Alaska PDGA Winter Series #14   January 17, 2021 at 3:42am

Week 1 Westchester Lagoon - rules

Hi, folks - after a test round using handicaps for the Series #13 ace pot, I've decided we're going to use a hybrid handicap system for this league. The way it works is, Westchester and Davis will have a different ratings point per stroke. But it seems like given the randomness of winter play, that advantages lower-rated players. So we're going to have two pools - A Pool and B Pool. A Pool is 880 and up, and B Pool is below 880. I picked this cutoff so that there would be approximately the same number of players in each pool. But because of the handicap, there's not a lot riding on which pool you're playing in.

The way it works is, to start out at Westchester, you get a stroke for each 14 points of rating. At Davis, you get a stroke for each 12 points of rating. You're only competing against your own pool, though. These ratios and your own handicap will be tweaked as the league goes on: the points per stroke will change if it seems like either higher-rated players or lower-rated players are having an advantage. Your handicap will change if you are not a "propagator," or if you have very few rated rounds. For example, my rating is based on roughly 60-70 rated rounds...so there's some good evidence for my skill level. But if you only have 10 rated rounds, your skill level may not be reflected in your PDGA rating. If you don't have a PDGA rating, I'll use the rating you would have had after Winter League #13, updated after each round of this new league. You'll know your handicap going into each round, unless it's the very first round you've ever played.

Let me know if you have any questions! I have a whole spreadsheet with charts where I figured this out, so I can show you the voodoo behind the scenes if you're interested.