Dan - in rebuttal:
Slope is a joke perpetuated by Mr. Knuth. When I was at GolfWeb, we wanted to come up with a handicap system. The USGA said we could not use slope, that it was their property. So we came up with our own number, entirely dependent on the yardage of each hole. Our number ended up to match slope almost exactly. We didn’t send raters out to courses, we didn’t try and figure out hazards, etc… It was based only on distance of each individual hole.
SO YOU CAME UP WITH AN ADJUSTABLE RATING, LIKE SLOPE GIVES YOU? VERY WELL DONE! BUT PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT DISTANCE IS INDEED WHAT DETERMINES A HUGE PORTION OF COURSE RATING, BOGEY RATING, AND THUS SLOPE. JUST USING RAW DISTANCE YOU WILL INDEED COME QUITE CLOSE TO THE ACTUAL NUMBER - THAT'S JUST HOW THE MATH GOES! HAZARDS AND TARGETS AND THE LIKE DON'T MATTER NEARLY AS MUCH AS DISTANCE. I CAN SPEAK TO THIS QUITE WELL, I JUST COMPLETED THE NCGA COURSE RATING SEMINAR. IN ANY CASE I SEE NO GOOD ARGUMENT HERE AGAINST SLOPE - IT'S A GREAT SYSTEM, USING TWO "GOLFERS", AND MAKES THINGS QUITE MORE EQUITABLE FOR THE PLAYERS OF LESSER SKILL. NOTE HOW I DIDN'T SAY "FAIR"?
AND COME ON MAN, YOU WANT TO ELIMINATE SENDING TEAMS OF PEOPLE TO RATE COURSES NOW, RIGHT AFTER I FINALLY GOT ON SAID TEAM AFTER THREE YEARS OF WAITING?
The SSS changes depending on weather. Doesn’t that seem to make more sense than a consistent slope? For a tournament the committee can change the SSS.
NOW THAT I DIDN'T KNOW - THAT IS A DAMN GREAT IDEA. WE NEED THAT MOST DEFINITELY HERE. STILL, AS A BASIC CONCEPT SLOPE STILL DOES A MUCH BETTER JOB THAN SSS AT GIVING A RATING THAT WORKS FOR EVERY PLAYER, DAY IN, DAY OUT. BUT HELL YES LET US ADJUST IT FOR WEATHER!
The ‘puters in every pro shop has encouraged the idea that every round needs to have a number at the end. Regardless of the type of game, what was your final number? Some golf games don’t finish with an individual number, but we American’s can’t play those games because then we don’t have anything to post. The damn ‘puter is dictating the game we play. Post only tournament scores, played according the rules of medal play. When not playing tournaments, we are free to play whatever type of golf suites our fancy at the time.
No ‘puter needed in the pro shop. Leave it up to the handicap chairman to post tournament rounds, therefore giving the handicap real peer review.
AGREED, OK, VERY COOL. BUT NEARLY ALL PUBLIC COURSES DON'T HAVE HANDICAP CHAIRMAN...AND YOU'VE SEEN THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST TOURNAMENT ONLY SCORING. WE'RE NOT CLOSE TO AGREEMENT ON THIS ONE!
Bottom line here, Dan, is I still don't see a good argument against giving MORE choices - and most of these choices are made easier and better with a computer. Why eliminate such for those of us it would help?
Sorry!
TH