Short Game » Golf tournaments

Golf pairings – make the task of pairing golfers easy

Steve — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:08:15 +0000

Golf pairings for professional tournaments such as the Masters, as opposed to local club tournaments and leagues, serve very different needs, but have some similarities. For the first two rounds of the Masters, for instance, it is totally up to the powers-that-be to pair the golfers. They may take into consideration the television audience, crowd control, the golfers’ star power. The last two rounds, of course, are based on scores from the first two rounds.

With club tournaments, of course, there are no likely concerns about television, crowds, star power, etc. In a multi-round tournament, previous round scores may come into play for later-round pairings. A common concern for club level leagues and tournaments is to make sure golfers play with as many different players as possible. For a group taking a golf trip, they typically want to make sure everyone plays with everyone else. Depending on the number of players and the number of rounds to be played, trying to make sure everyone plays with everyone else with a minimum of repeats can send smoke rising out of the best of computers. For a mere human brain attempting to arrange or pair the players, the result can be lots of hair pulling.

Luckily there are solutions for both planning tournament pairings and creating the pairings for a golf league. In a tournament the goal might be to make sure that different players are placed into foursomes over a course of a number of round. In a league the goal would be to make sure individuals or teams are matched against different opponents for each weekly event as much as possible. The ideal – never playing the same person or team – is, of course, sometimes not achievable. It’s a mathematical problem for which the ideal solution depends on the number of individuals or teams as well as the number of events.

Our League Manager and Tournament Manager have a very similar “engine” for creating unique pairings (where mathematically possible). The following is a screenshot of the feature of the programs. In the example there are 24 teams (could be players) and 23 events. Teams are numbered horizontally at the top as well as vertically at the left. The black boxes indicate that the team (or player) cannot play against itself.

Ready to test your knowledge of golf rules?

Debbie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:01:09 +0000

While many golfers have put away their clubs for the next few months, you can still keep your mind in the game!

   Did you know that the USGA website offers quizzes on the Rules of Golf? The quizzes are available to take online or can be printed for later use. You can choose your desired level of difficulty (Basic, Advanced or Random-mixed) as well as the length of your quiz.
   While you wait in line, you could take the shortest quiz of 10 questions. If you have more time, 18 or 25 question quizzes are available. It’s a great way to stay current with the rules. See how quickly you can complete a quiz… Try to stump your golfing friends!
   Not only does the online answer key tell which questions you answered correctly, it also provides a link to the rule in question, for each question. It’s a great way to familarize yourself (or a newer golfer) with the rules of the game. When it’s time to get those clubs back out, you’ll be ready for any situation on the course!

Printable golf score cards for any 9 or 18-hole course

Steve — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:55:41 +0000

Looking for printable golf score cards? We offer printable golf score cards for use with League Manager and Tournament Manager. These make preparing for a league event or a tournament a snap as you do not have to write the player names onto all the cards. With these cards you can print…

the correct pairing on each card
two or four players per card
team numbers
handicap strokes awarded for individual or team match play (see samples below)
yardages for multiple tees
hole pars
order of handicap holes
player handicaps
course name
tee time
tee
start hole(s)
three lines of extra miscellaneous information

The image below shows you two cards. The one on the top half is for 9 holes. The bottom one is for 18 holes. Two score cards make one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper for use with virtually any printer. The score cards are made of card stock.

Printable golf score cards for 9 (top) and 18-hole (bottom) courses

Golf rules video: see rules explained in two minutes or less

Steve — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:57:43 +0000

Want to see golf rules simplified and explained quickly? The USGA has animation videos that do just that. Most, if not all, are under 2 minutes long. Here is a handy list of what’s available. If you play in any golf tournaments, it would be important to know these. Even if you don’t, and only play for fun, it’ll help avoid disputes of what’s fair and what’s not if you have some knowledge of how to follow golf rules.

How to score for match play
Scoring for stroke play
Maximum of 14 clubs
Ball unfit for play
Starting time
Order of play
The teeing ground
Playing from outside teeing ground
Definition of hazard
Ball in hazard
Ball over hanging hole
Attending and unauthorized attendance of the flagstick

Ball striking flagstick or attendant/ball resting against flagstick
Marking, lifting, and replacing
Movable obstructions
Through the green
Determining the nearest point of relief
Immovable obstructions
Water hazards
Lateral water hazards
Ball lost or out of bounds
Environmentally sensitive areas
Loose impediments

To see these video, go to the Rules section of the USGA website. You can also find where to get a copy of the Rules of Golf Handbook.

Handicap Allowances… What are they? Why do they change? When do I apply them?

Debbie — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:56:45 +0000

A handicap allowance is the percentage of the Course Handicap recommended for a handicap competition. Percentages will vary with the type of golf competition format used. Using handicap allowances prevents an unfair advantage for golfers with low or high handicaps.

To use handicaps allowances correctly, you must first determine a golfer’s course handicap. Next, apply the appropriate handicap allowance for your golf competition. Lastly, if your group is using more than 1 tee or if men and women are using the same tee, the handicap allowance can also be affected.

See Section 9-4 of the USGA Handicap manual for a detailed listing of handicap allowances for various forms of stroke or match play.

Ready for Another Great Year of Golf?

Debbie — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:17:38 +0000

We’re starting to get more calls here at GolfSoftware.com… It’s time to download program(s) to the new adminstrator’s computer, start a new leagues, check on expiration dates for websites, or order scorecards.

Don’t forget to check out our knowledgebase for answers to those ‘once-a-year’ questions – How to transfer your golfers into a new/2011 league or Moving your software onto another computer. We’ve even got a list of sample websites you can peruse for ideas on how to enhance communication with your golfers.

We have made it easier than ever to access your Golf Software account. Your account information is available to view/update–24/7!

Simply go to our home page at: www.GolfSoftware.com
On the upper right corner you will see a gold ADMINISTRATORS button.
Click the button, type in your customer number and password, and sign in to view/update your information.
Check out these tabs:

WEB SERVICES – shows whether you are using our basic PAR package, or subscribing to our BIRDIE or EAGLE packages. It lists subscription and technical support expiration dates and includes a link to renew services online, as well as our email/phone contact information.

DESKTOP SOFTWARE – lists software you have purchased - includes the version, purchase date, registration codes, and install/reinstall software links. Also has a link to what is new in our latest software version.

Looking forward to spring,

GolfSoftware.com

Holiday Golf Games

Debbie — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:15:35 +0000

Try these games for ‘holiday fun’ on the course.

Rudolph Golf – Have a red ball for each team. The team score will be based on the red ball and 1 net best ball of the other players. Each player alternates playing with the red ball for each hole… Player 1 plays the red ball first hole, player 2 plays the colored ball on the next hole and so on… Use the ‘Colored Net ball’ report in Tournament Manager to calculate the winner.

Santa’s List – The nicest (low net ball) and naughtiest (high net ball) scores on each hole count for the team. Use the ‘LowNetBallHighNetBall’ report in Tournament Manager’s Reports for Team Results (Custom ADVANCED).

Eggnog for everyone – Play a scramble format.

As a side game, you may want to try ‘O Christmas Tree’. Keep track of the number of times the ball goes into the trees/rough, instead of tracking putts.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year!
From all of us at GolfSoftware.com

Golf shamble format…not your run-of-the-mill scramble

Steve — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:26:51 +0000

For you who have played the scramble, you might enjoy this variation called the shamble. In the Golf shamble format, things change after everyone tees off. When you’re playing a scramble, every player on your team takes a whack at the ball from the tee and then on from where the team determines is the “best” lie for the next shot. In the shamble, everyone tees off as you do in the scramble. Just as in the scramble, everyone on the team plays from what is determined to be the best shot. Here’s where the similarity ends, though. In the shamble, from the second shot to holing out, everyone plays their own ball. So you have a mix of features from the scramble and from stroke play. It’s nice to have four shots (shambles are typically in teams of four) from the tee and be able to pick the best. From there, though, the pressure’s on because you pick the best score amongst the four.

Because of the mix of abilities typical in such tournament formats, it’s reasonable to use players’ full handicaps. Of course you can add all sorts of variations onto the shamble as is the case with scrambles. You might use two or three of the best scores rather than just one. If you wanted to add a bit more pressure to the teams, you could require up to four drives from each player in a foursome be used.

The advanced custom reporting in Tournament Manager will handle just about any variation you decide for your golf shamble format.

Ambrose Golf – a form of the popular scramble

Steve — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:02:45 +0000

Apparently “Ambrose” is the last name of a Michigan couple who introduced a type of golf scramble to locals while living in Australia where it became popularized as the Ambrose golf format.

The Ambrose scramble format is fairly straightforward. Everyone on the team – usually 2, 3 or 4 players – tees off. The team then picks the best shot amongst their team players’ shots and all play from that spot. Each team mate must place the ball within a hand’s length of the chosen ball’s lie. On the putts they must putt from the same spot. Each team records just one score per hole.

With Ambrose golf rules you use a team handicap. Generally the formula for the team handicap is as follows:

Team Handicap = Total of all team members’ handicaps ÷ (Number of team members x 2)

For example, on a 4-person team with handicaps of 5, 13, 18 and 25 you would calculate as follows:

Team Handicap = (5 + 13 + 18 + 25) ÷ (4 x 2) = 61 ÷ 8 = 7.625 or,

Team Handicap = (5 + 13 + 18 + 25) x (100 ÷ (4 x 2))% = 61 x 12.5% = 7.625

The tournament committee can decide whether to round up 7.625 to 8, truncate to 7 or something in between.

Another twist that is sometimes added to the Ambrose golf format is a requirement that each team member’s drive must be used at least a certain number of times. The tournament committee can select whether that is one, two, three, four or more times depending on the size of teams. That puts pressure on drives towards the end of the round, so you want to make sure, if you’ve got a beginner or high handicapper that you avoid pressure situations for their drives late in the round.

Tournament Manager is well equipped to handle Ambrose golf formats as it allows you to build teams (with approximately equal team handicaps), post scores, calculate team handicaps and show results.

Golf Best Ball Formats to Try

Debbie — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:11:06 +0000

Ready for a different type of tournament game? Best Ball games are fun and work well for groups with a variety of skill levels. The team score for each hole is the lowest score of a member of the team on that hole. Usually, the team with the lowest total net score is the winner. Best ball can be played using gross or net (applying the player’s handicap strokes) scores. Tournament Manager has a variety of Best Ball reports available:

123 Net Best Ball Waltz – The score is based on 1 net best ball on hole 1, 2 net best balls on hole 2, 3 best balls on hole 3, 1 net best ball on hole 4, etc…

Colored Net Ball – The score is based on colored ball and 1 net best ball of other three players. Each player alternates playing the colored ball on each hole. Player 1 plays colored ball first, player 2 plays colored ball on next hole, etc…

Low Net Ball High Net Ball – The score is based on low net ball and high net ball on each hole.

Net Best Ball Mix – The score is based on 1 net best ball from holes 1 to 9, 2 net best ball for holes 10 to 17, and 3 best net balls for hole 18.

Pros Ball and Amateurs Gross Best Ball – The team score is based on the pro’s score (player 1 on the team) and the 1 gross best ball of the 3 amateurs.

In The Square Tournament – The team’s score is based on player in the squares’ ball and 1 net best ball of other three players. Player 1 is in the square for first 2 holes, player 2 for next 2 hole, player 3 for next 2 holes, etc. For holes 9 and 18 no player is in the square and a simple 2 net best ball is done.