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Hole and Course Performance Statistics

Well, we could have higher scoring holes without more land, if we just used much smaller baskets. But I'm not about to mention that, and be responsible for what may follow.
 
Now we'll get into the results of head-to-head comparisons. Each round was compared to every other round, based on the set of players who played both rounds.

One comparison was the scores that players took during each round. After all rounds were compared, I solved for factors which would reproduce the total scores. This Score Factor is a power rating for ability to generate high scores. These factors ranged from .77 to 1.45, with 1 being average. I multiplied them by 59 just to get scores that are more intuitive.

The lowest scoring course was Nelson Park Disc Golf Course - Default Layout; 18 holes; Par 55; 5,906 ft. at Forsyth Decatur Open (rd2) at 2.56 throws per hole.

The highest scoring course was Northwood Black - Black; 18 holes; Par 68; 10,499 ft. at DGPT - Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open presented by GRIPeq (rd2) at 4.11 throws per hole.

Here is how the power ratings compared to SSA.

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The red dots are courses with more than 18 holes.

Thankfully, these two methods of measuring scores match pretty well. The vertical series of dots for a single SSA represent cases where rounds were combined for ratings purposes.

Many courses were used for more than one round. Ideally, the score factors would be similar - even if a different division played the course.

Here is how the score factors compared to another round played on the same course.

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These are about 95% correlated, which probably reflects statistical variation, changing weather, and errors in labeling courses.
 

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Next, we move on to the real reason I was looking at all these rounds. To see if we could identify the better courses by comparing how large of a scoring spread they created compared to all the other courses that hosted the same players.

The result of the calculation is a kind of power rating which reproduces the total information content generated by each round.

Here are the top ten and bottom ten rounds, in terms of how much information they generated:

1.155 = Unknown Course at Swedish Championships (rd3)
1.145 = Old Post Park Disc Golf Course - Ladies Rd3; 18 holes; Par 62; 7,975 ft. at The Vintage Open a DGPT Silver Series Event (rd3)
1.112 = Kalhyttans DiscGolfBana - Heatland Open 2021 masters layout; 18 holes; Par 60; 2,201 m; 7,221 ft. at Heatland Open presented by Discmania (rd1)
1.104 = Unknown Course at Swedish Championships (rd2)
1.095 = Emporia Country Club - ECC Shorts; 18 holes; Par 67; 9,193 ft. at Dynamic Discs Open - National Tour (rd3)
1.093 = Iron Hill - FPO; 18 holes; Par 70; 9,050 ft. at Delaware Disc Golf Challenge - National Tour - Driven by Innova (rd1)
1.093 = Emporia Country Club - ECC Shorts; 18 holes; Par 67; 9,193 ft. at Dynamic Discs Open - National Tour (finals)
1.093 = Goat Hill Park - The Challenge 2020 - FPO; 18 holes; Par 67; 8,973 ft. at The Challenge @ Goat Hill Park - A DGPT Silver Series Event - Presented by Innova (MPO/FPO only) (rd2)
1.089 = Northwood Black - Black; 18 holes; Par 68; 10,499 ft. at DGPT - Discraft Ledgestone Insurance Open presented by GRIPeq (rd2)
1.088 = Idlewild - Idlewild Open 2021 FPO; 18 holes; Par 67; 8,786 ft. at DGPT - Idlewild Open presented by Dynamic Discs & The Nati (rd3)
...
0.897 = Hiestand Park - Hiestand Park 2021 Mad City Open Long Layout; 18 holes; Par 54; 6,300 ft. at Mad City Open (rd1)
0.896 = Devil's Glen Disc Golf Course - Devils; 18 holes; Par 63; 6,143 ft. at The Rumble Presented by Iron Lion Disc Golf Supply (rd2)
0.891 = Camden Park 2 - Cam 2 Rd3; 18 holes; Par 62; 6,904 ft. at The Rumble Presented by Iron Lion Disc Golf Supply (rd3)
0.887 = Wickham Park Disc Golf Course - GHDGO - All Pro; 18 holes; Par 63; 9,033 ft. at Greater Hartford Disc Golf Open presented by No Worries Brewing Company (rd3)
0.876 = Cedar Creek East - Cedar Creek East; 18 holes; Par 56; 4,805 ft. at Cedar Creek Open (rd1)
0.875 = Lindsey Park - Blue Hickory - Hickory Long; 18 holes; Par 58; 7,161 ft. at Dynamic Discs Presents the Piney Woods Open - GDC $5K/$10K Event (rd2)
0.870 = Nelson Park Disc Golf Course - Default Layout; 18 holes; Par 55; 5,906 ft. at Forsyth Decatur Open (rd2)
0.864 = Iron Hill - FPO; 18 holes; Par 70; 9,050 ft. at Delaware Disc Golf Challenge - National Tour - Driven by Innova (rd2)
0.803 = Blackhawk - Black X; 18 holes; Par 61; 7,556 ft. at Farmers Insurance Oklahoma Open (rd3)
0.763 = Old Post Park Disc Golf Course - Ladies Rd2; 18 holes; Par 62; 7,975 ft. at The Vintage Open a DGPT Silver Series Event (rd2)
 
Hmmm. It seems that "Old Post Park Disc Golf Course - Ladies" appears near the top of the list, as well as at the bottom of the list.

Uh-oh.

Well, maybe the weather changed or the course was mislabeled.

We would expect that the higher-scoring the course, the more information it could generate. Here is the information factor compared to the score factor.

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Well, that doesn't look like much. Let's test whether we are measuring something intrinsic to the course. If we are, courses that were used more than once should generate similar values from round to round.

Here is how the information factor on one round compares to the information factor for the next round on the same course.

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Nothing.

OK, so it appears that we cannot measure the effectiveness of courses by looking at the information value contained in the total scores (scoring spread). Or, if we could, it would take a lot more data. These are courses that shared at least 10 players with at least 10 other rounds.
 

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Here is a little more progress on measuring how well a course fits the players that played it.

I looked at the three courses at LVC because these were created to test the best, but all divisions at both the DGPT and A-Tier events played all the courses.

The following chart shows what we would expect: the fitness is best for the highest rated players, and the biggest groups of players were rated about 925.

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Which means, for most players the courses should be easier to make a better fit. For example, Innova would need to be 4,026 feet shorter (or 4,974 feet) to be the best fit for the most typical player.

We can also compute the ideal course lengths for FPO: Factory = 6,487 (<9,000), Infinite = 5,085 (<7,115), Innova = 6,058 (<8,823). Or, about 70% of the length for MPO.
 

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Here's an interesting thing to do. For W.R. Jackson, let's find out how the FPO course would need to be modified to generate the same average scores as the MPO course did.

The average total score of the FPO field was 71.30 vs. 64.11 for MPO.

Fitting a line to the scores as a function of length tells us the FPO scores go up by one throw for every 237 feet of extra length.

So, the course would need to be 1,706 shorter (7,593 feet) for FPO to get a similar experience to MPO.

Since a lot of people won't see that fact as having any importance, let's look at changing the MPO course. (Now you're interested, right?)

MPO scores go up by one throw per 292 feet. For the MPO field to average as high as the FPO field did, the course would need to be lengthened by 2,100 feet to 12,585 feet.

What if MPO had to face a 12,585 foot wooded course that averages 71 throws? Would that be tolerable?
 
What if MPO had to face a 12,585 foot wooded course that averages 71 throws? Would that be tolerable?

What do they average at Northwoods Black? It is considerably shorter but I am guessing the average is in that range. A course 2000 feet longer with the same average scores would be much easier on a per shot basis. Isn't average a bad metric anyway? Wouldn't SSA be more useful?

As to the women in Georgia- par was 965 rated so only the best of them are going to shoot par on any semi-regular basis. Is that too difficult? Once or twice a year- probably not, on a regular basis it may be.
 
What do they average at Northwoods Black? It is considerably shorter but I am guessing the average is in that range. A course 2000 feet longer with the same average scores would be much easier on a per shot basis. Isn't average a bad metric anyway? Wouldn't SSA be more useful?

As to the women in Georgia- par was 965 rated so only the best of them are going to shoot par on any semi-regular basis. Is that too difficult? Once or twice a year- probably not, on a regular basis it may be.
If the goal for MPO is for par to hover near SSA (1000), then the equivalent goal for FPO par would be FSA (930). So, the course was tougher for FPO at 965 on a comparable basis to MPO in this case.
 
If the goal for MPO is for par to hover near SSA (1000), then the equivalent goal for FPO par would be FSA (930). So, the course was tougher for FPO at 965 on a comparable basis to MPO in this case.

I don't doubt that but every course is going to differ (as they should)- I took the gist of Steve"s question as "was the women's course too hard?" I don't necessarily believe it was.
 
If the goal for MPO is for par to hover near SSA (1000), then the equivalent goal for FPO par would be FSA (930). So, the course was tougher for FPO at 965 on a comparable basis to MPO in this case.

You got the ratings right, but the goal isn't to hover near any rating. (Though that wouldn't be a bad goal.) The relationship between par and SSA depends on how much punishment the course dishes out. For that reason, they can part ways.

If par had been set per the guidelines, both FPO and MPO would have used par 66: (#18 would be par 4 for both, and #14 for MPO and #8 for FPO would have been par 4. #8 for FPO was on the cusp, and par 5 is justifiable for that one.)

In that sense, the course could be considered equally hard for both. However, that's not the whole story. Two things made the course relatively harder for the FPO players who showed up to play.

For one thing, almost all the MPO pars were on the soft side, while half the FPO pars were on the hard side. This made the course almost 4 throws easier relative to par for a 1000-rated MPO player than for a 930-rated FPO player. Another way to look at this is that with guideline par, a 930-rated FPO player would get 8% birdies, while a 1000-rated MPO player would get 23% birdies.

For another, about one-thrid of the FPO field was rated below 930, while only 3% of the MPO field was rated below 1000.

So, for the FPO field that showed up, the FPO course was tougher than the MPO course was for the MPO field that showed up.

Shouldn't the FPO field get to play on holes that have pars as relatively soft as MPO's?

If we can't find 40 FPO players who are rated high enough to be Premier Pros, should we make the course easier to allow those under-930 rated FPO players to have the same experience as the bottom third of the MPO field?
 
I don't doubt that but every course is going to differ (as they should)- I took the gist of Steve"s question as "was the women's course too hard?" I don't necessarily believe it was.
The metric that players and spectators glom onto is clearly birdie count and shots under par versus ratings, which shouldn't be surprising. However, designers know that par is an unreliable indicator of course difficulty when you consider that a par 60 course can theoretically have an SSA that ranges from 51 to 69 if the designer goes to the extremes of all holes being easy birdies to all holes being tough pars. So, in order to cater to the audience relying on birdie count and over/under par as their metric, designers/TDs should set up the MPO/FPO courses so they are about 70 rating points apart. This way, the total par for both courses can be set the same such that -3 on the FPO layout will automatically mean roughly the same as -3 on the MPO layout and the top scores under par in MPO and FPO should be similar.
 
Since there are several methods to determine par, what method was used to determine par at Jackson for MPO and FPO? Was MPO the par on the signs that the course designer set?

As the director, did Robert Leonard/ MTL have the final say on the pars for MPO and FPO?
 
Since there are several methods to determine par, what method was used to determine par at Jackson for MPO and FPO? Was MPO the par on the signs that the course designer set?

As the director, did Robert Leonard/ MTL have the final say on the pars for MPO and FPO?

Yes, the TD has final say on the pars for any event. I don't know how he set them. I would guess tee sign pars. Which would not be a bad way to do it in this case because the course was designed to be Gold level.
 
Milo East 2022

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The Australian Disc Golf Championships 2022 provided an opportunity to see what happens when a wide range of players all play the same course.

Looking at this, we see that the course was optimal for ratings around 930, and that is where the bulk of the players were.

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To see what "optimal" means, the graph below shows the scoring distributions for 930- and 700-rated players.

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I'm just going to throw this out here, because I don't want to do the math to see how much of this might be due to random fluctuations.

The first number is the difference between the average score of a 1000-rated player compared to the average score of a 1020-rated player. The second number is the average score of 1000-rated players (not exactly SSA, but very close).

These are all the events in 2020 that had at least 20 rounds of data from both 1000- and 1020-rated players.

Code:
1000-1020 / 1000 Score / Course
4.19  73.94  2022 DGPT - Dynamic Discs Open | Emporia Country Club - ECC - 2022 MPO; 18 holes; Par 65; 10,977 ft.  
4.00  67.66  2022 United States Disc Golf Championship & Throw Pink Women's Disc Golf Championship | Winthrop University Rec. Area - USDGC-(All Rds); 18 holes; Par 64; 9,819.5 ft.  
3.78  69.72  2022 DGPT - OTB Open presented by MVP Disc Sports | Swenson Park Disc Golf Course - OTB Open AM - Blue; 18 holes; Par 66; 11,727 ft.  
3.68  70.99  2022 Knowledge Management presents the Lake Marshall Open powered by Prodigy | Lake Marshall - The Lions - Lions Blue Silver Series; 18 holes; Par 71; 11,613 ft.  
3.49  64.54  2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships Presented by Dynamic Discs | Supreme 18 at Jones Park/Jones MPO 
3.40  66.00  2022 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships Presented by Dynamic Discs | Emporia Country Club/ECC MPO 
3.36  72.89  2022 Discraft's Ledgestone Open | Northwood Black/Northwood Black, Par 68, 10499 ft 
3.32  65.60  2022 Discraft's Ledgestone Open | Eureka Temp - Eureka Temp; 18 holes; Par 63; 9,665 ft.  
3.32  65.25  ET#8 - PCS Sula Open 2022 - Presented by Innova | Langevåg Frisbeegolfarena - PCS Sula open 2022 Langevåg MPO; 18 holes; Par 62; 2,499 m  = 8,199 ft 
3.27  59.33  2022 DGPT - Las Vegas Challenge presented by Innova | Wildhorse Golf Club - Afternoon - 2022 LVC Course Innova Men; 18 holes; Par 61; 8,823 ft.  
3.26  66.98  2022 Mid America Open DGPT Silver Series presented by Discraft | Harmony Bends Disc Golf at Strawn Park - Blue to Gold Pins; 18 holes; Par 68; 9,603 ft.  
3.20  64.49  2022 (DGPT Silver) The New World Championship presented by Dynamic Discs | New World Disc Golf at Cecil Field - New World Championship MPO; 18 holes; Par 65; 10,309 ft.  
3.18  64.51  2022 DGPT - Play It Again Sports Jonesboro Open powered by Prodigy | Disc Side of Heaven - Champ Course - MPO; 18 holes; Par 64; 9,995 ft.  
3.15  67.18  2022 PDGA Champions Cup Presented by Bushnell | WR Jackson Memorial/Champions Cup Long MPO 
3.12  66.31  2022 DGPT - Portland Open presented by Dynamic Discs | Glendoveer MPO - 2022 DGPT PDXO; 18 holes; Par 66; 11,260 ft.  
3.02  63.89  2022 DGPT Playoffs - Discraft's Green Mountain Championship | Smugglers Notch Disc Golf Center - Fox Run - DGPT Playoffs - Fox Run MPO; 18 holes; Par 63; 9,496 ft.  
3.01  64.56  2022 The Challenge @ Goat Hill Park - Presented by Innova | Goat Hill Park - MPO Layout for The Challenge - 2022; 18 holes; Par 68; 11,664 ft.  
3.00  63.74  2022 ET#6 - Nokia Open | Nokia Open 2022 layout
2.94  69.55  2022 DGPT - LWS Open at Idlewild presented by Dynamic Discs & The Nati | Idlewild - LWS Open 2022 MPO; 18 holes; Par 69; 9,709 ft.  
2.91  64.36  2022 DGPT - The Preserve Championship designed by Leiviska Disc Golf | Airborn Disc Golf Preserve - DGPT Black Bear MPO; 18 holes; Par 66; 10,896 ft.  
2.86  60.26  2022 Memorial Championship presented by Discraft | Vista del Camino Park - PRO MEN-Vista XL 2022; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,596 ft.  
2.86  66.16  2022 DGPT - Portland Open presented by Dynamic Discs | Blue Lake Disc Golf - 2022 DGPT Portland Open - MPO; 18 holes; Par 66; 10,220 ft.  
2.84  59.75  2022 DGPT Playoffs - Discraft's Green Mountain Championship | Smugglers Notch Disc Golf Center - Brewster Ridge - DGPT Playoffs - Brewster MPO; 18 holes; Par 61; 7,997 ft.  
2.84  59.16  Discraft presents the 2022 Beaver State Fling sponsored by Resistance Discs—DGPT Silver Series | Riverbend Disc Golf at Milo McIver State Park - Milo West MPO; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,681 ft.  
2.81  63.42  2022 DGPT - The TruBank Des Moines Challenge presented by Discraft | Pickard Park - Pickard Gold ; 18 holes; Par 64; 9,626 ft.  
2.79  64.03  2022 DGPT - 27th Annual Texas State Disc Golf Championship Presented by Latitude 64 | Thorn Long; 18 holes; Par 63; 9,772 ft.  
2.79  53.80  2022 River City Open presented by Discraft - Pro | Earl W. Brewer Park - Gold Tees (MPO); 18 holes; Par 61; 8,279 ft.  
2.79  59.43  2022 DGPT - Las Vegas Challenge presented by Innova | Wildhorse Golf Club - Afternoon - 2022 LVC Course Factory Men; 18 holes; Par 61; 9,000 ft.  
2.74  63.47  2022 European Open presented by Discmania | Nokia Disc Golf Park - European Open 2022; 18 holes; Par 63; 2,771 m = 9,093 ft 
2.73  58.09  2022 Santa Cruz Masters Cup (DGPT Silver Series) Presented by Innova Discs | DeLaveaga Golf Course - MPO Layout; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,631 ft.  
2.62  59.27  2022 Gatekeeper Media presents The 303 Open sponsored by Discmania | Ultra DiscGolfPark - Anheuser-Busch Biergarten - 303 MPO/MP40; 18 holes; Par 63; 9,169 ft.  
2.62  64.22  2022 DGPT - Waco Annual Charity Open presented by Prodigy Disc | Brazos Park East - Championship Layout MPO; 18 holes; Par 63; 7,990 ft.  
2.56  70.36  2022 DGPT - Dynamic Discs Open | Supreme 18 at Jones Park - Supreme 18 - 2022 MPO; 18 holes; Par 65; 10,762 ft.  
2.53  59.96  2022 Brent Hambrick Memorial Open | Brent Hambrick Memorial Disc Golf Course at Hoover Dam - Gold; 18 holes; Par 63; 8,190 ft.  
2.49  62.88  Prodigy Disc Pro Tour 2022 - Heinola | Kippasuo DiscGolfPark - PRO - Championship layout; 18 holes; Par 64; 2,827 m  
2.47  63.15  2022 MadeFirst presents the Dynamic Discs Music City Open - DGPT Silver Series | Mill Ridge Park - 2022 MCO Mill Ridge MPO; 18 holes; Par 64; 9,292 ft.  
2.43  53.00  2022 Memorial Championship presented by Discraft | Fountain Hills Disc Golf Course - PRO MEN-Fountain Championship 2022; 18 holes; Par 56; 6,741 ft.  
2.42  61.81  The 2022 Open at Tallahassee - DGPT Silver Series Presented by Dynamic Discs | Tom Brown Park - MPO 2022; 18 holes; Par 62; 8,895 ft.  
2.41  57.14  2022 Shelly Sharpe Memorial presented by Spinners on the Green | Vista del Camino Park - PRO MEN-Vista XL 2022 Shelly; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,596 ft.  
2.38  63.12  ET#8 - PCS Sula Open 2022 - Presented by Innova | Øverås Diskgolfpark - PCS Sula open 2022 Øverås MPO; 18 holes; Par 61; 2,569 m  = 8,428 ft 
2.37  59.40  2022 Discraft presents THE OPEN at BELTON, a DGPT Silver Series Event | Heritage Park Belton - The Open Course MPO; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,212 ft.  
2.25  63.75  2022 DGPT - Discraft's Great Lakes Open | Toboggan MPO; 18 holes; Par 64; 10,763 ft.  
2.23  60.29  2022 Prodigy Disc Pro Tour Oulu | Pikkarala Frisbeegolf - Prodigy Disc Pro Tour Oulu 2022; 18 holes; Par 63; 2,663 m 
2.21  62.58  2022 DGPT - MVP Open at Maple Hill | Maple Hill - DGPT Playoffs - 2022 MVP Open Golds; 18 holes; Par 60; 8,577 ft.  
2.20  54.19  2022 DGPT - Las Vegas Challenge presented by Innova | Wildhorse Golf Club - Afternoon - 2022 LVC Course Infinite Men; 18 holes; Par 57; 7,115 ft.  
2.07  54.09  2022 Santa Cruz Masters Cup (DGPT Silver Series) Presented by Innova Discs | DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course - Silver Series Layout MPO; 18 holes; Par 54; 6,276 ft.  
1.96  59.82  Discraft presents the 2022 Beaver State Fling sponsored by Resistance Discs—DGPT Silver Series | Riverbend Disc Golf at Milo McIver State Park - Milo East MPO; 18 holes; Par 61; 8,696 ft.  
1.81  59.70  2022 EPT - Järva Open Powered by Prodigy | Järva Discgolf Park - EPT Järva Open 2022; 18 holes; Par 61; 2,632 m
 
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