2027 Points Changes

Big changes are coming to our Club in 2027 and 2028. We'll be gradually moving to a new Society Management platform, which will handle our weekly events (and Rapture) much more efficiently than me doing it by hand. Also, when Faz and Geoff make me rage-quit the Club, someone else can easily take over!

More on that later, but let's discuss the scoring changes for next season.

It's been suggested a few times over the years — and I've earnestly looked into it with each request — to tweak/increase some of the mid-place values. Ultimately I always came to the conclusion that:

• What we have isn't "broken"
• All the season winners felt like they were deserving
• It was too complicated to create a better progressive cut-line that moves with the field size. Without a better cut-system, increasing the middle-place points could be problematic.

But in the year of our Lord 2026, we have technology that can solve these issues, regardless of how complicated the formula looks on paper. Even the PGA TOUR decided to "flatten the curve" of their 2028 point system:

 

More points to slow the spread.

What FBGC is Changing:

The goal is for season races to get tighter. First place is still 500, but that win is a smaller slice of the week's points. In a 15-player field, the winner used to take about 39% of everything handed out; next year it's about 33%. Places 4 through 8 used to split 295 points and will soon split 465. Steady mid-pack finishes keep you in the hunt. One win doesn't start to run away with the season the way it used to.

Making the cut is also more important. Third jumps from 150 to 199, fifth from 75 to 109, twelfth from 5 to 31. Miss the cut and you're still at zero, so you're leaving a bigger pile on the table than before.

The cut itself now moves depending on how many show up. Up to about 10 players, it's the same as the old grid we've used for 16 years! In a typical Fort Brooke field (roughly 12–18 players), the cut is a little harsher: a 15-player week used to score the top 12 and now scores the top 9. Once you get past 20 players, it flips the other way and more of the field earns points. The formula is written to give 1/3 of the field zero points each tournament.

And finally, Majors now add about 20% at every place (keeping 600 points for 1st). Before, only the top four spots got a Major bonus.

Match play still adds 100 for a win and 50 for a tie.

Here's a visual graphic for you crayon eaters who didn't read any of the above:

 

 

Revisionist History:

 

I can hear a handful of you now: "How would previous seasons play out with this new points structure?"

 

I guess it's a fair question. But it's important to note the new changes exist to tighten up competition going FORWARD. Not to diminish previous accomplishments. We love all our past Champions.

That said... 28 of 29 winners would have been the same with the new scoring. Five of those seasons would have had more people still "alive" going into the final week.

 

So we're not implementing some massive earth-shattering change. It's just better across the board — and more importantly, it'll be automatic.

 

I'll still do things manually next season — concurrent with testing the new platform — so the points transparency might be a little lacking. But fear not! Most of you haven't ever paid attention to the inner-workings of this Club. No need to start now!