It has nothing to do with what's "easist or hardest". Individual hole handicaps are assigned by what's most fair for the guy giving the strokes. And as a very general rule, low number hole ratings aren't placed on holes 18 or 1. There are exceptions of course. Say you're a 12 playing a 6. You get 6 pops. You got a pop on the numbers one through 6 handicap holes. Why? Because the 6 handicapper is as likely to par the hole as you are to bogey it. However on holes 7 - 18 either golfer is as likely to par as the other. Now, consider this. Suppose you get your full complement of strokes. So does the 6. He and you both stroke on the highest rated handicap holes - you're likely to lose those holes. You then pop on the next 6 lowest handicap holes. You have a chance to win those - but only a chance. You may win half of them, or tie. But the remaining 6 - you play scratch. You lose.
When I was "a player", a low single digit handicap, I used to play with a +2, a scratch and an 8 handicapper. We played something like "you get 3 pops on the front and we adjust on the back". So if I won the front by 3 I played scratch on the back. If tied I got 3 on the back. If he won I got more pops on the back. We played that way for over 10 years and I'd guess that the money broke out about even. Today, our game is everybody swings off the low guy in a nassau. Or if a threesome, we play "nines" at full handicap - low score on a hole gets 5 points, second gets 3, next gets 1. Ties get 4, 4, 1, or 3,3,3. Whatever adds up to nine. Fifty cents a point. Best of all, money stays on the table apres golf. So you getting 6 pops and the other guy plays at scratch is the most "fair" way to play the game. It isn't the best way but so far nobody's come up with a better one. TFlan > Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 10:27:46 -0700 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] For the most part I agree with the new ratings, but for some reason the hole that everyone thinks is the second hardest on the course is now rated the second easiest, and one of the easiest holes on the course is rated as the second hardest. Not sure how that determination was made, but it does hose up where you get/give strokes for sure. t _________________________________________________________________ Get back to school stuff for them and cashback for you. http://www.bing.com/cashback?form=MSHYCB&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MSHYCB_BackToSchool_Cashback_BTSCashback_1x1
