2010 CHALLENGE

Click here for results.

HOLE-BY-HOLE RESULTS

Here are the compiled results from this year's challenge. 

Lacking the will to separate them out by player rating, we've divided them into two categories:

Open Pro, which is the group we look at hardest to validate par.

All Pro & Advanced Men (Open Pro, Pro Masters, Advanced, Advanced Masters), which is more-or-less our target audience.  With no offense intended toward Intermediate & Advanced Womens divisions, but the spread there is just too great.)

The variances in "times played" were due to the different formats, and the fact that two players did not show up on Sunday.

You can find lots of interesting results here, and compare how you did.   Among our observations were

Holes 4, 9, 16 Quartz---The broader group averaged slightly better than the Open Pros.  Why?

Hole 16 Diamond---In most cases the Open Pros averaged up to 1/3 stroke better---but this hole really made the difference, as a few Ams ran up big scores and the average was more than a stroke higher in the larger group.

Hole 15 (Spillway).  On this 235' hole, for the first 3 rounds, the spread was 26 birdies, 46 pars, and 15 bogies.  In the final round---with less wind---the larger group played it 28 times....and shot 28 pars.

SURVEY RESULTS

We e-mailed a questionnaire to as many players as we had e-mail addresses for.  15 were kind enough to respond, many of them also provided additional input and observations.   The results, like the hole spreads, are useful to us in determining what works best, and what needs tweaking, on this ever-evolving course.

Which layout did you prefer?

9 Diamond, 4 Quartz, 2 either.

Do you prefer future tournaments at Stoney Hill to be 1-day or 2-day?

13 for 2-day, 1 for 1-day, 1 for either.

How did you like the rotating starting holes?

9 said they liked it, 3 said either way is fine, 1 preferred the traditional system but was fine with it.

For anyone who wasn't there---in the first and land rounds, we started the Open division on hole 1, as most tournaments do.  But in the 2nd & 3rd rounds we started them on holes 7 & 12, respectively, moving everyone around the course about 6 holes so everyone got to start in different places.

What were your 3 favorite holes?

What were your 3 least favorite holes?  (even if you liked them all)

I won't recount the whole list, except to say that every hole was rated by someone.  Some of the answers were a little vaugue.  Among the notables:

Hole 1---4 listed it among their favorites, 1 among their least-favorites.

Hole 4---A favorite of 4, but a least-favorite of 3.  The most divided opinions.

Hole 7---5 listed as their least-favorite.  A hole we need to tinker with.

Hole 14 (Diamond)---The winner!  8 listed it as their favorite, plus 1 listed 14B.

Hole 16---8 listed as either their favorite, mostly in the Diamond layout, some weren't specific or listed it in both layouts.  But 2 listed it as their least-favorite.

Of the 23 holes in the 2 layouts, only 6 weren't listed as someone's favorite....and only 4 weren't listed as someone's least-favorite!    14 made both lists!  A lesson in the variety of opinions among disc golfers.

Other comments

Some people added extra insight or ideas, and we really really appreciate it.  The winner was the suggestion that the tee on #7 be moved backed 10 feet to block the thumber route.  We're considering it, though hoping the trees will grow enough this year to block it on their own.

Click here for results, hole-by-hole scoring spreads, and photos from the 2009 Stoney Hill Challenge.