This is a great example of course slope manipulating. 90 % of the time your not playing the course the card says you are!!!
Sincerely, Robert Devino 14252 Delano St. Van Nuys, Ca. 91401 (818) 908-1691 ________________________________ From: Dave Tutelman <dtutel...@optonline.net> To: ShopTalk@mail.msen.com Cc: Tom Flanagan <tflans...@hotmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 11:41:56 AM Subject: ShopTalk: Handicaps (was KZG Gemini driver heads) Played Hominy Hill this morning. A few things from that experience that relate to this discussion. Noticing that the white tees were further back than usual on the first hole, I asked the starter if it was just the first hole or was that the order of the day. He said that they set up the course to play the yardage on the scorecard today. Why? Because the NJSGA is coming to RE-RATE THE COURSE this afternoon. This raises a number of points: (1) I'm just about certain that more tees were farther back than usual. (I play this course 20-30 times a year.) Definitely longer than usual. Which means that the course rating is higher than it usually plays. That tends towards vanity handicaps. I will normally play the course shorter than it is rated, and likely get a lower score than I would at rated length. (2) The greens were faster and the sand was better than usual. That does not automatically make the course harder, nor easier. (The greens stimped at 9 or 10, fast but nowhere near "bikini wax" fast.) It favors people who know what to do with these conditions. If you just finished playing Spring Meadow -- concrete in the bunkers and shag carpet on the greens, or it least it seems that way -- then today's conditions might make Hominy Hill difficult. I didn't find it any harder. In fact, I shot a better score on the front than usual. I kinda' wilted on the back nine in the 90* heat, and wound up shooting about what I usually do for 18. I also saw a real live stimpmeter in use for the first time. I expected to see the ramp with a brace that holds it at the specified angle. But no! The slot from which the ball starts is apparently machined to very close tolerances. You place the ball in the slot and raise one end of the ramp. The slot is designed so the ball rolls out of the slot and down the slope at exactly the correct angle. Very clever, but requires precision in the slot dimensions and the ball dimensions. More below... At 01:27 PM 8/5/2009, be...@chartermi.net wrote: > This was a pretty good explanation by tflan. I agree completely. But one thing needs a little clarification. TFlan said, "A course rated at 72 say, is meaningless to the handicap system." True, it has nothing to do with computing your course handicap from your index. But it is a very important part of computing your index from your actual score at the course. As Tom said, look at the USGA site for a more complete explanation. > When the USGA came through, they not only changed the slope and course rating > a bit (rated higher now), but they also reordered the holes. For the most > part I agree with the new ratings, but for some reason the hole that everyone > thinks is the second hardest on the course is now rated the second easiest, > and one of the easiest holes on the course is rated as the second hardest. > Not sure how that determination was made, but it does hose up where you > get/give strokes for sure. TFlan already answered this pretty well. I'd like to take my own crack at it. Maybe hearing it explained slightly differently will help. The handicap ordering of the holes is NOT an indicator of how hard the hole is on any absolute scale. It is a measure of HOW MUCH HARDER it is for a bogey golfer than for a scratch golfer. I was reminded again of this as I played Hominy Hill set up for rating. Some examples: (1) If you look at the scorecard for many courses, you will note that the top-rated holes are the par-fives. (At Hominy, the par-fives are rated 1, 2, 3, and 8.) A scratch golfer typically considers them birdie opportunities, so it sure isn't a "hard hole" for them. A high handicapper, OTOH, experiences a par-5 as just more opportunities to screw up. Which brings us to... (2) The #1 rated hole is the par-5 fourteenth. It's an average-length par-5, with a 60-yard pond that must be cleared immediately in front of the green. Duffers consider it a really hard hole. Since I cleaned up my swing to be more reliable ten years ago, my view of this hole changed radically. It went from very hard to one that I WILL PAR as long as I don't mess up any shot. I don't need to hit great shots to par it, just competent shots. That is a PERFECT example of a top-rated hole, where a confident golfer isn't fazed at all, but a duffer sees all sorts of trouble -- and winds up in it. (3) I personally think the hardest hole on the course is the tenth. It's a long dogleg par-4, with the last 150yd uphill to a very well-protected green whose surface you can't see. The handicap rating on this hole is 11. HOW IN HELL CAN SUCH A HARD HOLE BE RATED #11. The answer is that it is a hard hole for EVERYBODY, scratch and duffer alike. A scratch golfer going for it in two is likely to get in trouble and wind up with bogey. A bogey golfer playing it conservatively can probably hit a wedge to the green for the third shot, and have (as Johnny Miller puts it) "bogey option par." So that isn't the place that a stroke most needs to be given. Hope this helps, DaveT -- Shoptalk ** Sponsored by the new Aldila Voodoo. Learn more at http://aldilavoodoo.com/
