Golf is hard.
Not only is golf just plain old hard, the tournament golf atmosphere at the World Am adds to the challenge. No mulligans, having to putt everything into the hole, and you can’t forget those first tee jitters! The World Am gives golfers of every skill level a true tournament golf experience.
During the 2019 World Am the challenge of tournament golf was well represented in the numbers. The World Am Staff wanted to take a dive into the data to find out just how challenging it is to play to your handicap. Tournament golf may be tough but playing to your handicap is formulated to be regularly unattainable and that should always be kept in mind.
In 2019 Flight 48 was tasked with running the most difficult courses according to the data. Across their four rounds of golf, playing Wachesaw East, Tiger’s Eye, Arrowhead, and The Pearl, this Flight averaged a net differential of 12.12 (Net Differential is a player’s Net Score minus the Course Rating). Flight 66 came in a close second place for “Hardest Course Rotation”, with the schedule of River Hills, Legends Heathland, Willbrook Plantation, and Crown Park. Their flight was tested for sure, with Flight 66 posting an average net differential of 11.8.
2019 Hardest Course Rotations
| FLIGHT | RD 1 COURSE | RD 2 COURSE | RD 3 COURSE | RD 4 COURSE | AVG. NET DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61 | MBN Kings North | Wachesaw East | Crown Park | Legends Heathland | 12.85 |
| 57 | Prestwick | Founders Club | Meadowlands | Burning Ridge | 12.60 |
| 59 | Founders Club | River Hills | MBN Kings North | Tigers Eye | 12.54 |
| 47 | Panthers Run | Tradition | Rivers Oaks | Thistle | 12.51 |
| 68 | Barefoot Norman | Lockwood Folly | Wachesaw East | Long Bay | 11.86 |
Flight 56 & Flight 60 were neck and neck for the 2019 World Am’s “most difficult round”. Carolina National proved to be one tough egg to crack with Flight 56 posting a whopping average net differential of 16.0! Oyster Bay presented almost the same challenge to Flight 60 with a similarly huge average net differential of 15.9! We can all agree those golfers certainly enjoyed the complimentary beverages at the 19th Hole.
2019 Most Difficult Rounds
| FLIGHT | COURSE | ROUND | NET DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | Barefoot Norman | 2 | 16.04 |
| 68 | Barefoot Norman | 1 | 15.99 |
| 54 | River Hills | 1 | 15.48 |
| 59 | River Hills | 2 | 15.17 |
| 61 | Crown Park | 3 | 13.99 |
Carolina National was deemed most challenging course of 2019.
The tournament golfer is always chasing themself. Every golfer is even par on the first tee, and every round presents an opportunity to play your best. But as any golfer knows very well, that just doesn’t always happen. One day the putter is hot, and the driver is not. The next day the you’re splitting the fairway, but couldn’t putt a ball into the Grand Canyon if you were standing on the edge.
It’s not always supremely difficult. Some flights had the secret sauce. Flight 13 had the best average net differential for the week playing on Founders Club, Farmstead, Possum Trot and Kings North. Following closely were flights 12 & 29 respectively.
2019 Easiest Rotations
| FLIGHT | RD 1 COURSE | RD 2 COURSE | RD 3 COURSE | RD 4 COURSE | AVG. NET DIFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | International Club | Barefoot Dye | Willbrook Plantation | Hackler Course | 6.31 |
| 63 | River Oaks | Barefoot Norman | Farmstead | Wachesaw East | 6.63 |
| 25 | Heritage | Tigers Eye | Pine Lakes | Arrowhead | 6.80 |
| 2 | Shaftesbury Glen | Caledonia | MBN South Creek | Lions Paw | 6.91 |
| 3 | Legends Moorland | Carolina National | Heritage | Crown Park | 7.02 |
Facebook Trivia
For those looking for the answer to our Facebook Trivia question, the correct answer was Pennsylvania (153), Maryland (98), and Tennessee (91)! These three states had the EXACT same amount of players represented in 2018 compared to 2019!
This was a tough one… There were a few that came close, but there were no correct guesses!
Congratulations to our lucky randomly drawn winner, Christopher Smith! You’ve won a Garmin GPS Watch!
Most Improved Players
Golf is all about getting better right? It’s time we shed a light on who is improving their game. We won’t name names to protect the innocent. You know who you are!
The World Am’s “Most Improved Player” from one round to the next. “Joe Golfer” from Flight 48 went from Zero to Hero during 2019 Rounds 1 and 2. Firing a scorecard-busting 127 at Wachesaw East in Round 1, “Joe Golfer” must have found the secret in the dirt before Round 2. Dropping 39 strokes off their Round 1 score, “Joe Golfer” fired an 88 at Tiger’s Eye Golf Club. What a turnaround!
From year to year though, we have two players who must have stuck to their practice schedules. Most improved percentage wise from 2018 to 2019 was “Mr. Vanity”. In 2018, Mr. Vanity averaged a gross score of 100. In 2019, his 4 day average was 86. A 14% improvement, and also 14 strokes/day.
Total score wise, “Sir Baker’s Dozen” was our most improved. Bettering his year by 13% and the most in terms of total strokes. Sir Dozen lost 73 shots off his 2019 performance from 2018 (18.25 strokes / day). Keep up the good work!
We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the numbers at the ‘Everyman’s US Open’. We’ll be back again soon with another in-depth look at a variety of statistical aspects of the World’s Largest Amateur golf tournament!
