2020 – Week Four

What does “Pot Luck” mean to you? Merriam-Webster defines is as

1. pot·luck (noun)
   1. the regular meal available to a guest for whom no special preparations have been made
   2. a communal meal to which people bring food to share —usually used attributively
2. whatever is offered or available in given circumstances or at a given time

Other definitions include

3. used in reference to a situation in which one must take a chance that whatever is available will prove to be good or acceptable.

I like definition #3 “take a chance that whatever is available will prove to be good or acceptable”. It encompasses what the GCCGL Pot Luck is all about. You roll the dice and let the golf gods decide what A/B player will be matched with a C/D player. After all, it really shouldn’t matter, this is a handicap league. But this is the GCCGL and nothing is ever black and white. Before I continue with the rest of this post, let’s review some Pot Luck event statistics.

Last season, the A/B group faired very well going 6-0-1 during the Pot Luck event. So much for giving up all those strokes to the C/D group. This season, the A/B group didn’t go undefeated, but they still had a pretty good showing going 5-3-1. So, over the last two seasons, the A/B group has gone 11-3-2 in the GCCGL Pot Luck event. Not too shabby if you ask me. So then why are we talking about handicaps again?

I’ve been running this league for 25 years and yes, it’s true that my responsibilities have been basically reduced to “content management” over the last few years, but one thing that has remained constant for all these years……The “H-Word” might as well be a four-letter word in the GCCGL. There have been many blog postings about the various handicap systems used in the GCCGL. Back when I was just a young pup, running this league all by myself, all the handicaps were kept in a spreadsheet and I used the average score to determine the HC. This evolved to a free Handicap program that calculated golf scores based on the “Cletus Handicap” algorithm. Finally, many years ago, during the “cash rich” good-old days of the GCCGL, we splurged on a “paid” handicap software solution that is still in use today. It used the PGA HC calculation and of course now we have switched to the World Handicap System, like everyone else. 

Personally, I think the handicaps are as accurate as it can be under the current circumstances. The problems start when new players enter the league with high handicaps and post a bunch of high scores but continue to hone their craft, take lessons, get better and start posting better scores (outside the league). There’s the rub. Any HC system is only as good as the scores it contains. Therefore, the GCCGL still has players posting low net scores in the twenties. Unless the system is changed to reflect more current scores as opposed to the current 8 best scores out of 20, it can take up to two full seasons before Swiper and Cap stop taking all our money but that’s OK. As a well-known self-proclaimed philosopher and amateur golfer once confided to me, “It’s just a game”. – Nick “Potter” Duer 2020.

With that said, a couple of handicaps adjusted down two strokes (Cap and Ollie) and PW even went down a  stroke after a -3 round. Maybe the WHC system is a little more accurate after all.

There was another good crowd at the post-round get-together at Barley Corn’s. But sadly, we were missing a member of the league (Lip Gloss) who has boycotted the post-round get-togethers for the last two years after a heated argument with Big Donkey about……you guessed it, handicaps. Admittedly, LG didn’t come out that often anyway but he was always good for a few appearances a year. As many of you already know, it hurts me deeply to see this tension between LG and BD. But I’m not the only one who would love to see these two big lugs back on speaking terms. Couzin’ Joe offered a great idea of using the Hole-In-One money to pay for some therapy sessions. I think it’s a great idea! Let’s face it, we’re not going to see a hole-in-one in this league ever again. There’s way too much beer consumption for that to ever happen again.

The BIG winners this week were Dixon Plainview who took 25 points! They were led by Cap who both took 7.5 points. Quid Pro Crowe ended their two-game losing streak and nabbed 22 points. They were led by PW who snaked 8 points.

We regret to inform you that the GCCGL lost one of its major sponsors due to the COVID pandemic, Big Donkey Enterprises, LLC. But don’t despair, we quickly secured a new long-term agreement with a new start-up, Snoodles Incorporated. As everyone in the GCCGL knows, Danny “Snoodles” Roller is a phenomenal putter. Last week was no exception, draining 30 footers like they were tap-ins. When Danny heard about the GCCGL sponsorship opening, he quickly got his people together with the GCCGL’s legal office and worked out a new deal. Part of the agreement includes promoting their new Snoodling with Snoodles putting app. Have you ever wanted to put like Roller? Well now is your chance.

The low net winners were (A/B) Big Donkey with a low net 33 and (C/D) Cap and Ollie with a low net 27. Congratulations to the winners! We play on the Willows back this week. The schedule is set! I hope to see you on the course and as always, hit ‘em straight!

PW – GCCGL co–commissioner