By Kelly Neely, Sr. Dir., Handicapping & Course Rating
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I read a quote recently that no doubt will make some folks giddy (you “enginerds” know who you are), and at the same time possibly agitate others. “Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.”

I (reluctantly) believe this to be true.

Unfortunately, a penchant for Trigonometry was not something my brainy father passed to his daughter, and even though icky math is something I deal with on a daily basis in my weird little world of handicapping, last weekend I searched for something I COULD do without it. I was not successful.

• It takes no fewer than 30 launches of the ball before my German Shepherd flops down in the grass. And 1 minute before he’s ready to fetch again.
• I need to see more than seven points on the scoreboard to feel good about my football team’s performance.
• There are six (tiny) glasses of wine in a bottle.

In my experience, those last two need to be combined into a tricky word problem.

Well, enough about that (at least until next Saturday)! Since the golf season is nearly over and next month we’ll begin our segue into the World Handicap System, let’s nerd out on some very interesting numbers.

NERDING OUT ON THE 2019 NUMBERS

	Scores posted by OGA members so far this year (there’s still a lot of golf left to be played, and only 30,376 more scores to make it an even mil by season end date of 11/30. You can do it!)
	Penalty score infractions added to player records by Handicap Committees, due to failure to post scores. Hopefully this number won’t skyrocket with the advent of the World Handicap System, when Daily Revisions and the Playing Conditions Calculation will make it imperative to post immediately after play.
	Average Handicap Indexes for men and women, respectively, among OGA members. Go ahead and take a few minutes to rejoice in the fact that these have gone up since the last time I checked. Once you get your new Index in January, you might find the opposite to be true.
	Highest number of single-digit male and female golfers, respectively, per an individual OGA member club count. Top spots belong to men at NW Golf Guys and women at Royal Oaks Country Club. These players occupy rarified air, as only about 1% can play to a single-digit handicap.
	Yardage of longest golf hole rated by the OGA is found at No. 12’s Championship tees at Crosswater Club in Sunriver. Appropriately named “Endless,” this beast of a par-5 is just a few yards short of being an elusive par-6. Not only that, there is a lake that runs along the entire left side of the hole.
	The Course and Slope Rating belonging to the above mentioned Championship tees at Crosswater Club is the highest rated tee for men in the OGA region.
	The Course and Slope Rating belonging to the Bandon Crossings North Blue tee is the highest rated tee for women in the OGA region. We’re not sure if any brave soul has taken this one on.
	Most holes rated per course is found at the beautiful Rogue Valley Country Club in Medford. Because it is a 27-hole course and has six different set-ups, RVCC takes 10 course raters six hours to rate!
	Most holes rated per facility goes to the legendary Bandon Dunes, which counts five courses on one incredible beach property. Okay, almost five. While for now you’ll only find four courses officially listed in the OGA Course Rating database, I’m getting ahead of myself in anticipation of the opening of Sheep Ranch in June 2020.

Questions? Contact Kelly or Gretchen in the OGA Handicapping & Course Rating Department at (503) 981-4653 x226 or Click Here to Email Your Question