive on the back, which explains my terrible score there. I lost a bunch of balls because I was trying to get fancy and instead of taking my free drops I was trying to prove a point to myself.

After playing the course, I can’t really see how they justify a $70 greens fee though. Sure, it is nice and the level of service is far beyond any other public course around here, but twice the rate for 18 holes is a little crazy. I played at a $39 off-season rate, which is about the only way I’d like to play the course again.

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I recently picked up Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, being a huge fan of the 2005 version of the same. I’ve played the game since the 2003 version (which until recently I actually played weekly at my brother’s house) and I think the 2005 to 2006 jump is probably the biggest jump in gameplay.

First off, the new putting system is unreasonably difficult. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you definately need to develop a touch for the putter. You can no longer just aim to a specific spot on the green and let it rip with a full swing. You need to adjust your backswing length to fit how far you’d like to putt the ball. The elevation guide and grid on the green seem pretty worthless for this. I’ve left it short as often as I’ve blasted it 6ft past the hole. Not once did I have a 3-putt in prior versions of the game, but I didn’t care for the caddy tips style of putting either.

The money amounts have been tamed down in this game as well. It used to be amounts under $50k were like nothing in the game. To buy a new driver, it might have cost $100k, which is just silly. Now the amount of money you get from sponsors and you win with trophy balls is much, much less and more in-line with reality.

Fade and draw shots are easier to hit. You just hold the right analog stick to adjust where your club will hit the ball. I never used to play a fade/draw in prior versions but I have quite a bit in this version. I’m more likely to play shots like you would when you’re really on the golf course instead of playing a shot firing directly at the pin because you know its going to land exactly where you’ve aimed.

The ballstriking in this game seems much more realistic too. Last night, a friend I was playing with tried to go for a long par 5 in 2, using his driver on the second shot. He ended up topping the ball, as I’d expect would happen often hitting oversized drivers off of tight lies. In 2005, every single time you’d connect with the ball on the fairway, it would be a crisp hit. I’m glad to see this bit of realism was added - maybe some par 5’s will really only be reachable in 3 (with lightning fast greens I actually rolled it over and OB with my second shot with a 2-iron).

While some parts of the game are still a little annoying, I think this version is a net improvement and a welcome upgrade for me.

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Last night was our first ‘Fun Night’ in league. There weren’t many people playing, being this close to a holiday and all. So, our league organizer decided to change things up and have specific rules for each hole, as follows:

1. Heckle Hole - Normal Golf, with the exception of: talking, whistling, yelling, burping or whatever noise you can make come out of your body, while the player is making a shot, chip, putt, or whatever! Each and every shot until the hole is completed.
2. One Club Hole - On the tee, pick a club out of your bag. This is the club you will use on the entire hole. Teeing, chipping, and putting.
3. Two Club Hole - Pick two clubs out of your bag. These two clubs are the only clubs you can use on this hole, including your putt(s).
4. Girly-Man Hole - Everyone gets to tee from the Women’s tees. If you’re too manly to hit from the women’s tees, then you must be a real man and thus tee from the blue tees.
5. Silence Hole – Normal Golf, with the exception of; there is to be NO talking from the time the first ball is teed until the last putt is made. Anyone who talks, is assessed a 2 stroke penalty. If you happen to talk and take the penalty, the penalized person may treat the hole like a heckle hole, to try and make the other players slip up and get penalized also. You may yell FORE as a warning if there’s an errant ball. No penalty. Don’t abuse it!!
6. Bonus Hole - Regular golf, except, you get ONE FREE KICK and ONE FREE THROW. You may kick the ball once to advance it and you may throw it once to advance it. You do not need to count these as strokes. However, you are not allowed to kick or throw when the ball is on the green. So, get your kicks and throws in early!!
7. Advantage Hole - Once on the green, you may move your ball 2 club lengths closer to the hole without incurring a penalty. However, you must putt the ball one handed. Stance doesn’t matter. But only one hand can be on the putter! ( 2 stroke penalty if you don’t)
8. Penalty Hole - Failure to hit your ball in the number 8 fairway with your tee shot, you must add 2 strokes to your score. Do whatever you need to do, to get the ball in the fairway on your drive!! Bonus: If you hit the ball in a sand trap, subtract 1 stroke from your score!
9. Heckle, Silence, and Bonus Hole - Heckle hole on the tee and green. Silence hole ( 2 stroke penalty if you talk ) immediately after the last player has teed, until you reach the green. Once on the green, and you have to be on the green, Heckle away!!. Bonus hole is in effect ( free kick and free throw ). Refer to holes 1, 5 and 6 for further details.

Special Bonus – You may deduct a total of two strokes off your score, if you attempt and hit your tee shot like Happy Gilmore. You must tee this way twice to earn your deduction.

It was actually a lot of fun - especially since I did fairly well. The scorecard there does not include the Happy Gilmore bonus -2 that I think nearly everybody received. I did see some entertaining swings and misses though - I watched one guy who hit 3 off the first tee because of misses.

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So I joined a golf league this year, in hopes of improving my pathetic golf game. We play 9 holes every Tuesday evening at Otter Creek Golf Course, which is a pretty nice course. In the past I’ve usually been in the mid-50’s for 9 after my sliced drives and 3-putts. Officially, I’ve got a handicap of 15 for the league. So far this year I’ve played Otter 3 times and have shot a 51, 56, and 50 - shooting the 56 last Tuesday, the first night of league.

I’ve found a pretty sweet application that I run on my Smartphone (Motorola MPx220). Its called IntelliGolf and assists in round scoring, amongst other things. You can use it to track each individual stroke to find out where you need to work on (for me it would just say everything and give me the finger so I haven’t done this yet). Also, it supports GPS so you can figure out your exact yardage to the pin, you can track your putts, bunker shots, sand saves, etc. You can even use it to have some friendly side-betting - another feature I dare not try until I can find a game that favors my sloppy style. This is a pretty fun app - here’s my scorecard from Sunday.

I just sat thinking about this after coming back from lunch and seeing the rain pick up to make for a very soggy round tonight or possibly no round at all. Sigh.

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