Play and ratings difference seasonally

[gammaxgoblin]

I played the hardest course I've played yesterday, Pinchot Quaker's Challenge gold/long layout in real feel temps of 100-110 during peak foliage season. I looked at course pics on here today when there was snow on the ground and obviously no foliage. This course is considered heavily wooded with dense thicket natural OB/rough...get off the fairway and and a single stroke pitchout is hopefully an option. So we are talking almost 9000' of heavily wooded play with tight fairways and position shots being a necessity and jail off the fairway most of the time. What would you think the rating swing would be on this type of course when foliated versus not...I could see up to 50 points maybe at times. I don't know, just reflecting, and this may be the wrong forum for this post.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Oh my goodness, the rare occasion to tout the PDGA's course directory... This is really the one and ONLY reason I ever head over there, to be honest...

Quaker's Challenge at Pinchot State Park

Wooded course with good mix of elevation and fairway width/height. Length and challenging "greens" demand a well-rounded trick bag to shoot par 63. 1 of 2 courses on site.

www.pdga.com

If you click to the "Layouts" tab on the page, you'll get all of the sanctioned events played and their dates. When you click on the event you'll get a list of which divisions played which layout on the course each round. So you can go to the tournament results and know exactly what you're looking at for the purpose of ratings comps.

Sadly it looks like the most "wintry" you're going to get for THIS course is April... You might want to look at other similar courses you've played, and see if they've got events in both summer/winter modes.

 

[biscoe]

My uninformed guess is that the difference is considerably less than 50 points.

 

[Dcinmd]

Scores are so high at this course, a single stroke does not move the needle much. Last time I played there each stroke was a 6.5 rating point swing.

Curse that evil hole #1 and it's incline.

 

[Shallows]

I play this course pretty frequently and a quick glance at my UDisc history indicates about a six stroke swing from my August rounds to January rounds.

 

[sidewinder22]

I can't imagine it would score/rate that different seasonly due to foliage.

 

[Shallows]

anecdotally the ratings don't change though the score changes, just as weather variation between rounds may shift scores within a static ratings set.

 

[sidewinder22]

I play this course pretty frequently and a quick glance at my UDisc history indicates about a six stroke swing from my August rounds to January rounds.

Swings which way?

 

[Shallows]

Swings which way?

I average more strokes in august.

Foliage is definitely a factor but maybe some other factors: I play in January only on very good weather days, I'm practicing my putting more in the winter, I'm playing more solo rounds as opposed to drinking beers with buddies…

 

[gammaxgoblin]

good point about the stroke difference not equating to rating difference. using bad logic though 6 strokes difference at 7 points per stroke would be about 42, but everyone is affected. Guess it depends on maintenance schedule and timing of rounds with that also.

 

[sidewinder22]

I guess the more you are in the rough, the bigger the difference. I've played Quake in the summer(never winter), but don't think I've had more than 1-2 pitch outs a round, and don't think it would have made much difference without foliage.

I typically shoot a few shots worse on courses in winter due to not throwing as far.