Ratings & Divisions

[CEValkyrie]

http://www.pdga.com/documents/td/06PlayerDivisionsGridFinal.pdf


I have contacted the PDGA about a few issues concerning ratings and bumping up divisions. Plans have not been finalized yet for 2007 but they are looking into setting a certain number of rated rounds to determine what division a player has to play.

For example. We have had several players over the last year play 915 golf or above during their first sanctioned event. They have received a rating off this event and have to play Advanced until the next ratings update. So if the PDGA starts this rule in 2007 a player rated above 915 off 2 rounds would continue to play Intermediate or Rec until they have 4 rated rounds.

I really think this is fair. I remember my first 2 rated rounds had an average of 951 and my first rating was 951. I was defintely not a 951 rated player at the time. I came back to earth when the next update came out and I was rated 917. It didn't allow me to play intermediate but in many cases it will.

I was also informed that they were not at this point looking to update ratings more frequently or looking to update ratings as TD reports come in. They are going to stick to the same time frame at this point.

[INNOVAtion]

Speaking of ratings, I have a question. I'm new to the whole tournement scene, and I'll be playing in my first tourney on sunday. I was just wondering how to figure out the rating of a player or a round that the player shoots.

[Jon Brakel]

Speaking of ratings, I have a question. I'm new to the whole tournement scene, and I'll be playing in my first tourney on sunday. I was just wondering how to figure out the rating of a player or a round that the player shoots.

The PDGA calculates the ratings of PDGA members. Non-members do not have a rating. If you are a non-member you could look at the published ratings for an event and then find someone who shot the same round score as you and see what rating they received for that round.

[can't putt]

In general, I know how ratings are calculated, but I have a couple of questions:

1.) For each 12 month period, the most recent 25% of rated rounds are counted double.  Is that 25% figure rounded up or down?  In other words, if one has 10 rated rounds, are the most recent two doubled or the most recent three?  If one has only two rated rounds, is one doubled (I think so)?

2.) Scores lower than 2-1/2 standard deviations from one's average are not counted.  Does the "average" used include the doubled rounds?  If one has 8 rated rounds, is the average calculated on those 8 rounds, or on 10 rounds after doubling the most recent 2?

[Bruce Brakel]

Ratings are calculated by calculating the average rating of the propagators and the average score of the propagators.  From that they figure out whether it was a hard or easy course which determines how many ratings point are awarded or subtracted from the average for scores higher or lower than the average. 

When they decide whether to drop rounds, the decision is based on your current rating before new rounds are factored in, so it would include the doubling of the former most recent 25%.  The 25% is rounded up to include the fractional round. 

[tacimala]

For example. We have had several players over the last year play 915 golf or above during their first sanctioned event. They have received a rating off this event and have to play Advanced until the next ratings update. So if the PDGA starts this rule in 2007 a player rated above 915 off 2 rounds would continue to play Intermediate or Rec until they have 4 rated rounds.

I really think this is fair. I remember my first 2 rated rounds had an average of 951 and my first rating was 951. I was defintely not a 951 rated player at the time. I came back to earth when the next update came out and I was rated 917. It didn't allow me to play intermediate but in many cases it will.

Oddly enough the same thing happened to me. My first event was a 945 rated and I have been there since June until next week when the new ratings come out. Some tournies allowed me to play AM2 and some bumped me up. I'm interested in seeing how adding 18-20 more rounds will affect it all.

[can't putt]

When they decide whether to drop rounds, the decision is based on your current rating before new rounds are factored in, so it would include the doubling of the former most recent 25%.  The 25% is rounded up to include the fractional round. 

Thanks, Bruce, but after new rounds are factored in don't they then drop previous rounds that may have fallen below the threshold?

[Bruce Brakel]

My understanding was that the dropping of rounds only happens to new rounds before they go into your rating.  I don't think rounds get dropped retroactively, or that included rounds are dropped later on if your rating goes up.

I could be wrong.  All I know is that they have tried to make the formula complicated enough so that no one without access to the formula would know exactly how it works.  They've succeeded in that!   

[can't putt]

All I know is that they have tried to make the formula complicated enough so that no one without access to the formula would know exactly how it works.

I thought your comment was tongue-in-cheek until I found this thread on the PDGA site: Ratings and Std Deviation

From the thread: "You can't calculate it precisely because your ratings are maintained in the data file as "differential per hole" (DPH) values for each round. You see your DPH values converted to round ratings but there's some rounding involved. The standard deviation is actually calculated using your DPH values so it's possible you'll be off by a point or two using the published round ratings in regard to whether a round ends up getting dropped or not." and "Even the PDGA and I don't have [access to the player scores database]. Roger is the man." -- Chuck Kennedy

wtf?

[UMphreak]

Why are the ratings not updated?

[tacimala]

On the PDGA forums Chuck Kennedy said "Some additional corrections must be made so we're waiting for a fourth pass to be run. Posting will be late afternoon at the earliest."

It's on the 9th page of this thread.

[Bruce Brakel]

Basically, they have to keep tweaking the result until either Barry or Kenny has the highest rating.   

Seriously, one time last year the ratings were delayed because the dude with the highest rating was someone no one had ever heard of who was not sponsored by anyone.  So they had to go find some rounds he played BEFORE HE WAS A MEMBER in order to lower his rating. 

[pickax]

This really shouldn't be such a manual process. No wonder they don't want to do it more often.

[Bruce Brakel]

A lot of the manual process is created by TDs who run different divisions on different tees at one event and then don't properly fill in the TD report.  There are quality control mechanisms in the process that identify anomolous tournaments, like ones where the lower divisions shoot 50 points over their rating and the upper divisions 50 points under.  So they run the program and it tells them there might be a problem here and then they have to get in touch with the TD and confirm that certain divisions shot different tees or played a different course or played fewer holes.

[Bruce Brakel]

Some of the manual process is in developing regions that don't have enough gators.  It takes gators to make gators, as they say down on the bayou, so for some tournaments the PDGA will try to calculate an SSA on insufficient information to generate ratings to create gators from the mud itself.  That is a manual process too.

[DiscGolfSchodt]

RATINGS ARE UP

[mirth]

me dumb, see next post.

[mirth]

woah, wtf. I went up!?

[Bruce Brakel]

Oh, yeah, baby! 943!!! 

[stpitner]

I knew that my 842 rating was going to tank... I was just hoping that I would still be at least 800.

My new rating... 800, woohoo! lol.

AM IV ALL THE WAY!!!