Kansas Disc Golf Association

We in Pratt are discussing a possible change in the way we are doing our handicaps. The reason for the change is to give everyone a chance to win...since it is a handicap league.

What we are doing right now is taking the average of the last 20 rounds. What we have done in the past was to find the average of the last 5 rounds and multiply it by 75%. Both of these methods have shown to be more fair to some than to others.

What we would like to know is how other leagues run their league. Do you use handicaps or raw score? If handicaps, how do you determine those handicaps? Lastly, do you feel that the way you run your league is fair to everyone....the good players and the new players.

Thanks for your help

Pat

75% is a good number because improving players won't win every single time just because they have a 30 stroke handicap. I think it is fair.

75% of what? Maybe you should pick a number that a good open player would average. That way they would be playing roughly scratch if everyone is playing in the "handicap division" together. You don't want to actually have to add strokes to pro players because they are so darn good. We use 52 in Wichita.

How many rounds to use? One problem that comes up has to do with what course is being played. In Wichita, Oak is slighty tougher than Herman Hill, but the main difference is in what set of tees you are playing. If a player comes out only when the tees are set long, they are going to have an advantage over those who come out only when the course is set short (that's what they get for coming out only for the ace fund). So anyways, I don't see only the 5 most recent working for us. 20 might be good though.

Something else I'd say is to throw out rounds that are more than, say, 12 strokes from the player's average.

Good subject. I might use this to make some suggestions for our own club.

The 75% was applied to the difference between their average and 54. So if their average was 62 for example, 62-54=8. 75% of 8 is 6, add that 6 to the 54 and their handicap would be 60.

I hope that made sense

That was crystal clear....good job Pat....