iacas
Oct 04 2013, 12:55 PM
I'm coming from golf, which is quite obviously similar in some respects to disc golf, and I've given this topic a little thought.
I think the manner in which scoring is done in disc golf is dumber than the way it's done in golf. I'm basing this upon the assumption that in disc golf there's typically one card for the group, and that card is rotated throughout the players on that card as the round progresses (or sometimes kept by the top player on the card for the entire round).
In golf, what's typically done is that players will cycle their scorecards in their groups. Player A will give his card to B, B to C, C to D, and D to A. Every player is responsible for one other player. Tournaments will often use scorecards that have a tear-off sheet on the bottom of every scorecard - this is used to keep YOUR score, and then when you're done, you tear it off and line it up with YOUR card, which was kept by the other player. You compare hole by hole (takes very little time), sign it, make sure your scorer signed it, and turn it in.
I feel this method has several advantages. In no particular order:
* It prevents a player from every keeping "his" score. In disc golf, a player will keep his own score 1/4 of the time or more. Nobody can really stop someone from shaving a stroke or two during the time they are keeping the group's scorecard.*
* In golf, if a player loses his scorecard, only one player is without his scores (and he's kept track of his scores on the tear-away of the card he's got). In disc golf, a lost scorecard will result in the loss of the scores for every player.
* You're responsible for only one player's scores, eliminating the need to ask on every tee for everyone's scores. You just pay attention to the player you're scoring for (and yourself, of course, but you're always doing that).
* This makes things easier for TDs. Yes, they need more scorecards, but they don't have to get the groupings down correctly as it's one scorecard per player, so they can change groupings without having to worry about whether they need to re-do scorecards. They can prepare cards before the tournament begins for a multi-round event.
* This removes the need to cycle the card through the group every 4, 5, or 6 holes, and eliminates any possibility of being disadvantaged by having "the" card on certain holes - everyone has a card all the time.
I can't really think of too many cons - I suppose having to buy more cards is one (but they're just paper, so… that's not exactly a big con), and perhaps some players like not having to keep score for 12 or 14 holes or whatever, but it's their responsibility, so again not a big con.
So, why is this done this way? Or is it not done this way most of the time? Am I missing something, or is this possibly something that could change for the better?
* Regarding stroke shaving when a player has the group's scorecard, I'm not saying this occurs with regularity, particularly at higher level events in the final rounds, but it could have easily happened in the MA1 or MA2 divisions of the A-Tier in which I played. Nobody really seems to pay much attention to what other players are shooting and they won't remember at the end of the round, nor do they check the hole scores of the other players at the end of the round.
In the A-Tier, a player on my card during the second round lost his card during the first round on the 17th hole and they were all sweating bullets. Fortunately someone else turned it in for them, but they'd have been out of luck otherwise.
I posted this on DGCR as well. (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2192325) Responses seem to agree (though not strongly as this issue isn't exactly HUGE, just a small thing that could be improved) overall, so I decided to post it here.
P.S. To board administrators, the LIST functionality appears to be broken. Your stylesheets are preventing the list from displaying properly as the HTML is there for an unordered list.
I think the manner in which scoring is done in disc golf is dumber than the way it's done in golf. I'm basing this upon the assumption that in disc golf there's typically one card for the group, and that card is rotated throughout the players on that card as the round progresses (or sometimes kept by the top player on the card for the entire round).
In golf, what's typically done is that players will cycle their scorecards in their groups. Player A will give his card to B, B to C, C to D, and D to A. Every player is responsible for one other player. Tournaments will often use scorecards that have a tear-off sheet on the bottom of every scorecard - this is used to keep YOUR score, and then when you're done, you tear it off and line it up with YOUR card, which was kept by the other player. You compare hole by hole (takes very little time), sign it, make sure your scorer signed it, and turn it in.
I feel this method has several advantages. In no particular order:
* It prevents a player from every keeping "his" score. In disc golf, a player will keep his own score 1/4 of the time or more. Nobody can really stop someone from shaving a stroke or two during the time they are keeping the group's scorecard.*
* In golf, if a player loses his scorecard, only one player is without his scores (and he's kept track of his scores on the tear-away of the card he's got). In disc golf, a lost scorecard will result in the loss of the scores for every player.
* You're responsible for only one player's scores, eliminating the need to ask on every tee for everyone's scores. You just pay attention to the player you're scoring for (and yourself, of course, but you're always doing that).
* This makes things easier for TDs. Yes, they need more scorecards, but they don't have to get the groupings down correctly as it's one scorecard per player, so they can change groupings without having to worry about whether they need to re-do scorecards. They can prepare cards before the tournament begins for a multi-round event.
* This removes the need to cycle the card through the group every 4, 5, or 6 holes, and eliminates any possibility of being disadvantaged by having "the" card on certain holes - everyone has a card all the time.
I can't really think of too many cons - I suppose having to buy more cards is one (but they're just paper, so… that's not exactly a big con), and perhaps some players like not having to keep score for 12 or 14 holes or whatever, but it's their responsibility, so again not a big con.
So, why is this done this way? Or is it not done this way most of the time? Am I missing something, or is this possibly something that could change for the better?
* Regarding stroke shaving when a player has the group's scorecard, I'm not saying this occurs with regularity, particularly at higher level events in the final rounds, but it could have easily happened in the MA1 or MA2 divisions of the A-Tier in which I played. Nobody really seems to pay much attention to what other players are shooting and they won't remember at the end of the round, nor do they check the hole scores of the other players at the end of the round.
In the A-Tier, a player on my card during the second round lost his card during the first round on the 17th hole and they were all sweating bullets. Fortunately someone else turned it in for them, but they'd have been out of luck otherwise.
I posted this on DGCR as well. (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2192325) Responses seem to agree (though not strongly as this issue isn't exactly HUGE, just a small thing that could be improved) overall, so I decided to post it here.
P.S. To board administrators, the LIST functionality appears to be broken. Your stylesheets are preventing the list from displaying properly as the HTML is there for an unordered list.