Here is a shock for you, men in Great Britain and Ireland in the 19^th century loved to bet on anything- horses, archery, parlor games, and, of course, golf.  To make the golf competitions workable they had to come up with a method for leveling the field between players of different ability so creating a course handicap became important to facilitating the wagers.

There first effort  in the mid-1800’s was to take the average of a man’s lowest three scores of the year at their home course and subtract it from the scratch score for the course to create a handicap.  This was fine at the home course but it did not travel well to away games where the courses were not of similar caliber.

The next iteration came from an unlikely source the Ladies Golf Union.  In the 1890s these adventurous women assigned a course rating to member courses to create a calibrated standard for the comparison to the average scores.  This actually worked quite well in establishing a handicap system that was reliable from club to club.

The mind numbing required reading materials from a USGA Handicap Seminar

When the game sauntered across the Atlantic it did not take much time for the blue blazers at the newly formed USGA to put their arms around this establishing a similar approach.  At first the USGA let each course establish it own course rating but it became evident in a hurry that this led to farcical results.  So they too created an objective method of issuing official course ratings.  Now they had a way to create objective handicaps that would be mobile enough to support inter-club competitions.   By using the three best scores of the year the first principle of handicapping was also clear-it would measure potential not playing ability.

As it further evolved it became evident that using only three scores a year favored the better player who could more reliably play to such a narrow sample of potential.  So they began computing it from larger subsets of the scoring records of players and eventually landed on the sample of 10 best of the last 20 scores.   They threw in the caveat of a “Bonus for Excellence” by using a multiplier of 96% to determine a player’s final handicap index.  This was to reward the better golfers a slight edge in head to head competitions with high handicappers.

The last piece of the puzzle was the implementation of Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) in 1974 which created a variegated method for maximum score on a hole based on the player’s Course Handicap.  This helped to smooth the curve on scores being posted by individual players.

It is worth noting that the word “Par” never appears in the discussions of handicaps or their calculations.  Rather the USGA created two ratings to support the handicap system.

The first is the Course Rating which is a baseline objective calculation of a course’s difficulty to a scratch player-it does not address how the course would be played by an average player. A course rater goes through the course simulating the positions off the tee of a scratch golfer (average 250 yards out) and takes into consideration factors of difficulty they face from hazards and objects they must traverse to play each hole.  By compiling these scoring factors they come up with a course rating for the relative difficulty of the course to a scratch player.  This Course Rating is established for every tee length.

In the mid-1970’s the USGA introduced a second rating through the new Slope System aimed at determining the relative difficulty of playing a course to the bogey golfer rather than the scratch golfer.   Once again they use the driving distance of a player with about a 20 handicap and determined the scoring effect of hazards and objects they face in playing out the hole.  This is called the Bogey Rating for the course.  The Slope Rating measures how steep the rise is between the Course Rating and the Bogey Rating on the course-the steeper the rise the higher the Slope Rating.  The Slope Rating is intended to show the relative difficulty of the course for a non-scratch player from each tee.

Here is the basic math.

Calculating a Player’s Handicap Index:

-Take the top 10 adjusted gross scores (after ESC)  of the last 20 for a player

-Subtract the Course Rating from each score to get a Handicap Differential

-Average these 10 differentials and multiply by 96% to get players Handicap Index

Calculating a Player’s Course Handicap:

-Multiply the player’s Handicap Index by the Slope Rating for the tees being played and divide this by 113 to get their Course Handicap for this tee.

Note: This is a measure of potential and should only be achieved about 20-25% of the time.

Using Course Handicaps in Competitions:

-If all competitors are playing the same tees the relative value of their Course Handicaps determine how many strokes adjustment needed to be applied to their medal scores.  If they are playing match play the difference between their Course Handicaps is given as a competitive adjustment to the player with the higher handicap.

-If competitors are playing from different tees the USGA stipulates an adjustment must be made to the Course Handicap of the players for the advantage of playing the forward tees.

Player A playing from a Blue Tee with a Course Rating of 70 whose Course Handicap is 10 from those tees will have a potential Target Score of 80 for the day.

Player B from the Gold Tee with a Course Rating of 66 whose Course Handicap is 9 has a potential Target Score of 75.

Player B playing from the shorter tee length it calculates to a 5 shot advantage in the potential score for the day.

The USGA says that the competitors must adjust their Course Handicaps by this additional factor equal to the difference between the Course Rating of the two tee lengths to make it a fair competition (in this case 4).  The Course Handicap of the player from the longer tee can be increased by this factor or the Course Handicap of the player at the shorter tee can be reduced.

In developing this Handicap System the presumption on the part of the USGA is that all players try as hard as they can on every hole in a posted round and that they will post all the rounds that can be posted.

The reality is that personal integrity is the only guarantee of accurate score postings.  In spite of the valiant efforts of Handicap Committees at clubs nationwide, the inaccuracy of Sand Bagger and Vanity handicaps will haunt competitions from now until doomsday.

If you yearn to delve into the nuances of the USGA Handicap system in more detail visit the website of former USGA Senior Director of Handicaps, Dean Knuth  (Pope of the Slope).  Dean is the walking and talking authority on all things handicap and his site is quite readable.

February, 2014

The leaderboard of this week’s Northern Trust Open looks more like the roster of the Witness Protection Program than a glamour PGA Tour event.  A.W.O.L. are Woods, Scott, Stentson, McIlroy, Mickelson, and much of the rest of the top 20 on the World Golf Rankings.  Going into the Sunday finish unfamiliar names like Will McGirt, Sang-Moon Bae, Cameron Tringale, and Charlie Beljan are dominating the first page.

Seemed like everyone and his cousin were in the mix come Sunday

This is kind of a shame since Riviera Golf Club, a George C. Thomas original and the host club of this event for almost a century, is one of the coolest venues the troupe plays all year.  The guys who love the place will tell you this is a player’s course.  It requires imaginative strategy from tee to green and flawless recovery execution to prevail here.  Adding one’s name to the list of past winners like Hogan, Nelson, Palmer, Mickelson, Elkington, Couples, and Faldo is a real career feather in the cap.

With the help of a four month drought drying out the greens and a couple of high tech Transformer rolling machines working the fairways this course is playing hard and fast like a major venue, which it has been on three occasions.  The normally soft and spongy Kikuyu grass has proved bouncy instead and it has facilitated seismic moves up and down this leader board for the less brawny hitters that usually suffer here.

The guys don’t see many classic tracks like this that require so much forethought off the tee and into the green.  Reachable par fives on 1, 11, and 17, brawny par fours that can be three-shotters, especially if the drive is wayward off the tee, and a gut wrenching driveable 315-yard par 4 10th which rewards and punishes with equal discrimination.

The genius of Thomas’s design is that the pin position on any given day can require an entirely different optimal approach line.  Add to that amazing green complexes which can leave an array of unforgiving short side recovery shots from the sticky, strangling Kikuyu.  Experience and humble deference to the challenges will help avoid the evil decree to the scorecard and maybe determine the winner at the end of the day.

In the early going a couple of Master’s winners, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson have rocketed up the leaderboard with five birdies each in the first eight holes.  With 10 guys within 4 of the lead at the midway point this looks like full-impact bumper cars around the back nine.

The glare proves to much for the witness protection crew as they slither out of the limelight and it comes down to names more familiar down the back stretch.  After his promising first nine, Jordan Spieth makes three bogies on the back derails his chances.  Schwartzel bogies 13 and 15 with a South African sandy for birdie in between on 14 finishing fourth.  Brian Harman’s bogie and bounce back birdie sequence on 10 and 11 keeps him in touch a couple back but there is no magic after that.  Dustin Johnson birdies 11 and 15  to close within one but fails to birdie the reachable par 5 17th and comes up one shy.

Bubba among his people stares down his drive on the revered 18th at Riviera

Bubba Watson chasing his first win since the 2012 Masters birdies 11 to reach 14-under and then slips General Lee into cruise control.  He centers a couple of knee-knocker 10-foot par putts on 12 and 13 to maintain spacing and makes conventional pars over the next four.  What’s left for Bubba is to negotiate the Eucalyptus trees protecting the angle on the difficult finishing hole, find the narrow green in the greek amphitheater, and make a par-no small task at Riviera.

Bubba cooly smoothes a knock down driver about 290 down the sprinker line, a short club to 15 feet, and one putt for 64 and all the Skittles.

Wow, 64-64 at Hogan’s Alley on the weekend with no bogies….now that is trusting it.

February, 2014

The only thing missing on Saturday at Torrey Pines South during the Farmers Insurance Open was the USGA logo on all the banners.  The narrowed fairways, long rough, and firm greens of a U.S. Open setup were all present and gave the guys fits.  Average score on Saturday was a about 75.  The number one player in the world, who owns this track, shot 79 and missed the third round cut for the first time in his career.  This was an all-you-can-eat buffet of humble pie if I have ever seen one.

Apparently the shrill voices of the media powers did not go unheeded-they wanted to make sure that Sunday was not a demolition derby broadcast.  As such the set up on Sunday was much more forgiving-a little water on the greens and fewer Clark Kent phone booth pin positions suddenly made for a sporting afternoon at Torrey Downs.  By the time the last group reached the fifth tee 19 guys were within three shots of the lead.

It might take a racing form to keep track of all thoroughbreds with a chance in this race.

The sheer beauty of Torrey’s 1st hole belies the difficult test that lies ahead.

Charley Hoffman wasn’t happy with the 75 he shot on Saturday that included four bogies on the South Course.  He went out after yesterday’s round for some secluded work on his game with his Trackman and said he found something and ought to be in contention on Sunday.

His opening nine was five-under including a hole-in-one on the postcard third and three other birdies getting him to seven-under and within one of the lead.  Guess that technology did have something to share.  A bogey on ten and Charley went into a par stall over the next seven looking like one of those hang gliders just hovering a couple out of the reach of the lead. His birdie on 18 was too little too late as he would finish at seven-under.

Many guys got to hanging about the lead before their draft abandoned them.

Trevor Immelman threw two birdies and an eagle on the board in his first eight to reach seven-under as well.  But he bobbled badly on the ninth taking four shots from in front of the green to make a bogey and stall his momentum.  Two more bogies on 10 and 12 pretty much put his hopes under the posies.  But this is a major champion and three birdies over the next four holes percolated him back within one of the lead.

Even the old nags liked their chances.  K.J. Choi starting the day at two-under bogied the first and then ran off seven birdies over the next 14 holes to grab a share of the lead at eight-under.  He was the first to post eight-under so it was whittle and wait for another couple of hours for K.J.

The youngsters were to be heard, Spiething in tongues, as Jordan continued to talk to his ball trying to coax some birdies and make a run at his second PGA Tour win.  But for every step there was a misstep and so it was just another Sunday schooling for him. Jason Day, the talented 26 year-old Australian, was knocking on the door the entire day. After an opening bogie, he made five birdies to grab a share of the lead at eight-under on the fourteenth.  His bogie-birdie finish would mean that the best he would do was grab a whittling chair next to K.J.

The bombers always do well over the 7600 plus yards of Torrey Pines, the longest layout they play all year on the PGA Tour.  Gary Woodland, Marc Leishman, and Scott Stallings hit it as far as anyone out there and all have first hand experience with the trophy presentations at tour events.

The five-par 13th was one of the few good scoring opportunities on the inward nine.

Woodland had towardness problems, only hitting 3 greens in his first thirteen holes but used a reconstructed short game and a stable full of one putts to stay on par.  Leishman by contrast hit half the fairways but used his strength to find 75% of the greens and remain in the chase.  Stallings made six birdies through fourteen holes and was the first one to reach nine-under and momentarily interrupt the whittling.

There were others-La Jolla native Pat Perez,  Canadian Graham DeLaet,  young Ryo Ishikawa, and Will MacKenzie-the leaderboard permutations seemed endless.

Plenty of jockeying remained to be done down the difficult home stretch at Torrey.  Hitting the fairways and making key putts was going to decide this….it was only a question of how many noses were going to be in the photo finish image.

The 17th was a long iron-short iron but among the leaders it took no prisoners today.

When the dust settled it was just one.  Scott Stallings made a bogie on sixteen but redeemed himself on the par 5 eighteenth hitting the fairway and hoisting a long iron across the pond to safety by just a yard.  Two confident putts for birdie and his nine-under total held off the five other show ponies at eight-under.

Quite a finish this proved to be one exhausting afternoon of spectating.

January 2014

The question is when will Rory regain his form and possibly momentum to challenge Tiger as the number one player in the world.  His play at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the opening event on the European Tour schedule, would indicate that he is closer than others think.  The old Rory was on display all week swinging with good balance and showing precise direction and distance control throughout the bag.

Mcilroy’s game was on but his lack of rules knowledge cost him big time

But Rory’s chance at winning this championship was seriously derailed by an unforced error on the second hole in round three resulting in a two-stroke penalty after the round.  This was a mistake that just should not have occurred-he violated a well known rule that he learned from the earliest days of his junior career.  His drive into the left rough on Saturday ended up on the marked spectator crossing path which afforded him free relief clear of the path.  After he dropped his ball without penalty he failed to notice that his foot was on the white line demarcation of the path.  By rule his stance after the drop must be clear of the marked area to constitute full relief, failing to do so and playing the shot results in a two-stroke penalty.

Being apprised of the violation at the end of his round Rory and a tour official went back to the scene of the crime and recognized from the position of his divot relative to the path line that he had indeed violated the rule of total relief.   His 68 became a 70 before he signed his card and all of a sudden instead of tied for the lead he was a pursuer two shots back.

It had to seem like deja vu all over again for Rory. Two years earlier he missed by one making the sudden death playoff for this championship incurring a two-shot penalty in round two for brushing away sand on his line while his ball was not on the putting surface. Seems like a one-on-one rules retreat with Slugger White might be a good investment of his time.

His play on Sunday was solid, driving the ball well and hitting his approach irons with precision as he had done all week.  But his putting was not sharp and he edged a number of good birdie opportunities down the back nine never closing the gap on the leaders.  The final round 68 once again left him one behind and a bridesmaid.  Rory took some solace in the fact that without the penalty he played the four rounds in less strokes than everyone else and his competitive game seems to have returned.

Phil Mickelson had an important role in the evolving drama.  After a couple of indifferent rounds Phil barely made the half way cut, making the $2 million appearance fee he supposedly got for making this trip half way around the world seem a bit generous.  But Phil The Thrill played lights out on Saturday shooting 63 with 9 birdies, 1 eagle, and low 20‘s in putts. Jumping up 40 plus spots on the leader board his 11-under total was just one off the lead and earned him a spot in the final group on Sunday.

The plot thickened because Phil did what Phil always does.  After three birdies in the first eleven holes on Sunday, he had the lead in hand when he stepped on the tee at the thirteenth.  He proceeded to deposit a wayward drive under a prickly bush well left of the travelled playing area.  Turning down the option of an unplayable and a one stroke penalty, Phil flipped over a long iron and tried to punch it out right handed into the adjacent sandy waste area.  The ball clipped the pricklies and the resultant double hit on the face of the iron cost him another shot and left him in the bush.  He now had to relent, take the unplayable, and ended up with a messy triple bogey seven dropping him three from the lead with five to play.

Once again Phil rose from the ashes, making birdies on two of the next three, closing quickly in the rear view of the leader in the group ahead.  A drive and a fairway metal set up a potential eagle on the last that would have forced a playoff but the long putt from just east of Qatar never threatened the hole and his final round 69 left Phil tied for second with Rory the Golden Boy.

Pablo Larrazabal had the last exclamation point for this championship win

The real story was the 30-year old Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal who outgrinded them all.  With  a 5-under 67 on Sunday he ignored the glare of two of golf’s luminaries on the way to a 14-under winning total.  Only one bogie on the front side Pablo showed an adept short game on the inward half saving important pars to keep abreast of Rory and Mickey.  It was a pair of clutch birdies on 11 and 13 that gave him the lead and a two-putt birdie on the last resulted in a full Seve fist pump, an exclamation point to his third win on the European Tour.

Larrazabal was honest in the post game interview saying of the ten-footer he made for birdie on the last “Thank God it went in, because I would not be here if I had to go to a playoff with Phil and Rory.”   With it all on the line it was Pablo who outplayed Rory and Phrantic Phil and, for now at least, is the front runner in the 2014 Race To Dubai.

January, 2014