1/11/2020 - Enagic Golf Club at Eastlake

First off I have to say wow, conditions at what used to be Eastlake Country Club in Chula Vista have gotten much better under the new ownership.  The greens were as fast and true as any course I've played in San Diego (or anywhere else).

During the round, we had a discussion regarding whether it is against the rules to look up the line of your opponents putt, or just bad etiquette.  A couple of members of the group were quite confident that it was a violation of the rules of golf, along the same lines as the new rules with regards to having your caddie set your alignment.

So I looked it up.  This is covered by Rule 10.2, which states:

While the stroke is being made, your caddie must not deliberately stand on or close to your line of play or do anything else (such as pointing out a spot on the putting green) to point out the line of play.

Interestingly, it doesn't say anything about your playing partner.

So it's not a violation of the rules, but it's not a good idea.  You are well within your rights as a player to ask your opponent to stand somewhere else while you are making your putt.

1/1/2020 - The New Handicap System

Here's what you need to know about the new handicap system that is in place as of today:

• The most noticeable thing about the new system is that your handicap will update after every round.  Previously, your handicap would only change twice a month.  Now it changes with every round you post.  That means that your handicap chair will need to indicate exactly when your handicap locks for a club event.
• Instead of using the old ESC Scoring, system, the max score you can post for any given hole is net double-bogey.  So if you're getting a stroke on a par 5, the highest score you can post for that hole is an 8.
• Your handicap is now based on your best 8 rounds of your last 20, instead of your best 10 rounds.  That should make your handicap go down a touch.

Here's some stuff that's new, but probably doesn't matter as much:

• The new max is 54 (previously 36).
• The handicap calculation now includes a factor for par (it didn't before).
• Weather is now a factor.  If everyone playing a particular course on a particular day shoots higher than normal, then those scores will be adjusted.  This can also be due to pin placements, or other factors, like the height of the rough (think Torrey Pines just before or after The Farmers Insurance Open).
• An exceptional score (7 strokes better than your handicap) will immediately knock a full point off of your handicap.  If you score 10 strokes better than your handicap, then it's two full points.  So if your scores vary widely (like mine), then your handicap will be impacted more by this.
• You're not going to be able to post scores for the next ~5 days while they get the new system in place.

Here are some of my thoughts:

• Everything I've read says that the difference between one set of tees and another (on the same course) is going to result in a bigger handicap differential.
• The only way in which the old system needed to be changed was when you were trying to post a score from another country.  I'm pretty sure that only accounts for about 0.000001% of the rounds that are posted.
• I think the new system will be more error-prone.  I'm pretty sure that a lot of people were not properly calculating based on ESC scoring, and the new system requires you to know which holes you are getting a stroke (or two, or now even three!) on.

Sources:
http://www.scga.org/whs-hub
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/five-keys-to-the-new-world-handicap-system
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/voices-the-flaw-in-the-new-world-handicap-system-dean-knuth

12/29/2019 - Monarch Dunes Golf Club (Old Course)

The Central Coast of California got a lot of rain on the day after Christmas.  I played a the pitch-and-putt course in Pismo Beach on the 27th, and it was a swamp.  Things had dried out a bit two days later when I played Monarch Dunes, but there was still a lot of casual water.  My drive on the eighth hole hit dry land, but trickled back into the water.  But it didn't trickle into the penalty area.  My ball was submerged, but I could see the line painted on the grass below the surface of the water, and my ball was on the good side of it.  I was pretty sure that I was entitled to free relief from casual water in this scenario.

As far as I can tell, I was right.  Penalty areas are covered by rule 17.  I didn't find anything covering my scenario there.  However, the definition of a penalty area states:

When defined by a painted line on the ground, the edge of the penalty area is the outside edge of the line, and the line itself is in the penalty area.

So I'm pretty sure that free relief from casual water was the correct call.  That's within one driver-length of the nearest point of relief (for stance and swing), no closer to the hole.