Just to take a guess at what Marty is referring to, you can have virtual tournaments in apps like 18birdies where you post rounds on your individual courses to an overall leaderboard. I think there are fancier systems that will also take into account things like course ratings to make the net scores with handicaps more accurate, but it’s still on the honor system for everyone to post a true score.
Got it. I couldn’t figure out how you would play the same course virtually. I thought maybe on a simulator.
coryO thats what I meant, the guys at Golficity have one each year and they use the 18birdies app for it. they use the Peoria system for scoring and figuring a handicap so everybody is evenly matched. they also get their sponsors to donate prizes which are given out like door prizes for participating and the tournament itself is just for bragging rights. not to steal their idea but maybe create something similar for this community, just a nice way to maybe win some prizes and a good excuse for a round of golf​:grin:
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Hogan had a tournament like this… you won a coin! He played his round at Northwood CC in Dallas, TX.
It would definitely be cool to see something on these lines.
Thus far, I’ve really enjoyed the tone and direction of the forum… It’s fun to be in a place where people are focused on the “How” to improve at golf…
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This sounds so fun. Maybe we could even do it monthly or quarterly. Even if it’s just like a few of us. Put up the details for the tournament and distance to be played. We can somehow come up with a pool of funds or something as the prize for top 1, 2, or 3. Could be fun. Lots to work out with details but we can figure it out.
Honestly, I’m wondering if we can come up with random “challenges” to encourage practice and participation…
I’m trying to think of a challenge that would be fair across all levels… maybe some sort of skills assessment and judge by improvement? Focus on actual skill improvement…
No idea how to calibrate a skills rating, though.
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Hmmm … thinking that everyone can putt (and putting seems to be one of the big topics here) … maybe one thing really simple could be a putting contest - post, eg., your # 3-putts / 1-putts / total putts…?
And maybe aggregate the tallies over (NN??) rounds…?
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Maybe 6, 12, 18 foot putts… three balls and how many strokes it takes to hole them?
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I like it, we can come up with a game a week. Make this week an 18 hole challenge. If your local putting green has six holes that’s easy because it would be three for each hole. If not then a combination of 18 holes from the three prescribed ranges. Might be the same hole six times but from different locations around the clock for that hole.post your total number of putts for each distance. Winner gets bragging right for the week.
Maybe next week a chipping challenge how many time can you get up and down. Same thing a 9 or 18 hole challenge from prescribed distances. And getting up and down. Maybe we can make a separate post for weekly winners. Then the names can get posted there and everyone can have there name scribed on the wall of winners. Heck that’s what we can call it.
Game ends on Sundays?
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No putting greens open in LA county due to COVID 
But the golf courses are? That is weird?
All part of the plan to prevent congregating in close proximity around the golf course. I feel like you could paint out some “zones” on the practice greens and tell the players only to use it after they check in 15 minutes before their tee time, but understandable that it’s not really worth the monitoring that would be required.
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That’s an idea, but… I was actually thinking just use the putting #s from your actual golfing rounds - and maybe split it into 9 and 18 hole categories for those (like myself) who seem to play 9 more often…?
Putts in a round isn’t a great assessment of actual putting…
My personal goal for a competition would be something that is repeatable and helps develop a skill. More to encourage people to practice than anything.
Things like:
10 putts from 8 feet. How many one putts?
10 balls at 20 feet, how many total strokes to hole them out?
Chipping ladder drill with a 30 foot target, how many balls?
Basically any short game game that’s been written about in a golf book! 
Aha, got it, thx!
Interesting idea - I’m trying to think of where I could set up practice stations like that … there may be one spot for me, but not sure enough people have access to similar places…?? TBD I guess.
I started a thread on it… Hopefully most people have access to a putting green, but I guess that might not be the case right now!
Could we add the handicap of the contributor, maybe as a range (hcp 0-5, 5-10, 10-15,15-20,20-25,25-30,30+) ? I think the level of a player impacts on how he/she looks at things and it helps to have an idea of the level of the player when reading and interpreting a reaction.
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That’s a pretty slippery slope IMO. I can understand wanting the context to help interpret responses, but it could easily turn into a badge of perceived expertise. In an open forum, I don’t think my opinion should be considered more valid as a single digit handicap. If the information is presented in a clear, evidence backed way then it should be considered valid, even if not something I personally agree with, regardless of how the presenter scores in a round.
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“That’s a pretty slippery slope IMO. I can understand wanting the context to help interpret responses, but it could easily turn into a badge of perceived expertise. In an open forum, I don’t think my opinion should be considered more valid as a single digit handicap. If the information is presented in a clear, evidence backed way then it should be considered valid, even if not something I personally agree with, regardless of how the presenter scores in a round.”
^^ Excellent response, thank you.
This is not about being more or less expert, but responses vary between a single handicap player and a high handicap player. Giving an indication of handicap could help to better position the reply. I think this is most relevant for some elements like what improvement drills to focus on and less for others such as food during a round.