Grow the Game - Part 2: The USGA's Efforts

The USGA governs all things golf in the US and Mexico, and works with the R&A in implementing rules and regulations. Their sole mission is to protect, serve and grow the game. No sport has, and needs, as much coddling as golf. And yet we're constantly told the industry is dying. Jack couldn't save it... Tiger couldn't save it... technology is probably ruining it. Yet the cries to "grow the game" continue.

The USGA has implemented a few things worthy of praise: "Drive, Chip and Putt," The First Tee, and helping bring back Olympic Golf. Other initiatives have good intentions but are an uphill battle, such as "Tee it Forward*" and "While We're Young.**" A few were just mind-blowingly stupid, like suggesting larger holes and FootGolf. And yet, they aren't doing the one thing they were founded to do: promote the formation of clubs.

For the longest time there were two types of recognized golf clubs:

Type 1 - Located at a single specific golf course with a valid USGA Course Rating and USGA Slope Rating where a majority of the club's events are played and the club's scoring records reside.

Type 2 - Members are affiliated or known to one another via a business, fraternal, ethnic or social organization. The majority of the club members have an affiliation prior to organizing the club.

You can imagine Type 1 is the main priority, as the USGA is routinely involved in course ratings and promotion of membership to these clubs, which then funnel money back to the USGA (through GHIN and other licensing fees). Eventually as the internet grew, there was a need for a Type 3 club, despite it getting away from the notion that clubs should be close-knit for handicap peer review purposes.

Type 3 - Members have no prior affiliation and a majority of the recruiting and sign-up of the membership is done by solicitation to the general public (e.g., Internet, newspaper).

These clubs still must adhere to specific rules, such as requiring members to play a certain number of rounds per year together. But it's literally not enforceable. You can get a handicap on USHandicap, and NEVER play a round with another member of your specific club (ie: Tampa Area #612).

In my opinion, Type 2 clubs (that's us) are completely ignored and underutilized. I went through the list of approved clubs in Florida, and only found three other Type 2 clubs that had an active website. And with a cap of 24 members, we are the most exclusive Type 2 golf club in the state of Florida.

But why are there so few of these clubs still "active" in the state? Our members were playing about 5 rounds a year prior to joining, and now they play 25+ on average (just based on what's reported to me so the number is actually higher). A 500% increase is worth looking into! Bringing golf to young kids and people in regions that don't historically play is important. But if you want to reverse the decline in participation, then target golfers who already play but only do so a few times a year. The best way to do that is promote the formation of Type 2 clubs.

The USGA has money. They should be developing tools for club management and league play. And they should change the perception that joining a physical club (Type 1) is your only option.

The next, and probably final, installment of this rant will list out the minimum specs for a good league management app.


* Our league plays a "base" tee box of 6,103 (on average). Last season, people who played the base tees shot an average net score of +0.8 (not including Gorecki or Katie for various reasons). Those that played back shot a net average of +2.2!

** Arnold Palmer was featured in the "While We're Young" commercials. He literally died before the USGA ever put a dent into the pace of play issue.

Grow the Game - Part 1

A couple of months ago, I attempted to get some thoughts down on paper, mainly about our league and the success it's had in increasing play and excitement for our members. That evolved into an op-ed about how we need new technology to help duplicate our results. When I was finished, I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I sent it off to Alan Shipnuck of GOLF.com. He replied it was interesting but couldn't really use it for a featured article. Fair enough.

Since I wasn't going to raise funding and create an app myself, I figured I might as well see if an established company could use our formula. I picked 18Birdies since they are aggressively marketing a social app to younger golfers. Their GPS is pretty solid, but they unfortunately charge for anything and everything they deem as "premium." No matter... maybe they could add a league feature... which will get the ball rolling causing other companies to drive competition.

The founder and CEO immediately responded and set me up an hour interview with two of their top product development people. It was a good conversation, and they're allegedly building a league feature. But they're also in the business of making money, and the last question to me was: "how much would you pay for an app if it managed your league the way you currently do?" That answer is "nothing." But OTHER people out there might... so I hope they succeed.

Anyway... here's the original email I sent and I'll follow up later with more commentary as soon as I stop moving.

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Ever since forming a small local golf league six years ago, I've been bothered by a relatively unknown problem in the recreational golf industry. "Type 2" golf clubs, where members have an affiliation prior to organizing, are largely ignored and underutilized. In January of 2018, the USGA will end the Handicap Licensing Program, taking all Handicap Index calculations in-house and forcing clubs to do one of two things: join an authorized golf association, or figure out how to submit scores to the USGA computation platform. This decision will put an unnecessary financial strain on smaller Type 2 clubs who currently calculate handicaps on their own. While the governing bodies have no problem acknowledging barriers to entry, mainly time and money, they can't seem to stop increasing those factors.

We basically have the standard league options in our area: after-work 9-hole scrambles, weekend leagues requiring membership of a physical club/course, and regional options like Golf Channel's AmTour. None of these are viable choices for a small group of young adults working their way up corporate ladders and starting families. The obvious solution was to create a league which fit our schedule, location and budget. We used whatever application technology we could find (it was slim pickings back then), and modeled the season structure after the FedEx Cup points race (complete with "World Rankings" that qualify players for a Ryder Cup style event). We also went through the process of becoming USGA certified so we could calculate and provide Handicap Indexes at no cost to our members.

One thing we didn't expect was how much our average rounds per year would increase. Guys who played five rounds annually were now logging more than twenty. Despite only 18 official events, over half the league played 30 times last year. Non-avid golfers became hooked on practice rounds and continued to play during the off-season. Golf is addicting when people are given a reason to improve.

As mentioned, we attempted to incorporate technology to better our experience. Every member has their favorite GPS app, which usually includes some statistics tracking. We use a completely different app for a live leader board (one that's free), and we manage our tournaments and social community on an outdated blog service. Due to our small size, the system works perfectly and we have complete control. But our method isn't scalable and other groups couldn't mimic our success without being committed to the tedious process of league management. The desire for league play exists everywhere, but technology has yet to seamlessly combine all the features without increasing the overall cost of the game.

Finding a course can also be a nightmare. Part of the allure of forming an official club is to negotiate discounted group rates. But we constantly jump through hoops to get accurate information. We check multiple sources for details on availability, conditions, greens fees and even up-to-date scorecards. Calling courses usually results in bad information from disinterested assistant professionals or phone-tag with underappreciated directors of golf. The bottom line is most courses do not feel regular updates to their website are worth the effort. And they often don't see much value in a one-time discount for a traveling league. But what if they could use those discounts to specifically target other local groups throughout the year?

Solving golf's "grow the game" issue is easy and doesn't involve making the hole larger. Build technology for creating, managing and growing groups who fit the USGA's "Type 2" definition. If these groups can be convinced to use one singular social platform, you could also incorporate a way for golf courses to use the same platform to fill open tee times. The course could instantly view all planned tournaments in the area, the number of expected players, and then be able to reach out with discounted rates. Increased engagement with local groups would also force transparency, especially with maintenance schedules and course conditions.

Millennial golfers are not interested in paying yearly fees to play the same course over and over. We like variety and competition among a smaller subset of friends. And we will ultimately migrate en masse to the first application that truly enhances our social golfing experience. One that allows the creation of groups and leagues, live scoring, GPS shot tracking, and a direct line of communication to local courses. Features that are completely free and monetized only by the $70+ billion golf industry's advertisements. An industry that has vast room for growth once we give new and casual golfers an addicting reason to get outside and play more rounds.

Dub's Rapture Rankings Update

Now that we've played another Rapture, this one with actual money exchanging hands, it's time to update the DRR's. Here were the previous rankings, just to jog your memory:

Using the same methodology with this year's results, we have the new rankings as follows:

As you can see, Katie is still getting too many strokes and being on the winning team has a huge impact on money efficiency. Also, being really bad at these events, like Darren, for example, hinders your ranking. So does not going after losing a couple times, like Faz. Even cool hats won't save you.

I also sorted it via the individual money efficiency to weed out those who either inspire their team (typically me) or those that leach off the others (like Irish Dave), and I put together another chart that shows who contributes the most when their team wins.

Wow. Mike H and Greg were really freeloading on that one. You've got to at least bring one individual point home in these things. No wonder the teams were so even.

Everything is still pretty small sample size, but I hope it's at least a little educational. Faz, Dan, and Robbie, I hope y'all can make it next year and finally get your name on Moses.

Retrospective Draft Grades (and Captain Grades)

I'd like to stir up the pot a little more, so I figured I'd look back on the drama-filled Rapture draft in dreary Orlando almost a month ago. Draft rankings are indicative more of value for position than pure performance.

1. Irish Dave - D-

He opened with a huge upset loss to Gorecki and apparently didn't play well until the quarry holes. He avoids the F by earning an individual point and bringing his magic pen which surely helped his team in other ways.

2. Chandler - D

He organized the whole thing and teamed with Buchert to destroy the Katie/Darren alt shot team. The duff on 18 nearly earned him an F. His off course game was also severely lacking this year. He should have taken the Dub route and assisted in overserving Darren all weeking to take the easy Sunday win against Drippy. Hangover Darren is the worst golfer in the league.

3. Buchert - D

The first three picks combined for 2.5 points, of which Buchert only had 0.5. He's also afraid to express his true feelings to Big John.

4. Big John - A+

Big John never let his team lose an entire point and made awesome breakfasts. He almost won $40,000, too. He's got a lot of love to give (almost as much as whatever was coming out of his back), and maybe someday he and Greg will "bury the hatchet."

5. Greg - C

He managed to be on the winning team the first two days, but failed to take advantage of an old man in dire straits on Sunday. Losing the ugliest match of the weekend was tough, but he did it in a fabulous manner.

6. Reid - C-

I'm setting myself up to be berated with fat jokes, but Reid didn't have a great weekend on the course, regardless of his footwear. That said, he did get stuck with some tough matchups. John was playing lights out, Brendan was solid, and Katie got too many strokes on him. He still pulled out a half point with Gary despite being an underdog in every match.

7. Robbie - B

He started slow, but managed to help win two points for the grays with good rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Probably shouldn't get the blame for Chandler's bad round on Friday, either. Party Bear Robot (PBR?) was a good pickup at this point in the draft. Apparently he also shot up the dream foursome rankings over the weekend.

8. Tall Mike - B-

He came out on fire on Friday, but was well cooled off by the quarry on Sunday. Despite being the overwhelming favorite to win his singles match, he completely imploded off the tee on the home stretch. He did manage to make Gary antsy enough to want to blow the 3-foot putt to go home before the rain, and therefore gets a bump up to a B-.

9. Darren - A

He's kind of like fsu in that his greatest Rapture win was actually a tie. Instead of letting the Moses drip through his fingers, he bowed up and held on strong like a smoker to his pack of Marlboros. Good value pick here, like reds in hard packs at a good sale at 7-11.

10. Geoff - A

Getting 1.5 points this late in the draft is as solid as the chances that he'll wear a shirt embroidered with his company's logo. Check his taxes and make sure he's not writing them off illegally.

11. Dub - C

Dub's performance on Friday probably contributed to Buchert being off, and his concern about being paired with Gorecki in alt shot proved mostly unfounded. He managed to salvage the weekend with a great round after heeding Reid's advice to keep pressure on Mike to win an unfavorable matchup. Also, his shirt game was pretty strong, and not just in tensile strength (getting the fat joke in before Reid). Had he hit the four three footers he missed, this might have been an A.

12. Brendan - A


Contributed to two team wins in big ways. I didn't enjoy playing against him and Mike Ho on Saturday because they were killing it on the recovery shots. Brendan was sinking long putts all day. He did very little hunting of crocodiles, though, which was puzzling.

13. Mike H - A

Again, he played great with Brendan the one round I was with him. He said it many, many, many times, but put a wedge in his hand and he'll be on the green.

14. GOOOO!!!-recki - B

Not like Gary had a choice here, but it ended up working out WAY better than anyone would have thought 4 weeks ago. He played well on Friday to help the team to a win, and hit some big putts and was solid on Saturday. He had Dave on the ropes until the quarry on Sunday, too. All in all, the weekend was probably better for Mike than anyone else just to get confidence back. He still hates women, though.

Gary GPA - 2.06

Buchert was in talks for going 1-1, and Chandler is usually able to break 90, so at the time they seemed like good picks. Folks say that handicaps are overrated, but so are talented golfers, too. I'd take 10% off the grade for not showing up for the playoffs and picking an odd color, too.

Katie GPA - 2.63

She cheated on her draft by copying Big John's picks, but she proved a worthy captain in the end. And getting the first pick ended up paying off. Big John falling into her lap must have hurt, but it also helped her team immensely. Her skirt game was meh, but she persevered in the playoff and sealed the deal. I also like the tough of the ballmarkers to promote team unity. I hope championship coozies are on the way for her team.

I hope the blog stays active in the offseason. It'd be great to get Faz stats back someday. It'd also be great to get Faz back at a Rapture. That is, unless I'm 17th next year and need him to bail so I can play. I'll try to keep some content coming, and maybe finally get to that post about Brendan. My newest kid is supposed to be here in late November, so let's get in some golf before I'm grounded. Not on Florida football days, though.

2017 Rapture Recap

Great weekend up in Inverness. The houses worked out well, the courses were fun, and we only had a brief rain late Saturday. For the value, I think it was a phenomenal trip.

The actual golf, was a borderline disaster with many surprises.

Gorecki and Gary destroyed Dave and his Ho in Four-Ball. Nobody could believe it, and Gorecki won a ton of side-bet money with that point. Katie's team won the other three matches pretty easily, with only one of those involving some late round action (Greg learned to putt!).

Chapman was also a surprise, with Gary's team pulling back to within one point on the weekend. Once again, JW and Gorecki put up a great fight despite ultimately falling short. Gary and Reid fell apart at the end, barely hanging on to halve their match, which turned out to be critical to the Blue Team. The other matches were beat downs. Team Gray felt confident heading into singles.

The only thing shakier than this photo by Darren, was our golf game.

Gary's squad was able to make up that one point deficit, but it was ugly:

- Dave took care of Gorecki as expected.

- Robbie built a huge lead, only to lose the first four holes on the back nine and scraping out a win in the quarry.

- Katie won 4 holes in the quarry to stomp Reid.

- John shocked the world winning 3 holes in a row to close out Buchert.

- Gary finally took down Greg in a terrible match that saw both players in the high 90s (gross).

- Moostie fell apart in the quarry and lost to JW. He also almost killed everyone with lightning strikes, as he refused to pick-up despite putting 2+ balls into the water/rocks on every hole. I believe on 15 Mike made a nine, and my group had to watch every... painful... swing... and practice swing... and drop... and seriously I thought we were going to get struck by lightning. Pick up and move on!

- Geoff had the comeback of the week, winning 5 of 6 holes to bounce back from 3 down.

- Chandler and Darren played one of the worst matches of all time, shooting 95/101 (gross) to tie. However, Darren made two 7+ foot putts on 17 and 18 (with most of the league watching) to halve the match. Very clutch considering the amount of shit golf that was being played.

So for the first time ever we had a TIE. For some reason, we knew this was going to happen and we were prepared for a sudden death match between Gary and Katie. But despite our planning, Gary was checked out and NOT ready to play. Upon learning of the tie, he got frustrated and rushed through what was the worst playoff I've ever seen (somehow worse than the turd Darren and I laid on our final hole).

Katie lipped out a putt for bogey, giving Gary a chance to stay alive with a 3 foot double-bogey putt. This after a 30 yard hook found a bunker... which was blasted over the green... which was then chipped short... and then lagged 3 feet wide. The putt barely touched the hole as it slid by. Neither team knew how to react.

2017 Rapture Winners

Katie and the Blue cats won the 2017 Rapture! I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed the courses. While our 2017 season is officially over, we're going to do a bunch of outings between now and January. Stay tuned and stay active!

Katie with The Moses!

Summer 2017 Season Handicaps

With another great season in the books, I thought it would be nice to put things in perspective and see who's improving and who's regressing - especially going into The Rapture.

Now that Chandler has posted Rapture handicap and stroke info, below will show how each players' handicap has changed from the beginning of this season to the end - with the 'Last Change' showing the latest handicap adjustment differential (8/1 - 8/15).

The Kitty Kats surely have a bold strategy going into the Rapture, dropping 5 stokes since 8/1.  Not a single player increased their handicap in that time. Looks like they prefer to go in hot rather than sandbag.

Although the Garyatrics have a hard time remembering the good ol' days when they used to light cats' tails on fire* just for fun, they sure haven't forgotten the cardinal rule of Rapture prep - don't lower your handicap right before the event!  As a team, they are +0.6 since 8/1. Whether intentional or not, we'll see if this kind of protectionism works out for them.

On the season, both teams dropped their handicaps by about 8 strokes!  With a league per person average of -0.9.  The number of people on each team increasing vs. decreasing their handicap, along with the sizes of those handicap changes, were relatively even between the two teams as well.  Should make for a good matchup.  

Be careful interpreting this as a who's hot, who's not, because while there is some validity to it (if you're shooting lower, you're getting better), the real question will be: can those that lowered their handicap keep up their high level of play?  And, of course, you should consider many of our 'better players' with lower handicaps will tend to be more consistent and therefore have less variance in their play and as a result, their handicaps.

Regardless, props to JW, Tall Mike, Chandler, Big John, Katie, Robbie, Reid, and Casey for dropping their handicaps between 2 and 5 strokes!  The average for those who lowered their handicaps was -2.8, while those who increased theirs, did so only by +0.8...okay, well +1.1 if you include Gorecki's +3.4 outlier.  Nice job to everyone as a whole, keep up the improvement - that is the goal anyway!

Oh...someone else also lowered theirs by -0.4 for the season..but I've been staring at this list for so long the names are beginning to blur together.  I'm sure I'll find it soon.

Summer 2017 Handicap Performance

*Disclaimer: DPT Golf league does not condone animal cruelty - Human cruelty in the form of constant berating, badgering, and ridicule of and by its members via commentary on this blog is condoned, if not encouraged.

2017 Rapture Handicaps

Here we go! Strokes in parenthesis:

Round 1 - Four Ball
(80% of course handicap, played off the lowest cap in each group)

Men - WHITE (70.4/130) ; Katie - RED (69.3/123)

Match 1 - Katie (11) / Greg (4) vs. Chandler (0) / Robbie (3)
Match 2 - Darren (4) / Tall Mike (5) vs. Buchert (0) / JW (7)
Match 3 - John (0) / Brendan (6) vs. Reid (1) / Geoff (9)
Match 4 - Dave (0) / Mike H. (2) vs. Gary (6) / Gorecki (18)

Round 2 - Chapman (Alt Shot)
(60% of course handicap for low cap, 40% for high cap. Played off the lowest team cap in each group)

Men - BLUE (68.2/117) ; Katie - RED (66.9/109)

Match 5 - Darren/Katie (8) vs. Chandler/Buchert (0)
Match 6 - John/Greg (0) vs. Gary/Reid (0)
Match 7 - Dave/Tall Mike (0) vs. Geoff/Robbie (6)
Match 8 - Brendan/Mike H. (0) vs. JW/Gorecki (10)

Round 3 - Singles
(80% of course handicap, played off the lowest cap in each match)

Men - DARK GRAY/GREEN (70.2/127) ; Katie - WHITE/SILVER (69.1/129)

Match 9 - Dave (0) vs. Gorecki (17)
Match 10 - Mike H. (0) vs. Robbie (3)
Match 11 - Katie (9) vs. Reid (0)
Match 12 - John (3) vs. Buchert (0)
Match 13 - Greg (1) vs. Gary (0)
Match 14 - Tall Mike (0) vs. JW (2)
Match 15 - Brendan (0) vs. Geoff (4)
Match 16 - Darren (5) vs. Chandler (0)

Rapture 2017 - Details

Here's the itinerary:

Thursday, August 17th - Check into AirBnB houses. Arrive any time after 4pm. I highly recommend everyone come up on Thursday. Doesn't matter if it's super late... it's better than driving to Juliette Falls for a 10am Friday tee time.

Friday, August 18th - Juliette Falls, 10am, Four Ball (Best Ball)

Saturday, August 19th - Candler Hills - 10:30am, Chapman (Modified Alternate Shot)

Sunday, August 20th - Black Diamond (Quarry) - 11am, Singles



Other info:

- The $160 you paid me covers room and gambling. Our new "pay for performance" structure will earn you $60 for winning The Rapture and $20 for every full point you secure for your team.

- Greens fees at these courses should be (after tax): $50, $45, $75.

- Juliette Falls greens fee includes a burger and a beer.

- Bring rain gear. We WILL be fighting rain all weekend, so be prepared to play in it and to wait out any lightning. Our Black Diamond tee time is the earliest non-member tee time allowed by the course.

- There's a decent sports bar in town called Coach's, about an 8 minute drive. Obviously you can bring food to cook in the house but I don't think they have grills. We really should just go out every night to make it easier.

House addresses:

House 1 (Chan, Gary, Darren, Katie, Greg, Robbie) - 1371 N. Timucuan Trail, Inverness, FL 34453

House 2 (Dave, Geoff, Reid, Gorecki, Mike H.) - 849 N. Sabal Palm Way, Inverness, FL 34453

House 3 (John, Buchert, JW, Brendan, Moostie) - 1281 N. Timucuan Trail, Inverness, FL 34453


Scorecards:

We are NOT playing split tees in this event. All guys are on the same set of tees. All Katies are on their own set of tees. Katie's tees were selected to be as close as possible in slope and rating to the men.

Juliette Falls: 

Men - WHITE ; Katie - RED

Candler Hills:

Men - BLUE ; Katie - RED

Black Diamond: (Everyone is playing a combo tee here. Look for the arrows!)

Men - Dark Gray/Green Combo ; Katie - White/Silver Combo

Information on handicaps for the event will be posted soon.

Jamaican Open - Summer 2017 Recap

Katie can't be stopped. Her team of Kitties dominated the leader board, finishing in the top 5 spots. While the Garyatrics struggled, perhaps they were protecting their handicaps for the Rapture?

Nope. We're just terrible.

Katie shot her second 89 (gross) this season, destroying 2nd place Darren by four strokes. It tied her best career round.

On the other side of the spectrum, Gorecki broke a streak of 70 holes in a row without a par... and actually made two on the round. Perhaps we've finally seen rock bottom? He also purchased two of the 4 pitchers he owed, so everyone in Virginia can stop protesting now.

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Excellent season by Casey, who is now the newest member of the Champions Club. He joins myself, Faz, Geoff, Darren, Tall Mike and Katie.

Casey apparently wasn't aware that there are two Champions Dinners a year. So to refresh everyone's memory... the most recent winner of a season gets $100 for dinner at a location of their choice, and is attended by all previous Champions. I guess we're eating in Pinellas!

The 7th member of The Champions Club.

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Tons of Rapture content to be posted later today. So stay tuned. Great season, everyone.

Rapture - Housing Change

When you coordinate group outings, it's always good practice to follow up a few weeks before the event to make sure everything is set up.

Using AirBnB, I booked us two 4-bedroom houses from a company with a pretty high rating and good reviews. Yesterday (9 days before the event) I emailed to confirm where to pick up the keys and whatnot.

I get an email back saying "there have been some changes" and the villas "no longer have availability."

While I understand this happens, why am I hearing about it a week before the event... and why am I only finding out because I initiated an email?

Anyway... we've now allegedly reserved three 3-bedroom houses (say that three times fast, Dave) in the same neighborhood. No change in price so it's technically a better "deal." But the roommate list has changed, and you are now grouped based on a combination of your Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, your horoscope, and divine intervention. All things I regularly track about every member.

House 1: "End Woman's Suffrage" - (1 king, 4 twins)
Chandler
Gary
Darren
Katie
Robbie
Greg

House 2 "Ex-Kickballers & Dave's Boy" - (1 queen, 4 twins)
Dave
Geoff
Reid
Mike H.
Gorecki

House 3 "UF/Growler Frat House" - (2 kings, 2 twins)
John
Buchert
Brendan
Tall Mike
JW

Hopefully this all works out and we aren't sleeping on the streets of Inverness. More details to come after we finish the season on Sunday.

Jamaican Open - Spring 2017 Re-do

Last event of the season. Playing Lakewood National, 9am tee time, $40. We are currently FULL. Give yourself plenty of time to get down there and check in.

Despite being fairly wide open, the course is rated (and plays) pretty difficult. Everyone is on the PALMER tees unless you tell me otherwise.

Moving to NATIONAL will increase your handicap by at least 2 strokes, and moving to ARNOLD will increase it by at least 4 strokes. The tees have color, but you can't tell by the scorecard (which is stupid). So count from the front (Palmer Tees are the 3rd from the front).

See you down there.

Modified Alternate Shot: Chapman Format Explained (for the millionth time)

The 2nd round of The Rapture is a Chapman format, aka: modified alternate shot.

Because we have new people, and Gary still doesn't understand how it works, let's try one last time with the help of MS Paint and some condescending sarcasm. And if you're still confused, here's another website attempting to explain the format.

ON EVERY HOLE, both players tee off. Both players then hit their partners ball. Then ONE ball is selected and you alternate until it is holed.

Let's look at a par 4, with John (black ball & black lines) and Greg (red ball & red lines).
 

Shot 1 - John hits his tee shot down the left side. Greg slices his tee shot into a fairway bunker.

Shot 2 - John now must hit Greg's ball, from the bunker, and uses his perfect hands to get it on the green! Great shot! Greg has an easier lie with John's ball, but shanks it into a greenside bunker. Greg loves bunkers!

AFTER SHOT 2 A DECISION MUST BE MADE!! Do they want to hit the third shot from the greenside bunker (John's original ball) or the green (Greg's original ball)?

Obviously, they're going to choose the ball on the green. At this point, it is TRUE ALTERNATE SHOT. Not a scramble. Not stroke play. Not some other made up format.

"But Chandler," you say, "how do we know who hits shot 3?!?" Simple. Whoever didn't hit the ball to that spot. So Greg is up!

Shot 3 - Greg putts past the hole.

Shot 4 - John taps in for a par. Splendid!

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I've successfully explained this to Gary about 15 times. He'll eventually nod and say he gets it... before scrunching up his face and saying: "OK so on a par 3, both tee off and then alternate shot in because they're on the green?" It never fails. NO! NOTHING IS DIFFERENT JUST BECAUSE THE PAR HAS CHANGED!

Let's review what happens on a par 3:

Shot 1 - John hits it on the green. Wonderful! Greg hits his ball on the back of the green. They have two shots at birdie coming up!

Shot 2 - Greg putts John's ball, and hammers it past the hole. John putts Greg's ball, and comes up slightly short.

OK, everyone has hit twice. That must mean: DECISION TIME!! Do they want the ball closer to the hole, or the one further away?!? They guess correctly and choose the closer ball (Greg's original red ball). Since John just putt it, Greg gets to tap it in.

Shot 3 - Greg taps in for a par. Unbelievable.

But wait! "What if one of the tee shots doesn't land on the green. Do you still hit each other's balls for shot 2?" I've been asked that before. I'll let you figure it out.

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Here's another question I received in 2017: "So on a par 5, you both tee off, both hit second shots, both switch back and hit third shots, and then choose because a par 5 is one more than a par 4?!?"

NO! After shot two, one ball needs to go in a pocket. 

Shot 1 - John hits a weak drive up the left side. Greg hits a bomb up the right side.

Shot 2 - Greg blasts John's original ball up near the green. John hits a weak 2nd shot with Greg's original ball.

HOLY SHIT! IT'S DECISION TIME!

They choose the one closer to the green: John's black ball. Because Greg just hit it, it's now John's turn!

Shot 3 - John chips on the green.

Shot 4 - Greg misses the birdie putt long, because he's not a great putter.

Shot 5 - John makes the comeback for a par. These guys are a wonderful team!

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Now for an honestly good question. "What happens if you go OB." First... that ball probably won't be used. But if John goes OB off the tee, then Greg needs to hit John's ball... but from the tee (and technically that ball is now being hit for 3).

If they both go OB, then they're both hitting again from the tee for 3. After that they pick the best shot and alternate. I trust you all can figure out how it works.

Week 9 - Jamaican Open (Make-Up)

We're booked at Lakewood National for Sunday, August 13th at 9:30am. Got us a $40 green fee which includes range balls. I had to promise we'd bring 16 people... so update your RSVP so I can fill any open spots.

Lakewood National opened this year in January, and was one of the final courses built by Arnold Palmer's company before he died. It's pretty wide open and a really good layout. Reminded me of Champions Gate Country Club.

Anyway, update your stuff and I'll see you in two weeks.

2017 Rapture - Drafts and Information

The Rapture draft happened yesterday after our round, and it produced a few interesting match-ups. First, let's review the draft:

Not a ton of big surprises, especially with Katie selecting Dave #1 overall. Gary changed his mind at the last minute and took Buchert with his 2nd choice, instead of Big John. Skill-wise, it's definitely the correct decision... as Buchert probably should have gone #2 overall. Interesting that Katie took Greg over Robbie at the 5th spot. Both are solid picks, but she definitely took length over girth. JW slipped a little low, so if he plays well he could be the steal of the draft.

Katie is the blue team. Gary is the gray team.

1 - Dave
2 - Chandler
3 - Buchert
4 - Big John
5 - Greg
6 - Reid
7 - Robbie
8 - Tall Mike
9 - Darren
10 - Geoff
11 - JW
12 - Brendan
13 - Mike H.
14 - Gorecki

We also made the match-ups for EACH day. Every year someone asks why we do this in advance, when it might be more "interesting" to make pairings the day before each event. In our first two years we did it the day before... but last year I required captains to make ALL pairings early. The reason is logistics of our leader board system. It's basically too tedious to create and adjust handicaps on the fly, and requires someone to bring a laptop with internet connection assuming it's available (you never know in these accommodations). I also don't really think you need to wait until the last minute. That sort of over-thinking is necessary.

So here are the match-ups:

Day 1 (Four Ball aka: Best Ball)
Katie/Greg vs. Chandler/Robbie
Darren/Tall Mike vs. Buchert/JW
John/Brendan vs. Reid/Geoff
Dave/Mike H. vs. Gary/Gorecki

Day 2 (Chapman aka: Modified Alt-Shot aka: Not a Scramble)
Katie/Darren vs. Chandler/Buchert
Greg/John vs. Gary/Reid
Tall Mike/Dave vs. Robbie/Geoff
Mike H./Brendan vs. JW/Gorecki

Day 3 (Singles aka: Individual Match Play)
Dave vs. Gorecki
Mike H. vs. Robbie
Katie vs. Reid
John vs. Buchert
Greg vs. Gary
Tall Mike vs. JW
Brendan vs. Geoff
Darren vs. Chandler

As always, links to this Rapture and previous events are located on the blog. There is one more handicap revision before we go, so I'll update official handicaps at that time.
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I'll be following up with the AirBnb houses soon... but we are NOT staying together as teams this year. Instead, your housemates have been "randomly" pre-selected. If anyone owns an air mattress that they enjoy, I recommend bringing it just in case. You may find yourself sleeping near Darren or Dave, and decide it's quieter on the floor in the bathroom.

House 1
Gary, Chandler, Darren, Katie, Greg, Robbie, John, Reid

House 2
Dave, JW, Buchert, Tall Mike, Brendan, Geoff, Gorecki, Mike H.

If you don't like someone in your house... then be sure to loudly, publicly, and drunkenly proclaim it every chance you get during The Rapture. There is definitely an "airing of grievances" component to the event.

Stay tuned for more information. Start making your predictions now!

DPT Masters - Summer 2017 Recap

We were all surprised to get through yesterday's round without any serious rain, and any stoppage in play. The Palmer Course was in great shape, and turned out to be a fairly easy test for most of the field. Lots of people under par (net).

But Casey played lights out, shooting -11 (net) and winning the season with one event to go. He picked up his 2nd win and first Major. In his last 5 events, he has two 2nds and two wins. Excellent playing! Welcome to the Champions Club, Casey.

Dave and Anthony also put up stellar rounds, tying for 2nd place. And on the other end of the spectrum, Gorecki tied his buddy Steve P. for the worst net score ever recorded at +26.

While there isn't anything left to play for in the season, you can still increase your league stats and win some cash at our final event. The Jamaican Open will be rescheduled for August 13th, at a course I'll announce soon. See you all then!