dlwicks@sbcglobal.net

Course Survey 2017 – Please Respond ASAP

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UPDATE – We have almost 100 responses in the first day.  Divisions 1, 2, and 3 are responding more than Div 4 and 5. We are getting a fair mix of handicaps.  D Flight members are responding well under average.  A, B and C flights are fairly equally split.  Please respond.

All course have been played by most of our members.  Now we need your help to evaluate the 2017 courses.

The link below will take you to a Survey Form for 2017 Courses.  We are looking for some information from you as a member.  Then we ask you to rate the 2017 courses.  Next we want your ideas for possible new courses for 2018.

Most questions require only a simple click.  Keep a course, or drop it because Too Hard, Too Far, Cost, Maintenance or Design.  Don’t like a course? Click on the most important reason to drop it.

UPDATE  – Survey requires a response (Keep or Drop) for all current courses.  If you don’t have any opinion on a course, please vote to KEEP it (no reason to drop).  If you have chosen NOT to play a course (cost, location, difficulty, et al) then please vote to DROP it for that reason.  This way we understand that this course has a problem for you.

We have several courses that have been suggested as additions.  What do you think?

I past surveys, we know that most courses are keepers.  Negative responses can help us in discussions with the courses.

The survey will be open for about 1 week, or until we get a significant response.  Results will be published in the website in October.

CLICK HERE to start 2017 Course Survey.

 

Association Championships – Update – 8-20-17

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The Championship Results are ALMOST complete – we are waiting on the last week scores from Division 2 at the Falls.

HOWEVER – I’d be checking now if you think you might be close.  Although you might be listed as out the best 16 for a bracket, we usually have a few qualifiers who cannot attend.  We can easily ask for 4 or 5 substitutes so even if you are 20th or 21st or …. , you may still be invited.

Click Here for the current results.  The Final Championship Results will be available as soon as all data and analysis is complete.

Congrats to all players who have qualified and near qualifiers.  You have had a great season!  I hope you enjoy the results.

If you are already in the top 16 and you already know that you CANNOT attend, consider an email to Frank Mantia ASAP or decline immediately when you get the invitation.

If you are in the top 20 or so, please be ready to accept or decline the invitation immediately if you are contacted.

The Championship Tournament Team and OurGolfStats.com have been working very hard to make sure the results are accurate and timely.  You will receive an invite as soon as we go through process.  Please be ready to respond immediately.

 

 

 

August 17/18 – Final Week for Championship Qualifications

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August 17/18 is the final week of tournaments to finish qualification for the annual Metro Seniors Association Championship.  To find out where you stand – go to the Weekly Green Sheet report (CLICK HERE) and click on the Championship Qualifications.

For each bracket, the Lowest Net for each member is shown in order.  Note, members must have at least 10 rounds recorded in 2016 AND 2017.  The top 16 members, ties, and substitutions are invited for each Bracket are invited.

When you get an invitation, please respond ASAP.  We have only a few days to fill out all 64 spots.  If you are in the top 20 to 25 now, Stay Tuned!  You may still be eligible and invited as some higher qualifiers may not be able to play.

Marking Scorecards – Info needed on Course Scorecards, too!

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Make sure you Universal Scorecard is complete!

Everyone (well almost) knows that all players are required to completely fill out the Universal Scorecard (USC).

Unless you complete the card with tee color, hole scores, totals, names and ID numbers, your round may not count.  It is every member’s responsibility to make sure the information is complete and correct.

Course Scorecard – Same Data Needed – Because USC get Lost!

If the USC get lost or damaged before data entry, we use the backup course scorecards.  This happens once or twice per year.  We simply can’t record your score, with no name or ID number.  We can’t give you the proper handicap without a tee color.

WE MUST HAVE THE SAME COMPLETE ACCURATE DATA ON THE COURSE SCORECARDS.

Data entry can’t guess who you are – we need your name AND ID NUMBER!

We can’t GUESS which tee you played from.  We need the hole scores to be accurate and properly totaled.

All this must be on the backup course scorecard. too.  You should check and complete and sign the course scorecard with as much care as the USC.

Space on Course Scorecards is Limited  – Get Creative

We know that space is limited.  But Data Entry must be able to identify the player and ID and the score and Tee Color that go together.  Without a complete course scorecard,  your round may not count for scores, championship qualification, flight prizes, handicaps.  It will be as though you didn’t show up.  Don’t let this happen.

2017 – League Championship Update

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Playing well this season?  Winning some flight money? Your handicap going down some?  Did you know that we have the Association Invitational Championship outing?

Great! You may be in the running for an invitation for the Association Championship on August 29.  Please mark your calendar for the possibility.

How Do I Qualify

  • Qualifications (see below for details)
    • Lowest 10 NET weekly tournament scores from the first 18 weeks of the season ending August 18
    • Member with at least 10 rounds scored in 2016
    • Flights based on Handicap Guide (HG) distribution from qualified members as of 1/31
    • 16 Members plus ties for each of 4 Brackets (1, 2, 3, 4) with the lowest average net scores for 10 of the 18 weekly tournaments  (revised from 2016 and 2017 Member Book – see below)
    • If qualified members cannot attend, we will extend invitations to the next qualified member(s) for the Bracket in order of lowest average net score.

Alternates / Substitutions

Please note, that each year we have several members from each bracket who cannot attend.  This means that even if you are 17th to perhaps 22th place you have a high probability for an invitation.  As of today, invitations would go to the top 20 (and even into the 30s places for Bracket 4).  Because several low net players don’t have the required minimum 10 rounds.

You can see the current status Championship Qualification Report for the entire Association at Ourgolfstats.com on the Green Sheets Report.  It is the second report, on each Division, before any weekly results.

DIRECT LINK TO GREEN SHEETS and Championship Qualification Status 

Check this every week through August 20 to see where you stand.

The Final Qualification Report will be available about August 22.  However, even if you are in 17th to perhaps about 30th place you might qualify as an Alternate.

Respond to Invitations Immediately

If you are invited to play as a top 16 (or as an alternate further down the list), please be ready to commit IMMEDIATELY.  We will be scrambling to fill slots and we don’t have much time.

Although play is completed August 18, we won’t have final scores and analysis in until August 22. We will have only a few days to get the invitations issued, and all spots committed.

Revisions to Bracket 1 Qualifications for 2017

For 2017 Season we now allow A Flight to pick either Forward or Back tees like all other divisions.  This required a change in the Championship Qualifications for Bracket 1.

Now Bracket 1 will used only NET SCORES for the qualification, exactly the same as Brackets 2, 3, and 4.    Previously we allocated 1/2 of the Bracket 1 to Low Average Gross, and 1/2 half to Low Average Net when all A Flight was required to play from the back tees.  This is no longer appropriate with both Forward and Back tees available.

Download (PDF, 21KB)

 

 

Norton Erroneously Blocks Metro Seniors Website – False Positives

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Norton Erroneously Blocks Metro Seniors Website

We have a new report (7/10/17) of Norton Web Safe blocking the Metro Seniors website and posts as malicious.  This apparently happened because of a broken link that was published and emailed about a Special Event result.  This is NOT a malicious site problem simply a typo.

There is nothing wrong with the Metro Seniors site.  We have security to prevent problems.

Unless a site subscribes (pays) to a Norton service, Norton assumes that the site is malicious.   They will block access for Norton Web Safe users for a wide range of issues.  Including having a variety of files to view and download like our schedules, tournament results, rules, regulations and so on.  We have these to give members information they want.

Requesting Norton to reclassify a site for a non-subscriber is not easy and can be delayed.

Norton Users can report False Positives to eliminate the blocks

If you use Norton for antivirus, you will have Web Safe and you may be blocked from the Metro Seniors website for “false positives” as they call it.

As a Norton user you can fix the problem by reporting “false positives”.  This will reclassify our site as non-malicious and will let you have access again.  This may be the fastest way to fix the problem.

Please use the following links to review your actions for fixing your Norton Web Safe and reporting this False Positive.

This links to Norton’s information on Web Safe and False Positives.  It provides information to fix your Web Safe and reporting errors.  CLICK HERE

This links to Norton process for reporting False Positives.

As an alternative, I suggest that you turn off the Web Safe portion of Norton to access Metro Seniors.

More information from Norton’s site

GDE Error: Error retrieving file - if necessary turn off error checking (404:Not Found)

Pace of Play for Data Geeks

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In discussions on pace of play several issues come up including:

  • Members Age (we are “seniors” after all)
  • Course Difficulty (Rating and Slope)
  • Course Crowding – Number of players
  • Course Conditions (Path Only, Rain, et al)
  • Players’ Skill as measured by Handicap Index

The Pace of Play Logs are giving us lots of data on Pace Time.  Flights, scores, handicaps, tees played, and course rating and slope by tee are in OurGolfStats.  Plus we have players’ age data in our membership database.

Combining this data gives us lots of opportunity for analysis.

I wanted to better understand why Division 1 had 10 to 15 minutes slower pace the Division 2-5.  I have summarized the Division and Event data for the first 11 weeks (through 6/22/17).  This is 53 rounds representing over 4300 individual rounds of golf.

Summary Data By Division

  Average Avg Gross Avg HCP Avg Pace
Division Events Count Age Score Guide Avg
1 10 686 71.8 98.8 25.2 04:41
2 10 781 69.5 92.4 20.9 04:26
3 11 1015 71.5 93.6 22.1 04:25
4 11 899 72.9 94.4 22.7 04:30
5 11 974 68.6 95.1 23.5 04:31

Observations

Average Player’s Age

There is no clear relationship between pace and average age of players either by Division or by individual events. We range in average age of actual players from 68.6 to almost 73.  Division 5 is our newest and youngest.  But, Division 4, our oldest, plays at the same pace.

Course Difficulty

There was no relationship in course difficulty (Rating, or Slope or even a combination or Rating and Slope).  Why – with many of our members playing forward tees, the average slope and rating for most courses get reduced.  By averaging the actual rating and slope of tees played, the Divisions’ ratings were essentially 66+ Rating and 112+ Slope.  Even looking at events’ averages, the data was very scattered.  Other factors were far more important.

Course Crowding

There was no clear evidence of course crowding on average pace.  Most events ranged from 75 to 100 players.  At this level number of players is not a major factor on slow play.  This is why Division 5 was formed – to keep average players around 100 at most.  One event with 132 players (tee start) did slow play, but the average for that event was still better that 4:30.

Course Conditions

Although we had a lot of rain and wet conditions at the start of the season, there is simply not enough data to show any clear directions.  On many of the rain or path only events, we had fewer players.  That may have compensated for slower Path Only conditions.

Player Skill (Handicap Guide and Gross Scores)

Player Skill as measured by Handicap Guide or Gross Scores is by far the strongest factor for Division and Event Pace of Play.  There is almost perfect correlation  by Division and very strong correlation by Event.

Every 3 strokes added to the Average Gross Score for all players adds 7 minutes to the average Pace of Play.

 

Download (PDF, 12KB)

 

Now more questions

Why is Div 1 Handicap Guide so high?

Why is Div 2 Handicap Guide so low?

Are more Div 1 players playing back?  Fewer low handicap players?

 

Division 1 Schedule Change – 7/21 and 9/8

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Division 1 Members – following is a course schedule change.  We had to swap dates between Far Oaks and Incline Village due to issues beyond our control. Only the dates were changed, everything else remains the same.

Vince Italiano, VP Div 1, will issue a confirming email the week of each tournament.

REVISED SCHEDULE

Friday, July 21 –  Incline Village   $25   Split Tee Start – First Tee Time 6:30 AM

Friday, September 8 – Far Oaks  $32  Shotgun Start – 8:00 AM

ST L METRO SR Div 1 Date SCH Rev 7-10-17