Doubles League
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:28 pm
I've been mixing it up lately.
Since the pins moved short at Herman Hill, we played switched doubles from the short tees (7/30/07). The amateurs were all about the same skill level, so I thought it was really fair. A much better test of a team's skill, in my opinion. There was some grumbling though. I hope it goes a little better next time we mix it up. 10 players total. 3 teams finished at -6. Iqbal and Otis had -7.
We played blue tees at Oak tonight. 11 players. Since the pro/am distribution was not matched, we did random draw with strokes for ams. Pro-pro starts +3 (there were none of these teams), pro-am starts even, am-am starts -3. Pro's get cash, am's get Bob bucks. Iqbal and Bowe came back to tie Mike and Lloyd at 6 under par. Iqbal cheesed his drive into the fence on hole 1 to win the playoff.
Something I've been wanting to try to encourage new players to get in on doubles is handicap doubles. This would only work if we had handi's for all the players attending (usually do). Since we end up doing a random draw most of the time, when two complete rooks get hooked up, 3 strokes isn't nearly enough. Here is a format that would still give a slight advantage to better players, but not as much as with other formats. Add the handicaps of the two players on each team (calculated at 80% of the difference of the scoring average and 52). Then divide by 3. Then round down. This would be the number of strokes subtracted from the team's finishing score. It would be easy to tell teams what their "team handicap" was before play started, but it wouldn't be necessary for them to keep track of it.
Another format I'd like to try on a shortish layout (maybe HH red tees or Oak short tees?) is that RAP format that Chuck Kennedy made up. It's like switch doubles and they did use it at Pro Worlds. Both players drive and play the second shot from their partners drive. If they haven't holed out for a 2, they chose the best lie and finish the hole playing normal best shot.
All ideas welcome. I like keeping this league fun. Can't wait for some more players to start showing!
Since the pins moved short at Herman Hill, we played switched doubles from the short tees (7/30/07). The amateurs were all about the same skill level, so I thought it was really fair. A much better test of a team's skill, in my opinion. There was some grumbling though. I hope it goes a little better next time we mix it up. 10 players total. 3 teams finished at -6. Iqbal and Otis had -7.
We played blue tees at Oak tonight. 11 players. Since the pro/am distribution was not matched, we did random draw with strokes for ams. Pro-pro starts +3 (there were none of these teams), pro-am starts even, am-am starts -3. Pro's get cash, am's get Bob bucks. Iqbal and Bowe came back to tie Mike and Lloyd at 6 under par. Iqbal cheesed his drive into the fence on hole 1 to win the playoff.
Something I've been wanting to try to encourage new players to get in on doubles is handicap doubles. This would only work if we had handi's for all the players attending (usually do). Since we end up doing a random draw most of the time, when two complete rooks get hooked up, 3 strokes isn't nearly enough. Here is a format that would still give a slight advantage to better players, but not as much as with other formats. Add the handicaps of the two players on each team (calculated at 80% of the difference of the scoring average and 52). Then divide by 3. Then round down. This would be the number of strokes subtracted from the team's finishing score. It would be easy to tell teams what their "team handicap" was before play started, but it wouldn't be necessary for them to keep track of it.
Another format I'd like to try on a shortish layout (maybe HH red tees or Oak short tees?) is that RAP format that Chuck Kennedy made up. It's like switch doubles and they did use it at Pro Worlds. Both players drive and play the second shot from their partners drive. If they haven't holed out for a 2, they chose the best lie and finish the hole playing normal best shot.
All ideas welcome. I like keeping this league fun. Can't wait for some more players to start showing!