DGPT: 2021 The Preserve Championship July 30-Aug 1

[BogeyNoMore]

He saw this game blowing up all the way back in 1967...

 

[txmxer]

I love it the tight race at the end, and I think that's a common view.

With that said, there's a way to design good courses where the low round is -4 or -5 and there's a tight race at the end (barring someone playing out of their mind). I'm not talking about a course where there are tons of 525' par 3s and 950' par 4s, but look at hole 4 this weekend. only 15% got birdie, most earned par, and a little over 15% earned bogey or worse. Hole 5 was even harder. A course with 18 holes similar to their scoring spread would make for some tight golf, but also force players to earn their bogeys rather than panic about missing out on the opportunity. There's a place for both types of courses, but currently we only have the "scores are too low" type of course. I'd love to see the yin to this courses yang, where the winning score is single digits under par.

The only thing I would say to this is I liked the variety of hole types.

 

[the_lung]

In terms of generating scoring spread of total scores for MPO, The Preserve Championship did OK. It came in 34th out of the 50 A-tier and above events I've looked at this year. Between Throw Down the Mountain and The Challenge @ Goat Hill Park.

FPO total course par was standard, but hole #5 could have had a higher par, and hole #11 a lower par.

MPO par was better this year, with only holes #7 and #18 having pars that were higher than standard.

Following are Performance Tracks.

Spoiler

Thanks Steve for another awesome analysis!!!

On that note, seems like it should be obvious now that if a course generates a good scoring spread and does what it is supposed to, then overall course par hardly makes a difference.

But when the course produces only "ok" scoring spread, currently at 34th and with the possibility of falling further back by the time all A-tier events are concluded later this year, AND produces silly under par scores, it's a problem.

When I watch a football game and the score is 69-63, intuitively something doesn't seem right. Same for a baseball or hockey game where a team wins 19-16. A pro golf event where different players shoot -15 or better each day would be mocked mercilessly. With the wind up on both Saturday and Sunday, they are fortunate that didn't happen this year.

Disc golf tournament layouts need to pass the red faced test. This one is a bad look for the sport:

 

[Steve West]

Thanks Steve for another awesome analysis!!!

On that note, seems like it should be obvious now that if a course generates a good scoring spread and does what it is supposed to, then overall course par hardly makes a difference. ...

You forgot to say: "at the end of the day". And use four exclamation points.

Yes, as far as who wins and how well the course sorts players, par has little effect. It's possible there is some psychological impact - especially if players adjust their play thinking that a 4 on #18 is gaining a throw on the competition.

But, there are plenty of other reasons for par to be accurate.

Accurate disc golf pars will still generate farther-under-par winning scores than golf, for two reasons:

We choose to use more birdie-heavy (even when par is correct) holes.

The difference between top players and scratch players is bigger in disc golf.​

 

[Ryan P.]

The only thing I would say to this is I liked the variety of hole types.

Does this mean you liked the variety of holes that are shaped differently, or the variety of scoring spreads on different holes? I understand your reply if what you mean is the second, but I don't understand if if what you mean is the first. There are a variety of ways to make good holes that are difficult and provide a fair scoring spread. Northwoods seems to be doing that this weekend.

 

[Ryan P.]

I think that hole would be neat if the ground along the ridge was built up as a sort of false front, make distance control more important.

Yeah that'd be great too. They'd need to maintain the grass at and behind the basket to ensure that hard shots skip/slide past. Maybe even plant some bushes/trees that grab discs just a few feet past the wall, provided said bush's root system won't impact the wall's integrity.