Thread: Scoretracker - Important information

In this thread I will try to explain as much as I can about how the scoretracker works as well as explain all the different terminology.

Tees explanation
Make sure to select the correct tee when entering your scores. Since some courses have 27 or 36 holes and some have a dual green system, there are quite a few options to choose from for certain courses! In the example, you can see all the possible hole combinations for the Kanozan CC in Chiba (27 hole course).



I’ve attempted to simplify the tee names so for many courses the following system is in place:
Champion=Black Tee
Back=Blue Tee
Regular= White Tee
Ladies=Red Tee
Senior=Gold Tee

Advanced stats explanation
Fairways Hit (FIR/Fairways in Regulation)
If your tee shot on par 4’s and 5’s comes to a stop on the fairway of that hole then you should count it as a fairway hit. If you’re in the rough, a bunker etc. it obviously doesn’t count. FIR is not calculated for par 3's because they don't technically have fairways.

G.I.R (Greens in Regulation)
If your ball comes to a stop on the putting surface in 2 strokes or less than par (e.g. your second shot on a par 4) then you have hit the green in regulation. Note: If you are on the green in two shots on a par 5 or one shot on a par 4 then these also count as successful GIR's.

Scrambling
If you miss a green in regulation but still par the hole then this is counted as a successful scramble. For v1 of the scoretracker, I decided to not separate Up and downs and Sand saves so if you land in a greenside bunker and still save par then this is classed as a successful scramble. I know some people might have wanted the 2 stats separate but in terms of the cost and time it took to set this up, I had to make some decisions on what to and what not to include.

Putting
Any stroke made on the green is classed as a putt. If you use your putter from the fringe of the green or the fairway, it is not counted as a putt. However, if you putt with your 5 iron on the green, it is counted as a putt. In short, a stroke made on the green is counted as a putt. Any stroke made off the green is not counted as a putt.

Penalty strokes
Usually, if you put your ball in a water hazard, it counts as one penalty stroke. OB’s and lost balls count as 2 penalty strokes. In Japan, many courses have 1-penalty areas (yellow markers) which of course, count as one penalty. And if you hit the ball OB from the tee and use the Yellow play-4 tees then that counts as 2 penalty strokes.

Handicap calculation
When you first start using the scoretracker, you are giving the option to enter a starting handicap. It’s up to you whether you enter a beginning handicap or not. If you already have an official handicap or have a good idea of your handicap then by all means, please enter one.
Rounds 1-9: For the first 9 rounds that you enter into the system, the handicap is calculated as a simple average. Until you have entered 10+ rounds, please consider your handicap as provisional.

Example:
Starting handicap: 18
Round 1: 90 (18+)

Round 2: 92 (20+)
Round 3: 93 (21+)
Round 4: 93 (21+)

Handicap after round 4= 18+18+20+21+21/5=19.6

Starting handicap: No Handicap entered
Round 1: 90 (18+)

Round 2: 92 (20+)
Round 3: 93 (21+)
Round 4: 93 (21+)

Handicap after round 4= 18+20+21+21/4=20

Important note:
From round 10 onwards, your handicap will be calculated from the best 5 rounds from your last 10 rounds. The JGA handicap system is based around this principle. The JGA calculation is more complex than the scoretracker system, however, in the tests I've carried out the margin for error is actually quite small.

Example:
Round 1: 90 (18+)

Round 2: 92 (20+)
Round 3: 93 (21+)
Round 4: 93 (21+)
Round 5: 88 (16+)

Round 6: 97 (25+)
Round 7: 93 (21+)
Round 8: 89 (17+)
Round 9: 90 (18+)

Round 10: 96 (24+)

Best 5 rounds in bold.

Handicap after 10 rounds: 18+20+16+17+18/5=17.8

Round 1: 90 (18+)

Round 2: 92 (20+)
Round 3: 93 (21+)
Round 4: 93 (21+)
Round 5: 88 (16+)

Round 6: 97 (25+)
Round 7: 93 (21+)
Round 8: 89 (17+)
Round 9: 90 (18+)

Round 10: 96 (24+)
Round 11: 92 (22+)

Best 5 rounds in bold. Note, round 1 is no longer applicable for calculating the handicap.

Handicap after 11 rounds: 20+21+16+17+18/5=18.4

Round 1: 90 (18+)

Round 2: 92 (20+)
Round 3: 93 (21+)
Round 4: 93 (21+)
Round 5: 88 (16+)

Round 6: 97 (25+)
Round 7: 93 (21+)
Round 8: 89 (17+)
Round 9: 90 (18+)

Round 10: 96 (24+)
Round 11: 92 (22+)
Round 12: 87 (15+)

Best 5 rounds in bold. Note, rounds 1 & 2 are no longer applicable for calculating the handicap.

Handicap after 12 rounds: 21+16+17+18+15/5=17.4

Is the above handicap system perfect? No, it’s not. The calculations are not as complex as the JGA system however, the results are not far off. Think of it as a GGA handicap.

Example:
I input my last 20 rounds into the system and came out with these results:
Current handicap: 12
Best handicap: 11.6

My current and official JGA handicap is 12.3 and the lowest rating last year was 11.4. So for all the fancy extra calculations of the JGA system, the GGA one seems to give very similar results. Obviously, I need a tad more empirical evidence to back this claim up so let's see if it holds true in a few months time

The reasons why this system doesn’t exactly follow the JGA system are as follows:
1. It would have been too time consuming and expensive to copy that system exactly. Maybe in the future it will be possible but not right now.
2. Even if this system was exactly the same as the JGA system, we couldn’t call it an official JGA system
3. There are many good golf courses around that don’t have JGA ratings.
4. A lot of our members play the base courses (Tama Hills, Zama & Atsugi) and these courses have USGA ratings

Leaderboards
At the top of the scoretracker homepage, you’ll see there are 6 leaderboards:
Best Gross Score, Best Net Score, Putts Per Round, Fairways Hit, Greens in Regulation and Scrambling.

As you enter your stats, you may see your name on one or a few of these leaderboards. Yes, for most of us, the only time we’re ever likely to see our names on a golf leaderboard!



Buddie leaderboards
There’s also an option for you to set up your own Buddie leaderboard so you can keep track and compare your results with your friends or co-workers.

No sandbagging
Please be honest when using the system. Enter all your scores and stats truthfully and the system will help you analyse and track your progress. Admin reserves the right to delete any scores/stats which it suspects are false.