Lydia Ko's Handicap +13? What?

[No Mulligans]

I took a swag at calculating Lydia Ko's Handicap based on the last 20 tournament rounds that she had.  I got +12.9.  What?

Did I do this right?

 

[Golfingdad]

Seems reasonable.  I've seen where the top men are +10 ish and I'd expect the difference between the best women and scratch women to be even greater than the difference in men.

(I did the math once for some random men and the journeymen guys were like +5 or +6.)

[Dave2512]

Yeah it's not like she isn't a total badass.

[Lihu]

16 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

I took a swag at calculating Lydia Ko's Handicap based on the last 20 tournament rounds that she had.  I got +12.9.  What?

Did I do this right?

 

 

5 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

Yeah it's not like she isn't a total bad ass.

 

Wait, based upon that rating she's possibly around a +6 or better for men? That's pretty bad ass.

[Jeremie Boop]

6 minutes ago, Lihu said:

 

 

Wait, based upon that rating she's possibly around a +6 or better for men? That's pretty bad ass.

Have to remember, those are women's ratings. Those courses are what. 1000 yards or so shorter than what men play? Though, to be fair, I don't know how you translate a woman's index to a man's anyway so you could actually be accurate.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Jeremie Boop

[Golfingdad]

7 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Wait, based upon that rating she's possibly around a +6 or better for men? That's pretty bad ass.

@No Mulligans, you should do this again and plug in the ratings of those tees for men, and see what kind of comparison you could make.  I think @Lihu isn't far off though.

I would agree ... bad ass.

@Jeremie Boop .. you just plug in the mens rating and slope instead.  For Aviara blue tees it's 72.7/139.  That's why I think Lihu is close.

[Big C]

I'm pretty sure the math is incorrect. For example, the 64 she shot at Wildfire Golf Club would convert to a -11.5 differential, not -15.1 as you have listed it.

The slope rating calculation works the same way for positive differentials and for negative differentials. In other words (113/slope x CR differential). Ironically, this makes a great score shot on a course with an extremely high slope rating less impressive in terms of differential than a course with a very low slope rating. 

It's the opposite of the way that most golfers intuitively think the system should work, but I suppose the USGA figures it effects so few golfers that they don't care to correct it. 

Just based on a rough guess, I'd say her actual handicap is between a plus 9-plus 10. Still pretty damn impressive.

[Jeremie Boop]

2 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

@No Mulligans, you should do this again and plug in the ratings of those tees for men, and see what kind of comparison you could make.  I think @Lihu isn't far off though.

I would agree ... bad ass.

@Jeremie Boop .. you just plug in the mens rating and slope instead.  For Aviara blue tees it's 72.7/139.  That's why I think Lihu is close.

So, how does she compare to the top end men's professionals? Anyone have any handicaps for them?

[BallStriker]

3 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Have to remember, those are women's ratings. 

Never really understood why they have separate Men's/Women's ratings......seems like they should have one set of ratings for all golfers, or maybe ratings based on the length you hit driver (e.g., 200-225 yards; 225-250 yards; etc.).

I dunno......but in no even is Lydia Ko not a complete badass

[Jeremie Boop]

2 minutes ago, BallStriker said:

Never really understood why they have separate Men's/Women's ratings......seems like they should have one set of ratings for all golfers, or maybe ratings based on the length you hit driver (e.g., 200-225 yards; 225-250 yards; etc.).

I dunno......but in no even is Lydia Ko not a complete badass

To be honest, I have no clue why the ratings are different except for that women simply don't hit the ball as far as men. Of course, I have no doubt that she's an amazing golfer. She wouldn't be posting those scores if she wasn't. Just wasn't sure how accurate the stated +6 was in relation to men's ratings. I'm in no way knowledgeable in these things, but just sounded a bit high.

[Golfingdad]

11 minutes ago, Big C said:

I'm pretty sure the math is incorrect. For example, the 64 she shot at Wildfire Golf Club would convert to a -11.5 differential, not -15.1 as you have listed it.

The slope rating calculation works the same way for positive differentials and for negative differentials. In other words (113/slope x CR differential). Ironically, this makes a great score shot on a course with an extremely high slope rating less impressive in terms of differential than a course with a very low slope rating. 

It's the opposite of the way that most golfers intuitively think the system should work, but I suppose the USGA figures it effects so few golfers that they don't care to correct it. 

Just based on a rough guess, I'd say her actual handicap is between a plus 9-plus 10. Still pretty damn impressive.

Oh, you're right.  The 67's at Aviara should be 9.1's.

But, yeah, +9 is still way up there.

13 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

So, how does she compare to the top end men's professionals? Anyone have any handicaps for them?

The top men are probably also around +10 or so for the mens ratings.  Considering it looks like she's about +5 or +6 for mens ratings, then you figure shes probably a few strokes behind them (from manageable length tees of course)  Put her on 7500 tees and shes likely crossed a threshold that makes it really hard for her to play to her handicap.

[Jeremie Boop]

3 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Oh, you're right.  The 67's at Aviara should be 9.1's.

But, yeah, +9 is still way up there.

The top men are probably also around +10 or so for the mens ratings.  Considering it looks like she's about +5 or +6 for mens ratings, then you figure shes probably a few strokes behind them (from manageable length tees of course)  Put her on 7500 tees and shes likely crossed a threshold that makes it really hard for her to play to her handicap.

That's pretty much what I was expecting, I'm sure she'd still be able to make/break par a decent amount of time on courses the length the men play, but don't they also make the rough more penal and the greens tougher? Either way, she's definitely a monster on the course.

[Lihu]

12 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

To be honest, I have no clue why the ratings are different except for that women simply don't hit the ball as far as men. Of course, I have no doubt that she's an amazing golfer. She wouldn't be posting those scores if she wasn't. Just wasn't sure how accurate the stated +6 was in relation to men's ratings. I'm in no way knowledgeable in these things, but just sounded a bit high.

 

20 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

So, how does she compare to the top end men's professionals? Anyone have any handicaps for them?

Here's a comparison. Of course, as @Golfingdad mentions distance makes a huge difference when you get to the PGA length courses.

http://www.golf.com/photos/handicaps-pga-tour-pros

[Golfingdad]

6 minutes ago, Lihu said:

 

Here's a comparison. Of course, as @Golfingdad mentions distance makes a huge difference when you get to the PGA length courses.

http://www.golf.com/photos/handicaps-pga-tour-pros

Cool list!  I'd probably put my money on Ko if she were going head-to-head with Fred Funk or Paul Goydos (at this stage in their careers at least). 

As an aside - Goydos' 'cap is from one of the closest Country Clubs to my house!  (If somebody has a spare 15k and ~$700 monthly they can loan me, maybe I can tee it up with him occasionally)

EDIT:  Goydos is fading!! His 'cap right now is +3.6, down a whole stroke from whenever that gallery was put together.  Pernice is currently +4.2.

Oh, and @Big C, I notice that Goydos is an El Do member as well (also Rec Park, and Virginia CC, wherever that is)

[No Mulligans]

59 minutes ago, Big C said:

I'm pretty sure the math is incorrect. For example, the 64 she shot at Wildfire Golf Club would convert to a -11.5 differential, not -15.1 as you have listed it.

The slope rating calculation works the same way for positive differentials and for negative differentials. In other words (113/slope x CR differential). Ironically, this makes a great score shot on a course with an extremely high slope rating less impressive in terms of differential than a course with a very low slope rating. 

It's the opposite of the way that most golfers intuitively think the system should work, but I suppose the USGA figures it effects so few golfers that they don't care to correct it. 

Just based on a rough guess, I'd say her actual handicap is between a plus 9-plus 10. Still pretty damn impressive.

Wow, that's counter-intuitive to me.

Here it is based on that correction:

[Big C]

44 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

 

Oh, and @Big C, I notice that Goydos is an El Do member as well (also Rec Park, and Virginia CC, wherever that is)

Yes he is. He occasionally comes to speak at the meetings and will play in one of our tournaments every couple of years. He's not super active in our club, but as a Long Beach local, it's nice that he dedicates some time to the munis around here. If I had to guess, I'd say he probably spends most of his time at Virginia CC, which is the super exclusive private club for the "old money" in Long Beach. That or Dove Canyon, as you suggest.

PS - only +3.6???? What a chump!

[No Mulligans]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

 

 

Wait, based upon that rating she's possibly around a +6 or better for men? That's pretty bad ass.

 

[Lihu]

3 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

 

How disappointing. . . Not, she's still pretty bad ass.

Nice job on the spreadsheet, Frank.