Can somebody explain to me how these (sh)amateurs can possibly be shooting these scores?
Here are the top 3 finishers:
Pro/sham total pro sham
Points/ Murray -35 (-15) -20 -5/day
Taylor/ Mycoskie -33 (-4) -29 -7.25/day
Bowditch/ Miller -33 (-8) -25 -6.25/day
So somehow these jokers are shooting 5,6,7 shots better than thier handicaps for 4 consecutive days on PGA Tour greens.
According to the USGA this is FAR BEYOND THE REALM OF REASONABLENESS…
What am I missing??
http://www.usga.org/Content.aspx?id=25502
Now, once in a while you will hear about someone shooting an incredible tournament score, such as a net score of 59. What are the odds of shooting a score like that? These tables from the USGA's Handicap Research Team have figured the odds of one exceptional tournament score up to ten strokes better than the Course Handicap.
For example, the odds of our example player with a Course Handicap of 14 beating it by eight strokes (-8 net) once is 1,138 to one. Put another way, the average player posts 21 scores a year. That means that to score this well, assuming the Handicap Index is correct, would take 54 years of golf to do it once. The odds of a player beating his Course Handicap by eight strokes twice is only 14,912 to one. That's 710 years of golf for the average player -- odds far beyond the realm of reasonableness.
Scott, as I understand it, you're a fine player. Let me give you a few words of advice: never play in any net events - unless and until you are 100% committed - actually, make that 10,000% committed - to not wasting a single second of your time worrying about this or trying to figure things like this out. You will drive yourself insane. Give up. Seriously. It's in the best interest of your mental health.
Just accept the fact that as a low-handicapper, you have no chance of ever winning low net unless it's low net in your filght. You will NEVER win low net against an entire field. Ever.
Please, please please, do yourself a favor and never ask what the odds of a 22 handicapper shooting 164 are. Don't ask what the odds of a 7 handicapper shooting 290 are. You will just drive yourself straight to the koo-koo farm. You'll thank me for this advice in about 20 years...
Please don't take this the wrong way as I am a Bill Murray fan,
Bill Murray is a classic example of how the handicap system can be flawed.
He grows up in the game and develops a beautiful swing and game.
gets busy working and doesn't play too much, but when he does goofs off and makes acouple pars/birdies and a bunch of 7's and 8's.
For years he played off 18 and I used to say the same thing, yet he never contended.
Suddenly he focuses a bit and perhaps plays and practices a bit more.
he still knows how to think and what shots to hit-and all of a sudden he can do it again.
He played beautifully over the weekend-good for him.
Also, somebody's got to win(hopefully by playing over their head) and it's much more credible when the winning am has the low pro-and good weather certainly helps the ams.
You start to wonder when the pro misses the cut yet his team's in contention,
I see a lot of ex-pros who play off 7.
They play sporadically and make a couple big #'s, three putt often and shoot 84 during their infrequent outings.
Then they get invited to a member guest, they practice for a month(particularly on their short game) and still think very well.
By the time the event rolls around they're playing like a 2 and make 5 natural birdies each round. then they go back to their sporadic infrequent rounds and the cycle repeats.