Ratings & Divisions

[Bruce Brakel]

This is how tough the competition is in michigan: in Illinois 943 would be the highest rated Am Master that I saw on the list.  In Michigan there are at least six other higher rated Am Masters, including three above 960.

[Bruce Brakel]

Jon is barely holding on as the second highest rated Brakel.  Diana "consolidated" her position as an Advanced woman.  Kelsey suffered from a little "profit taking."    

[SIUFrolf]

Finally broke into the 900s!!! let's hope I stay that way!! next goal 1000!!!! (check this post 5 years from now)

[Mukey]

Yeehaw! Still AM II rated! Now that I've stemmed the ratings bleed, let's see if I can shoot better golf. (Can't get MUCH worse)

[Bruce Brakel]

SIU: Set a more attainable goal!  

I'm on "page 2" for the first time ever in Michigan amateur ratings.  These guys are so good I don't even know any of them!    I mean, if i asked one of them to partner up for Pteam Pteradactyl Doubles they'd say, "Um, if I can't get a partner who isn't crippled and in a wheelchair, um, sure."  

Oof.  I'm going to have to start practicing just to maintain.

[mirth]

alright, whatever. apparently rockford I had a 904 and 887 rated round. too bad my 844 1st round in Kenosha didn't help to bring me down.

[pickax]

Yeah! I don't t think I'll be the lowest rated guy out on the IOS circuit anymore! There a good number of folk that are moving up. Both Ben and Marie have climbed a division.

[pickax]

It's too bad that manual tweaking process couldn't fix the Streamwood ratings for Sunday afternoon. 

[tacimala]

This is how tough the competition is in michigan: in Illinois 943 would be the highest rated Am Master that I saw on the list.  In Michigan there are at least six other higher rated Am Masters, including three above 960.

So Bruce, regarding the difference in competition between the two states, should I change my address to Chicago or keep it in Michigan in my best interest in qualifying for some of the big events next year? i.e. Am Worlds and Am Nationals

[can't putt]

Bruce (or anyone who knows), can you briefly explain "boost factor" and how it applies?  Evidently, "boost factor" was supposed to be eliminated this ratings period but was not due to time constraints.

Thanks.

[Bruce Brakel]

The "boost factor" is not the same thing as juice.  It used to be that they dropped your lowest three rounds of twenty regardless.  Now they only drop rounds that exceed a certain percentage of your average, something like two standard deviations from average.  This gave most players a lower rating, because three low but normal rounds now counted instead of getting dropped.  They figured they could even it out by giving everyone a boost of two or three rating points per tournament for about a year.  They were supposed to stop boosting this time, but they got too busy to rewrite the program. 

[Bruce Brakel]

This is how tough the competition is in michigan: in Illinois 943 would be the highest rated Am Master that I saw on the list.  In Michigan there are at least six other higher rated Am Masters, including three above 960.

So Bruce, regarding the difference in competition between the two states, should I change my address to Chicago or keep it in Michigan in my best interest in qualifying for some of the big events next year? i.e. Am Worlds and Am Nationals

For Am Worlds you might want to be in Michigan.  Illinois players have been knocking themselves out earning points, and they have been playing the IOSeries with 30 or 40 players in the main three am divisions at every tournament.  For Am Nationals you definately want to be in Illinois because if they do any qualifying state by state on ratings, which they might have to with the shorter time frame next year, you want to be in the state with lower rated advanced amateurs.  In Illinois, 940 guys go pro.  In Michigan, they just began winning prizes in advanced!   

[tacimala]

Haha well I guess I have to choose which event I most want to play then since I can't change my address to both! Looks like I will have to qualify for one based on points and get a berth for the other.

[CEValkyrie]

how do u figure its better to be in MI if you want to earn points?  7 of the top 14 point earning amateurs in the nation are from Illinois.  Michigan advanced fields are extremely small every time i look at the results for a B or C tier.  Here i'm used to playing in 40-50 player fields every weekend.

note:  this post was made by Dan Michler

[Jon Brakel]

how do u figure its better to be in MI if you want to earn points?  7 of the top 14 point earning amateurs in the nation are from Illinois.  Michigan advanced fields are extremely small every time i look at the results for a B or C tier.  Here i'm used to playing in 40-50 player fields every weekend.

note:  this post was made by Dan Michler

It's not better for the earning of points. The address is better for the qualification by points. Worlds invites are done by state. Illinois players will need to earn more points than a Michigan player because Illinois players have been busting butt to get points this year. So if your official PDGA address is in MI you will get an invite to worlds on fewer points.

[tacimala]

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.

Going back to this post, Chuck Kennedy posted the following today on the PDGA forums:
"For 2007, we are considering allowing players to play down if their very first rating is based on fewer than 4 rounds so we don't have the new guy/gal having to play Advanced due to a hot 2-round event on their home course. This would be indicated on the member list sent to TDs before events."

[Dan Michler]

how do u figure its better to be in MI if you want to earn points?  7 of the top 14 point earning amateurs in the nation are from Illinois.  Michigan advanced fields are extremely small every time i look at the results for a B or C tier.  Here i'm used to playing in 40-50 player fields every weekend.

note:  this post was made by Dan Michler

It's not better for the earning of points. The address is better for the qualification by points. Worlds invites are done by state. Illinois players will need to earn more points than a Michigan player because Illinois players have been busting butt to get points this year. So if your official PDGA address is in MI you will get an invite to worlds on fewer points.

alright i totally didn't get that, but in that case Michigan players do also get a whole bunch of points too.  Looking at the page for the top 50 point earners in Michigan, #50 has about 200 more points than IL's #50.  IL and MI are pretty much in a class of their own when it comes to that.  If you look at the top point earners in the nation list for Ams, its pretty much all MI and IL players at the top.

[Bruce Brakel]

Because Michigan has about 60% percent more advanced amateurs than Illinois, comparing 50th place to 50th place is not an apples to apples comparison.  You would need to compare 50th place Illinois to 80th place Michigan.  When you adjust the comparison for the size of the field, it looks like Illinois players are earning about 50% more points than Michigan players.  When the PDGA sets state-by-state qualification requirements, the Illinois player is going to need more points than the Michigan player to get into Worlds.  Since there is not much time left to earn points, Taylor would be better off with a Michigan address for Worlds.  But if he is going that route, he should see if maybe he knows someone in Montana or the Dakotas! 

But, if there is a significant ratings element to qualifying for Am Nationals, Illinois advanced amateurs are rated lower than Michigan.  Michigan has 60% more total advanced amateurs but it has 170% more advanced amateurs rated 955 and up and it has almost 100% more rated 940 and up.  This is because Michigan has 6 or 7 world class stay-at-home pros and a bunch more in the 990s.  Our pros are so good, people don't go pro so early.  So if ratings play a factor in how Todd does invites for Am Nationals next year, a 940 rating looks a lot better in Illinois than in Michigan. 

This year ratings did not qualify many players for USADGC, five from every state who were not otherwise qualified.  Next year it won't be a fixed number but a percentage, because qualifying five from Alaska meant that they unwittingly qualified a 749 rated woman.  One year everyone rated over 935 qualified.  They might have to go back to something like that because of the short time frames to qualify players next year.  If they pick a fixed number, one state is as good as another.  If they pick a percent of the field, the same percent goes to a lower number in Illinois.

For either, the best strategy is a post office box in North Dakota or maybe Guam.

[SERG]

Are X-Tiers rated? If a tournament is an XB-Tier do you get a rating or just points?

For example, the Pickle Open was an XB tier and was not factored into the ratings.

[tacimala]

You just get points for sanctioned doubles events