Foon Hay Seniors Golf Club

 

Scoring Practices

Blind Bogey

In Blind Bogey (it also has other names), six holes are chosen somewhat at random to represent the round. Usually we choose a par-3, a par-4 and a par-5 from the front and a similar set from the back. In the example below, the six holes and our example player’s scores are shown. Generally the holes chosen are the more difficult ones, but sometimes they are chosen so that the handicaps for men and women are more equal.

The computer looks at your scores on those six holes then subtracts par. It then adds the differences to determine the amount you were over par for those six holes (1/3 or a round). This amount is multiplied by 3 to represent a full round and becomes your Blind Bogey handicap. That number is subtracted from your gross score to get your Blind Bogey score.

In our example, holes #2, 4, 6, 11, 14 and 18 were used with the given pars. Our subject scored a total of 95 on his/her round. As you can see, the Blind Bogey score was 53. The boo-boo on #18 really helped their Blind Bogey effort!

 

An example:

Example:

Here is a copy of a portion of a scorebook. If you look at the holes chosen (1, 4, 6, 10, 12, 17) you can check out the scoring. We’re only showing the back-nine scores in this diagram.

Notice the scores from the yellow columns have had the par subtracted and the net scores remain. When added up and tripled, they go into the column indicated by the red arrow. This is the Blind Bogey handicap. This is then subtracted from the gross score to get the Blind Bogey net score.

The only people eligible for Blind Bogey are guests and non-winners. If you are closest to the pin, or if you place in your flight, you are removed from the Blind Bogey. Good luck, or as we like to say, if you’re going to mess up, do it on the right holes. J

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 Tie Breakers

There are three levels of tie breaks used by Foon Hay to determine places. These only kick in if two players are in the running for prizes, although the computer is set up to automatically calculate two of them even if there are no ties.

1. The back nine total minus half the player’s course handicap is used as the first tie break. If there’s a difference here, winners and losers are declared. If not, then it goes on to the next level.
    
2. The middle six holes (7-12) minus 1/3 the player’s course handicap is used as the second tie break. Again, if there’s a difference, winners and losers are declared. If the tie is still not broken it goes on to the next level.
    
3. The two scorecards are compared starting at the 18^th hole and working backwards. As soon as one player has a lower hole net score, he/she is declared winner.

Example:

In this example, Player A and Player B tied with net scores of 69. When their back-nine totals less 1/2 their handicaps were compared, Player A won out with 31.00 to 33.50. Check the math! However, if they had remained tied, then the middle-six totals minus 1/3 their handicaps would have kicked in. In this tie breaker, Player B would have won. If they were still tied, we would compare their scorecards starting at #18, and Player A would have won with his 4 versus Player B’s 5. In most cases ties are broken in favor of the player with the lower handicap, but this isn’t always the case.

If you ever have a question about why you didn’t win and still feel you should have, please feel free to drop the scorekeeper an email. It is possible that an error was made. But upon inspection, recent questionings have resulted in the scorekeeper being upheld. (Thank goodness!) [And, by the way, the scorekeeper has lost tie breaks several times over the years. I know it hurts.]

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Skins

To win a Skin on a given hole, the player must be the only one in his/her flight to get the lowest net score. A tie for lowest net score means that no Skin is awarded. Generally in the men's flights a birdie must be shot in order to get a Skin, although exceptions have occurred. Of course a Hole In One would probably qualify you for a Skin!

We will use three flights for Skins.

1. The first flight is for male players with the lowest handicaps, approximately half the male players. The maximum difference between the highest and lowest handicaps is less than 18 strokes.
    
2. The second flight is for the remainder of male players with higher handicaps.
    
3. The ladies are in a separate bracket.

Pops: In each flight, the handicap difference between the individual and the lowest handicap is calculated. One pop (handicap stroke on an individual hole) is granted for each stroke difference starting with the highest handicap holes and working down. Course handicap values are used to assign the actual strokes. See the example which follows:

Player A - handicap = 18; Lowest handicap in flight = 9; Difference = 9 strokes

Pops Assigned to Player A

Net Scores: In practice, a file is created where each player is assigned a number of "Pops" per hole using the procedure described above. When the player's scores are recorded, another file is created that takes the number of pops from the gross score on each hole, yielding a net score for Skins purposes. Then all of the net scores within a flight are compared. If only one person gets the lowest score, a Skin results.

Money: All money is returned to the field. If there are 12 players in a flight, the total number of dollars is $60. This total is divided by the number of Skins to yield the amount per Skin. For example. If there were 4 skins, then each skin would be worth $15. The more players in a particular flight, the more elusive Skins will be and the more each one will be worth.

As a practice, instead of counting down to the level of nickels and pennies, we are paying Skins in whole dollar amounts. With a little creative fudging (yes, there are fractions of dollars involved almost all the time) this works out. And everyone likes bills rather than coins!

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I hope this answers a few of the questions you’ve been having with tournament scoring. Please feel free to ask questions if you don’t fully understand. It’s okay to look over the scorer’s shoulders during a match up until the final group gets in when things get pretty hectic.

Clarence Bakken

Webmaster and Scorer

Updated 5/5/04