Handicap Index and *** Optishot Tour

[CatMan]

Hey Guys,

Eventually we will be moving towards a Handicap process, this will keep the field close but also encourage players to practice and improve there score..
What I have in mind is a Weighted Handicap: Handicap weighted against the Gross.

Works something like this Player A is a Scratch golfer, Player B is a 20 Handicap, it we use a Weight of 75% handicap and 25% Gross Player B would have a handicap of 15 coming into Tournament.. Player A would stay same because he is Scratch..

This process will always give the edge to the better golfer, and will encourage golfers to improve there score instead of just settling.

The Weights can vary from week to week until we find a weight that is fair for all and keep it tight..

Please let me know your thoughts

Thanks
CatMan

[JohnMeyer]

Hi all, for those interested you can download this excel sheet I made so you will be able to see what your handicap is likely to be as you progress through the tournament.

Please be aware you need to have completed 9 rounds in order for it to calculate properly. Due to limitations in my excel skills it occasionnally may be very slightly out as only works on 5 from last 9 rounds, not 10, but should give you some idea anyway.

There is a macro in the file for the new round entry, just in case you get a warning message

http://www.filedropper.com/handicapcalculator-blankv2

[JohnMeyer]

Link updated again, new file seems to work spot on unless you have had holes that have been adjusted due to ESC rules, ie no more than a +2 on any one hole.. nothing I can do about that, so if you want it perfect youll have to manually adjust your score when you input it into the spreadsheet. Eg if system says you scored 77, but you had a +4 on one hole, you would need to input as 75 to get an accurate handicap of how the system would calculate it

[Willymakit]

How is it possible that I'm a -8 handicapp. I guess it adds up all the best scores and forgets about the blow ups. Something isn't right here.

Can someone look at the stats and make sure there isn't something wrong here.

[CatMan]

How is it possible that I'm a -8 handicapp. I guess it adds up all the best scores and forgets about the blow ups. Something isn't right here.

Can someone look at the stats and make sure there isn't something wrong here.

I was thinking same thing Jason, but this is what the system spitted out, maybe hoganwoods can look at this.. I'm sure its not counting blow up holes...

[HWoods]

Hey guys,

I'll do willy's handicap breakdown manually and post here a bit later. We did have issues with cached files on some people's computer not allowing ESC to work correctly, I'll see if it maybe affected willy. Stay tuned - i'll post the breakdown of his cap here so you can see.

Edit:

Here you go. The way its done is below. Best 5 rounds out of last 10 eligible rounds. (PRO league rounds dont count for you guys) There are no half shots so things are rounded up / down.

Player Round Index = (Gross Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Course Slope

birds - 63 (75.3 / 137): -10
birds - 67 (75.3 / 137): -7
phoenix - 65 (75.1 / 148): -8
phoenix - 68 (75.1 / 148): -5
war - 64 (72.7 / 129): -8

Total of -38 / 5 = -7.6 = -8

[CatMan]

Good Stuff Hogan,

Again being educated by all this... Thank You

[Willymakit]

Hey guys,

I'll do willy's handicap breakdown manually and post here a bit later. We did have issues with cached files on some people's computer not allowing ESC to work correctly, I'll see if it maybe affected willy. Stay tuned - i'll post the breakdown of his cap here so you can see.

Edit:

Here you go. The way its done is below. Best 5 rounds out of last 10 eligible rounds. (PRO league rounds dont count for you guys) There are no half shots so things are rounded up / down.

Player Round Index = (Gross Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Course Slope

birds - 63 (75.3 / 137): -10
birds - 67 (75.3 / 137): -7
phoenix - 65 (75.1 / 148): -8
phoenix - 68 (75.1 / 148): -5
war - 64 (72.7 / 129): -8

Total of -38 / 5 = -7.6 = -8

Thanks for your input Hoganwoods.

There is no way I can compete in this league with that kind of handicapp.

[CatMan]

Thanks for your input Hoganwoods.

There is no way I can compete in this league with that kind of handicapp.

Jason everyone is using the same process, it makes it a level playing field.... The only things we cant compete with are players that have inflated caps do to various reasons but its not the systems fault..

[Willymakit]

Jason everyone is using the same process, it makes it a level playing field.... The only things we cant compete with are players that have inflated caps do to various reasons but its not the systems fault..

I can understand if it would take your scores from all the rounds and come out with a average. But honestly I have never shot 4 rounds consecutive below par or no where near the 8 under I now I have to shoot to break even. And with the misreads I get is a handicap within itself that I have to over come. It's fun to compete but it's hard to be down 32 shots to par and I haven't even hit a shot. I'm starting to think this isn't for me anymore. Until things get rectified.

[HWoods]

You are thinking in terms of PAR. That's not how this works. I can't repeat this enough. Shooting E from your handicap is supposed to be difficult. There is nothing to rectify. If you ever played a NET event in real life, its the same thing.

[CatMan]

The biggest issue we need to address is New Players, and Old if Woods are not taped.. Here is what I see happening.. New Player come in and join league, clubs not taped, plays 8 rounds without tape and has handicap index established.. New Player wants to be more competitive and tapes seeing if it works, ah this is nice, the clubs are actually reading correctly.. New Player starts scoring low and Wins tournament not being deserved of...

Or we have players that think their cap is to low, so they want to make it more to their liking so they can win, again undeserving and take it away from players that are doing their best each week...

Unfortunately human nature drives us, we need to do our best each week to play with integrity and honesty each time we play... Do the necessary things before playing to put our best number up for that round... Like warm-up stretching, meditating or what ever you do to get ready to play... I have a set routine I do before each round...

I think if every player did this we all would be competitive and everyone can have a chance of winning....

[JohnMeyer]

The thing were all probably missing is its all to do with Course Rating.

When we score and decide who wins our scores are in relation to PAR, ie, 72 on Monteray. However due to Rating the our scores when calculating handicap are in relation to RATING, ie. 74.7

So for example ive just played my 1st round and scored 74. So in theory if i did 10 rounds at that it would look like my handicap should be 2, as would be consistently 2 OVER PAR

However this is not the case, My Handicap would actually be -1, as I would have been consistenly -0.7 BELOW RATING

As youll see from Hogans workings Jason, you haven't been shooting 8 BELOW PAR, but you have shot -7, -8. -8, -10 and -5 BELOW RATING

So basically what we should see on a tournament if everyone played perfectly to their handicap we should see scores of RATING - PAR, so in this event a true par round played to handicap is +2.7

For me the issue is do the RATINGS truly reflect the difficulty of the course on Optishot, so is Monteray actually playing as a PAR 74.7. Its that I'm not convinced of

If they dont and the course is actually playing in effect as a RATING 72, my 74 should be a round to increase my handicap, where it will actually serve to lower it further.

So to summary if anyone shoots below +3 this round, you have played below your handicap and youll probably be seeing a drop in your handicap for the next event

My handicap spreadsheet I posted http://www.filedropper.com/handicapcalculator-blankv2 shows you how its all calculated

[HWoods]

That's right, John. You could lower rating to 68 and see caps drop, but they would all drop. It would not make it easier for Will to win, just maybe make him happier with the overall score.

[Willymakit]

That's right, John. You could lower rating to 68 and see caps drop, but they would all drop. It would not make it easier for Will to win, just maybe make him happier with the overall score.

Hey hoganwoods I just want to point out that I could careless about winning. What I do care about is competing competively and I know that with a -8 handicapp that's not going to happen.

I always kept hearing after 10 rounds that things are going to be closer. I believe its just going the other way.

[JohnMeyer]

That's right, John. You could lower rating to 68 and see caps drop, but they would all drop. It would not make it easier for Will to win, just maybe make him happier with the overall score.

The system is spot on, and I think as long as we all understand that shouldnt be shooting under par too often, then should all be happy.

The only thing I would perhaps change with the calculation is to rather than best 5 from last 10, would take average of middle 6 rounds from last 10, ignoring the best and the worst 2. However this would give what most would consider an average handicap, and is as you say not how its done according to USGA.


The issues is as catman says when a player, new or old, suddenly improves rapidly well ahead of his handicap curve, but if thats to do with practice and a resulting improvement in their game then they deserve to score low. If its not then will have issues for that particular event as they will shoot low, but player cap will be reduced significantly for next event. For new players I would recommend a setting of 18 below real life handicap as a starting point. Relies on honesty with their real life cap but at least wont give them too big an advantage early on.