Stroke indexes?

[haplesshacker]

Who and how are strokes indexes calculated? I mean who's to say whether a hole is a stroke index 13 or 14?

Is it the course designer, the club Pro, a combination of both, or some other factor. I.e. some algorythmic calculation based on length, inclne/decline, green size and slope etc?

It's just that I've been looking at my SS2 stats and the largest gap between course SI and my personal SI is a whopping 7! It's not just on one hole where there are quite large discrepincies, it's several.

Just curious.

(I guess that I could just google it, but I thought that it was an interesting little question.)

 

[Region3]

There are recommendations for how to place SI's over the course, apart from just judging how hard each one is.

There was a bit on the R&A website that I pasted here a while ago that I thought was interesting.
I don't think anyone else agreed with me lol.

 

[Canfordhacker]

Congu website has a myriad of info on this that will cause many a debate. I track my personal strokes versus the course ones, and they are seldom the same. Some of the congu recommendations are common sense for consistency - others a little more quirky...

 

[jammydodger]

If you read the website stuff theres all sorts of factors to take into account.

Youre advised not to have things like stroke 1-3 at the start or end. Youve got to split SI's between the 9's. No having consequetive SI's (ie 3 follows 4). The list is endless as they take into account matchplay on the course , however I think some courses have changed their SI for match play and medals to reflect the differences.

 

[Mike_j_golf]

Hi,
No course is desgined the way they want the stroke indexes laid out so u have easier or harder holes where the index is wrong our course has changes the indexes to reflect the actual index of the hole which gets updated every time the cards get reprinted.
Mike

 

[Leftie]

If you read the website stuff theres all sorts of factors to take into account.

Youre advised not to have things like stroke 1-3 at the start or end. Youve got to split SI's between the 9's. No having consequetive SI's (ie 3 follows 4). The list is endless as they take into account matchplay on the course , however I think some courses have changed their SI for match play and medals to reflect the differences.

You are right. The main reasoning for CONGU's guidlines is beacuse of match play. As an extreme example, if you got 2 shots off your opponent and indexes 1 and 2 were on holes 17 and 18 then the match could be over before you got your strokes.

I know of one club (Hever in Kent) where there are different indexes for stroke and matchplay. The alternative ones are based on competition returns over a period of time. It only makes a difference in Stableford and Bogey comps of course, not Medal play.