WHo is the best golfer on this site?

["Richard"]

I know its not me

[dbleber]

How could anybody answer that question correctly? There are hundreds of people on this site and very few have seen each other play.
Denny

[1972Apex]

Well, of the ones I've seen play, mpare and Big Easy are right up there. And in totally different ways.
mpare doesn't hit the ball a long way, but it's down the middle all the time. And he knows how to score. Big Easy hits the driver like a tour pro. And he's pretty long with the irons too. I personally saw him hit a 220 yard blade 5-iron to a foot from the pin at Casselview. I stood there and watched it like a paralyzed mute.
Played with a few other good guys on the site as well, but these are the two I'd least like to play for money so far.

[hollywood]

BC Mist, hands down. His record in the Ottawa valley speaks for itself. He hits it so straight it is unbelievable.

["Richard"]

How could anybody answer that question correctly? There are hundreds of people on this site and very few have seen each other play.
Denny

Hey denny, I'm sure there are more people playing with eachother on this site than you think. Just from PM'ing with some of the members I've been invited to go play golf, have them teach me some pointers and so on. They tell me how they just meet up with people from the board to go play golf. It may not be possible to see who the best player is but I'm sure we can come up with a top three Eitherway, I won't be on it.

[mpare]

My money is on BC Mist. Actually, some of my money is in his pockets. He's got all the shots, a wonderful sense of strategy, great composure and he's a proven pressure player. I'm coming after you, Lyle, after I retire! Sphere Hunter and CPilon are two other boys whom you do not want to play heads up.

[Chieflongtee]

What about Sensfan 63?

[EDSGOLF]

Well, is anybody a scratch golfer here? That may help determine a bit who the best golfer is.

[NoBack]

Well, is anybody a scratch golfer here? That may help determine a bit who the best golfer is.

Sometimes I scratch, but not in public

[Chieflongtee]

Sometimes I scratch, but not in public

Whoemever goes to bed with an itchy ah never mind

[jvincent]

Well, is anybody a scratch golfer here? That may help determine a bit who the best golfer is.

I believe BCMist is a +1, i.e. "better than scratch".

[Andru]

Enter the Citizen and we'll find out who the best is this year at least

[jvincent]

Enter the Citizen and we'll find out who the best is this year at least

Or more appropriately, who is the best that week / set of days.

I still laugh every time I see the scores in the Citizen. The cutoff for the Citizen is around an 8 (can't remember) yet every year when the scores for SB come in, there are many that are above 100.

I'm sorry, but there is NO WAY anyone with an 8 or better should score that high there. I play to an 11.2 (today) and if I shoot higher than 90 at SB from the blacks I am pissed.

Of course with my real 11.2 I won't be able to get in to the Citizen to put my money where my mouth is so to speak.

[Andru]

agreed. I can see an 8 shooting a 90 though. Competitive golf is much different than casual rounds. Especially on a course you don't play often. Over 100 is ridiculous. You can tell there are people hacking there handicaps to get in the tournament. Which sucks for people with a real 7 or 8. They're being undercut by an 18 pretending to be a 4.

They should do it like the OVGA if you post a 100+ round. You're not welcome back for a couple of years.

I'm gogin to try to get in. if I dont' maybe next year. But I won't slide my handicap to get into a tournament that's over my head.

["Richard"]

I know so many people who lie about their scores. One of my friends shoots 80s and low 90s (he lives in toronto) but he has never broken 100 when playing with me. I ask him why he can't break 100 when he palys with me and he says he is having a bad day :S

[Colby]

This is a great site for that stuff, it's called vanity handicaps:

http://www.popeofslope.com/sandbagging/reverse.html

[Andru]

This is a great site for that stuff, it's called vanity handicaps:

http://www.popeofslope.com/sandbagging/reverse.html

Haha I love it.

There's a problem sometimes though. Example. I was playing the marshes. I think 3 over. On 16 a par 5, I made a 10 then a 6 on the par 3. I put 10 and 6 on my card. I mentioned this to a friend and he in not so many words accused me of sandbagging. Saying I shouldn't count it as a 10 because it could inflate my handicap. One round won't inflate anything. I believe unless you're round is in a mens league you should count everything.

One snowman or a 10 in 20 rounds of play isn't going to inflate anything, also, if you're making a 10 every 2 rounds maybe you're not as good as you think you are.

Once mid May hits or a competitive setting. The spring rules are done and it's time to play real golf. No gimmes, no "oh I rushed that putt I would have made it",or I'll prop up my lie because my ball found a divot.

[Thom Panikorn]

agreed. I can see an 8 shooting a 90 though. Competitive golf is much different than casual rounds. Especially on a course you don't play often. Over 100 is ridiculous. You can tell there are people hacking there handicaps to get in the tournament. Which sucks for people with a real 7 or 8. They're being undercut by an 18 pretending to be a 4.

They should do it like the OVGA if you post a 100+ round. You're not welcome back for a couple of years.

I'm gogin to try to get in. if I dont' maybe next year. But I won't slide my handicap to get into a tournament that's over my head.

Just to let you guys know that I was one of the 100 shooters in the Citizen last year. I entered the tournament as a 4 or 5 handicaper! AND I WAS A 4 HANDICAPER when I entered it (I was my club cham in 2003!). I played the Citizen for the last three years and made the cut the first two years(02-03). I went through a swing change early last year and played very well early in the spring and then boomed! I started sh#$@ing my short irons. I would go out and played very well one day and really really bad the next day. It went on for 2-3 months. My handicap went from a 2 in April last year to a 6 in July. As you all know the way the handicap system work. It takes 96% of your best 10 out of the last 20 rounds. My rounds over 90 never made it into the calculation because, as I said, I also played some very good rounds during that period. I almost quit the game at one point but I didn't. AND I NEVER WALKED OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT NO MATTER HOW BAD I PLAYED. I ALWAYS FINISH AND HAND IN MY SCORES. If you play this game long enough you will realize how your game can change over night. And that's one reason we all love this game...the thought that our best years are ahead of us!

TP

[Andru]

I know so many people who lie about their scores. One of my friends shoots 80s and low 90s (he lives in toronto) but he has never broken 100 when playing with me. I ask him why he can't break 100 when he palys with me and he says he is having a bad day :S

Everyone does have bad days sometimes we have bad weeks, 10 strokes is 2 bad tee shots and a few 3 putts. Also maybe he's playing an easy course in Toronto.


Breaking 100 at meadows and breaking 100 at eagle creek are two different accomplishments.




.

[Colby]

Haha I love it.

There's a problem sometimes though. Example. I was playing the marshes. I think 3 over. On 16 a par 5, I made a 10 then a 6 on the par 3. I put 10 and 6 on my card. I mentioned this to a friend and he in not so many words accused me of sandbagging. Saying I shouldn't count it as a 10 because it could inflate my handicap. One round won't inflate anything. I believe unless you're round is in a mens league you should count everything.

One snowman or a 10 in 20 rounds of play isn't going to inflate anything, also, if you're making a 10 every 2 rounds maybe you're not as good as you think you are.

Once mid May hits or a competitive setting. The spring rules are done and it's time to play real golf. No gimmes, no "oh I rushed that putt I would have made it",or I'll prop up my lie because my ball found a divot.

That's where ESC comes into play. Based on where your handicap is, between 1 and 18, you can only count a double bogey for handicapping purposes. So on your card, your gross score is a 10 and a 6, but when you input for handicapping, it's counted as a 7 and a 5. All the procedures are found in section 4-3 here:

http://www.rcga.org/english/Handicapping/manual4.asp

[jvincent]

.... Thom posts a story of woe....

Good on you for fessing up.

In your particular case, i.e. incurable shanks, I guess I can see it.

However, if I were a low handicapper and I just played 6 iron or lower for ALL my shots, it would be hard to shoot over a 100. Shanks notwithstanding, you should be able to hit every par 4 and all but one par 5 at SB in at most 3-4 shots and it's unlikely that an 8 or lower is going to have more than 36 putts at SB.

Not pretty, but not >100.

[Andru]

Just to let you guys know that I was one of the 100 shooters in the Citizen last year. I entered the tournament as a 4 or 5 handicaper! AND I WAS A 4 HANDICAPER when I entered it (I was my club cham in 2003!). I played the Citizen for the last three years and made the cut the first two years(02-03). I went through a swing change early last year and played very well early in the spring and then boomed! I started sh#$@ing my short irons. I would go out and played very well one day and really really bad the next day. It went on for 2-3 months. My handicap went from a 2 in April last year to a 6 in July. As you all know the way the handicap system work. It takes 96% of your best 10 out of the last 20 rounds. My rounds over 90 never made it into the calculation because, as I said, I also played some very good rounds during that period. I almost quit the game at one point but I didn't. AND I NEVER WALKED OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT NO MATTER HOW BAD I PLAYED. I ALWAYS FINISH AND HAND IN MY SCORES. If you play this game long enough you will realize how your game can change over night. And that's one reason we all love this game...the thought that our best years are ahead of us!

TP

Why all the yelling?

[Andru]

That's where ESC comes into play. Based on where your handicap is, between 1 and 18, you can only count a double bogey for handicapping purposes. So on your card, your gross score is a 10 and a 6, but when you input for handicapping, it's counted as a 7 and a 5. All the procedures are found in section 4-3 here:

http://www.rcga.org/english/Handicapping/manual4.asp

I won't argue with the RCGA. I never take strokes anyway, So my index doesn't matter most of the time. But I'll start following the ESC now. I don't know how you can keep and accurate index if you're shaving 4 strokes a round because of ESC. Let's say you're making 4 triples every round. That's up to people much smarter than me. I'll do as instructed

[jeffc]

I normally shoot in the mid 80's, I'll confess I don't keep a handicap but am pretty consistent by and large in breaking 90. So what happens this year? we go down to Myrtle Beach a few weeks back and I shoot 102 with a 57 on the front. Mind you, it was our opening round, quite cool with 40MPH winds. Funny thing is, I had been to the range 3-4 times before playing and was hitting the ball as good as I can.

It happens to the best of us but there are times that I have just lost my swing and during a round, there is not much I can do to fix it. That being said, I have wondered about some of scores I have seen but remember Thom's comments from last year.

["Richard"]

so If I'm shooting 95, what is my HCP? Just 95-72 = 23???

[powerlefty]

I won't argue with the RCGA. I never take strokes anyway, So my index doesn't matter most of the time. But I'll start following the ESC now. I don't know how you can keep and accurate index if you're shaving 4 strokes a round because of ESC. Let's say you're making 4 triples every round. That's up to people much smarter than me. I'll do as instructed

I think ESC is geared primarily toward match play, at least that is how I can rationalize it.

For example if there was no ESC and Player A (Mr Erratic) parred 15 holes, birdied 2 holes and had one blow up of 15 over par on one hole on a course with a 70 rating (assume par 72), that would be a 15 differential. If he does that every day he ends up essentially with a 15 index (96%, etc notwithstanding).

Now compare that to Player B (Mr Consistent) who makes 15 bogeys, 1 par and 2 birdies every day on the same course. His differential would also be 15 and this would result in an index of 15 also.

So you have 2 supposedly equals at a 15 index and they play match play. Neither gets strokes. If things run along as normal, Player A would win the vast majority of the time because he is basically a scratch player except for the one disaster that strikes every day. In match play that only costs him one hole and his normal string of pars and birdies would kill Player B every day.

I don't know what rationale there would be for ESC on stroke play but I bet there is one.

P.S. being more of a Player A (but not nearly as good as the example I set forth!), I hate playing against Player Bs

[jvincent]

I won't argue with the RCGA. I never take strokes anyway, So my index doesn't matter most of the time. But I'll start following the ESC now. I don't know how you can keep and accurate index if you're shaving 4 strokes a round because of ESC. Let's say you're making 4 triples every round. That's up to people much smarter than me. I'll do as instructed

ESC is a fundamental part of the handicap system. If you aren't taking ESC into account, your index is higher than it should be. Over time if you keep making triples, your index will creep up, even though you can only count doubles. Trust me, I know. My index went to 10.3 last year before I started having 4 bad holes a round. Index finished the year at 11.8.

Anyone close to single digits should be able to par, under reasonable conditions, pretty much any hole they play. Now, if I have a tin cup moment, which happens way too often, the 8 or 9 that I scored there is not really indicative of my ability. It just means I was paying too much attention to the cart girl, my underwear were riding up, etc. and I had a bad hole. That's what ESC is meant to address.

Think of the situation where I par 17 holes, then decide to shoot / record a 15 on the 18th hole. Obviously I am a better golfer than the 15 would indicate so I am limited to recording a double so that my handicap isn't artificially inflated.

The Pope of Slope page has lots of good reading on this subject.

[jvincent]

so If I'm shooting 95, what is my HCP? Just 95-72 = 23???

You have to track your scores on the courses you play to get a proper handicap.

That being said if you are averaging 95, you're probably around a 20 or so depending on where you are playing.

[Hank Hill]

so If I'm shooting 95, what is my HCP? Just 95-72 = 23???

It's not as simple as that. Go to a free online handicap calculator such as this one:

http://golf.about.com/od/handicaps/l...dicapincal.htm

Then you have to enter all the rounds you have played, the course rating and the slope from the particular tees you played from and your score. Press compute and the calculator will work out your index.

You need at least 5 rounds to get an unofficial index like this.

This system takes into account the difficulty of each course played (that is what slope and rating are for).

I'm sure some of the people in here will direct you to a fancy golf score tracker that will also compute your handicap and also tell you what you need to score in your next round at a particular course to lower your handicap.

Have fun.

Hank

[jvincent]

I think ESC is geared primarily toward match play, at least that is how I can rationalize it.

It's not just for match play. It's for any handicapped competition, including stroke play.