Why not use color code?

[craftsman]

I'm thinking the thread(although I wasn't sure at first) is about color coding an entire course based on the difficulty as a whole....like making a beginners course blue, advanced white...etc.......But don't most places label courses as beginner courses, or intermediate courses?

Yes and no. Yes that was my intention. No, not around here. It's just kinda common knowledge for beginner, it's after that where it gets a lil blurred.

 

[tmahan]

I'm colorblind (red-green like most of the colorblind population) and it's only red and green, not red white and blue that are problems, and really is only an issue for subtle shades of green and brown. And for those subtle shades, I know if I think it's green it's really brown, and vice versa. Colorblind is not an issue. The course rating issue is called slope for ball golf, I believe the PDGA has it's own course rating system.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Slope is a fudge factor in ball golf that may not actually exist if they were able to do ratings the way we do in disc golf. But for now, a higher slope means a course of the same rating is tougher.

Difficulty is hard to define for DG. A higher SSA course isn't necessarily tougher. Some might think a course that is shorter than another with the same SSA is tougher. Some like Olorin have proposed that difficulty be measured in relation to, cumulatively for the course, how hard it is to shoot birdies. A short gold level course will be tougher for red level players than a red level course that is longer than the gold course. There might be carries across water on the gold course that red level players can't even reach, for example.

 

[tstack10]

reason ball golf has slope and rating is to help determine handicaps across the variety of players and courses. imo I think it is somewhat accurate and notice it changes depending on what tees you play from...getting less slope and rating on shorter holes.

think some rating system would help but I just usually read reviews on here to learn info about courses I am going to play.

yardage info from pdga was very interesting and makes me rethink some holes I've played recently. I would help rate courses I play to some code for beginners to advanced place.

 

[scarpfish]

The big problem with this idea is that DG courses are far more dynamic than ball golf courses because the pins, and hence the greens, on many courses can be moved, sometimes drastically changing the hole. A course configured all short-to-short could be one color, and long-to-long another. Unless there are dual baskets, the player really doesn't have much choice in that matter.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Depends on how well the designer did the course. Courses like Blueberry Hill and Steady Ed were designed with Blue and Red tees and alternate pins on most holes. There's up to 200 feet difference between the A and B pin locations on some holes. But the lengths from each tee still remain appropriate for Blue and Red in either pin placement. It's tricky but can be done if the designer pays attention to design guidelines.

But, the problem is that most of the courses out there haven't been done that way as you point out.

 

[billnchristy]

While we are here, why does the SSA change when nothing on the course does? I have noticed it can go up or down by a stroke year by year even if the tee and basket positions stay the same.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Why would you think it wouldn't change? There are a lot more factors in the course challenge than just the tee and basket positions. Some obvious examples would be foliage amount and changing positions due to growth, weather and seasons including loss of limbs or full trees. Brush being trampled back making recovery shots easier. Another item that is overlooked is sun position and/or clouds during the day. Lighting angle changes plus lightness/darkness affect people's depth perception. When you consider a one throw change in SSA is only 2%, it's surprising the SSA doesn't change more than that at different times of day and seasonally.

 

[billnchristy]

From what I gathered and hopefully you can explain it, SSA is created by 5 PDGA members >799 (or is it 5) and then averaged?

Is this during the tournament or prior to? Do they take 2 top and average and 2 bottom? I have read the stuff on the PDGA site but I have to admit I am still confused.

 

[Beable]

On behalf of the colorblind community, why colors and not numbers?

Are you color blind? I'm not, so correct me if I'm mistaken. But I thought most colorblind people only have trouble differentiating a few colors, with red/green colorblindness the most common. Would red/blue/white/gold be hard to differentiate for color blind people?

Edit-I see tmahan addresed this.

 

[Cgkdisc]

From what I gathered and hopefully you can explain it, SSA is created by 5 PDGA members >799 (or is it 5) and then averaged?

That's the minimum to produce one. It's not just any members but members whose ratings are based on at least 8 rounds. They are called propagators. If there 80 propagators who play the same layout, then all of their scores are used to produce the SSA. The more rounds used, the more accurate the SSA for that round.

 

[ERicJ]

That's the minimum to produce one. It's not just any members but members whose ratings are based on at least 8 rounds. They are called propagators. If there 80 propagators who play the same layout, then all of their scores are used to produce the SSA. The more rounds used, the more accurate the SSA for that round.

It's nice having someone else around here that can answer these questions correctly too. Thanks Chuck.

 

[nott84]

On behalf of the colorblind community, why colors and not numbers?

I appreciate that, I cant see tees, signs, anything... esp. in the fall