Oxdisc player does well out of town, shock!

No golf for me, this weekend, I was up at Burnlaw where I reaped the rewards of much golf over the summer and an absurd amount of putting practise in my back garden.

I came second in the Ams! Yay! And what was great was that I came to the end of the tourny and could look back on four rounds + a final and only identify a handful of duff shots, so it was a pretty satisfying result.

Great course and venue, too. Lots of fun.

Meanwhile, South Park and Headington kept people happy at home. George is solidifying his number two spot, and has been playing some good golf in the last couple of weeks. Not sure I'll be able to catch him, but I'll see what I can do!

Here's your standings:

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge	HH Avrge	HH Best	SP Avrge	SP Best
Jonny	Morris	-36	33	39	38.67	37.94	34.00	39.44	35.00
George	Aslett	-23	40	40	40.40	39.58	37.00	41.14	38.00
Neal	Graneau	-22	28	43	43.04	42.33	40.00	43.85	40.00
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	38	40	41.53	40.75	36.00	42.39	38.00
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91	39.22	35.00	40.69	38.00
Steve	Pearce	-15	27	43	45.07	43.79	38.00	46.46	42.00
Bud	Tilton	-10	27	38	39.04	38.15	35.00	39.86	37.00
Pete	C	-5	24	47	48.42	48.71	43.00	48.00	45.00
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80	44.00	42.00	45.33	41.00

No more summer :-(

George and I struggled in fading light tonight to finish a round by 7.30. That's it then, no more golf on a Wednesday evening. Not that can count for the summer league, anyway.

But what a round we had. Mainly because it became a wonderful example of psychology. I led early, but stumbled a little in the middle. George played well and steadily, and after hole 10 on HH was on par. A fine position to be in.

On the 11th tee (easiest hole in the park?) he mentioned how great a two would be. Because that would set up the final hole (the hardest) well, and give him the cushion of an easy ride on the last hole to still get a good score. Fair enough - it's a fine statement, but really, don't say such things when you're stood on a tee!

The first bit went well enough. The drive on the 11th went very well, and George set up for an easy 2, which he got, to put him one under on the 12th tee. It's all going to plan.

Only to see him drive into a tree about 15 foot from the tee on the 12th. I have never seen anyone hit that tree, and you couldn't really throw a shorter drive. The next shot was no better, ending up in a ditch with no view of the hole. Third shot? A roller which started well but turned away from the hole and ended up behind a huge oak. Fourth shot was great, and he took an acceptable, but OH SO FRUSTRATING five for a 37. 37 is still great, but the lesson is: NEVER verbalise what you're thinking. You curse it!

Anyway, I'm back from holiday. Thanks to Jonny for taking the helm while I was away. George's 37 has done him some good, but Neal can easily pip him. Here's the standings:

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge	HH Avrge	HH Best	SP Avrge	SP Best
Jonny	Morris	-36	31	39	38.68	37.94	34.00	39.57	35.00
George	Aslett	-23	38	40	40.42	39.58	37.00	41.26	38.00
Neal	Graneau	-22	28	43	43.04	42.33	40.00	43.85	40.00
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	38	40	41.53	40.75	36.00	42.39	38.00
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91	39.22	35.00	40.69	38.00
Steve	Pearce	-15	26	43	45.15	43.79	38.00	46.75	42.00
Bud	Tilton	-10	26	38	39.04	38.15	35.00	39.92	37.00
Pete	C	-3	23	47	48.52	48.92	43.00	48.00	45.00
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80	44.00	42.00	45.33	41.00

And I have uploaded the new version of the database and spreadsheet for you all to enjoy.

Andy

League update

Hello everyone and sorry for the lack of posts over the past week or so. I have moved house and amazingly Orange are unable to reconnect my home broadband for 2 to 3 weeks! Surely it just involves changing one setting somewhere! Very tedious.

So anyway I'm doing this from work, having first reassembled my home PC to update the database. Quite a few scores to add in, and I am pleased to say that most people have made some progress. I'm also unhappy to say that I haven't! )-:

There's a real scrap on for 2nd place with George and Neal currently level on -22. Steve has also had a useful score or two and could well nip in front of Mike and start to challenge Andy with another decent round. Bud, Pete, Dean - come on guys! Time to step up a gear! Not much time left....

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge
Jonny	Morris	-36	31	39	38.68
Neal	Graneau	-22	28	43	43.04
George	Aslett	-22	37	40	40.51
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	37	40	41.57
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91
Steve	Pearce	-15	26	43	45.15
Bud	Tilton	-10	26	38	39.04
Pete	C	-3	23	47	48.52
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80

Congratulations to Pete who has this week made it into negative points - nice one!

That's all from me, editorial control goes back to the Cotgroover next week. I don't expect many people will be out on Sunday - although I think Bud is planning to be there. Neal is in the U.S. and George, Steve, Andy and probably Jonny will be at the Abergavenny Food Festival ..... yum yum!

A very windy pair of rounds

Very challenging today but great fun. Given the conditions, an excellent 37 from Mr Tilton in South Park was clearly the round of the day. However, in terms of the league check out Dr Graneau in the ascendance! Neal's 40 in Headington Hill toady earning him a very handy three points.

It should be noted that the table below incldes three rounds of Neals which were not included in my last post. Also Pete I have had to change the two scores you gave me verbally for Sunday 27/8 as they were slightly different to Neal's recorded scores for you (of SP49 & HH52).

Apologies Andy for the poor HTML here!

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge
Jonny	Morris	-36	30	39	38.70
Neal	Graneau	-22	28	43	43.04
George	Aslett	-20	33	40	40.73
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	37	40	41.57
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91
Steve	Pearce	-12	24	43	45.33
Bud	Tilton	-8	22	38	39.14
Pete	C	1	21	47	48.76
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80

I won't be around on Wednesday this week. Text or email me the scores and I'll update the table.

In case you want to know, you need to equal or better the following scores if you want to earn league points as of today: Andy [39], Bud [38], Jonny [36], George [38], Steve [43], Dean [54], Pete [47], Neal [41].

Slow going

Caretaker Jonny here while Andy is on holiday. Not much in the way of change as regards the summer league after tonight's scores (Neal - still awaiting your scores from Sunday!). I'm afraid I can't quite run to updating the database and spreadsheet links at the top of the page, but the table looks very similar to last week - as follows:

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge
Jonny	Morris	-36	28	39	38.46
George	Aslett	-20	33	40	40.73
Neal	Graneau	-19	23	43	43.04
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	37	40	41.57
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91
Steve	Pearce	-12	22	43	44.86
Bud	Tilton	-6	20	38	39.20
Pete	C	1	20	47	48.90
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80

Nice to see Travis out with us in Headington Hill. We were treated to some classic Trav overarm, including the highly weird and spectacular spirally shot which goes for miles. Nice one!

The end is nigh....

(this is the second post I have made today - don't forget to read them both)

With September around the corner, Wednesday nights are going to end. As soon as the 6.30 round is unplayable, 5.30 rounds will also not count.

I announced that the summer league would end when the clocks go back. That is Sunday October 29th. I think I had said that the last eligible weekend would be the weekend before, but I hereby announce that the last eligible rounds will be on October 29th, followed by lunch and prize giving.

Get everyone out for that event!

Next year, the Summer league will reappear, tweaked and improved. New rule ideas:
1. The top ten scores must include five scores from each park
2. Summer league will last only as long as Wednesday rounds are viable
3. Have a separate par for each course (although this wouldn't change scores if we require five from each park).
4. Readjust pars halfway through the summer
5. ???? got any ideas? let me know.

Welcome, Dean!

We have a new player who's punched through the ten rounds required for the league. Dean's done it.

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge
Jonny	Morris	-36	26	39	38.38
George	Aslett	-20	31	40	40.68
Neal	Graneau	-19	23	43	43.04
Andy	Cotgreave	-18	37	40	41.57
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39	39.91
Steve	Pearce	-12	22	43	44.86
Bud	Tilton	-6	20	38	39.20
Pete	C	2	17	47	48.53
Dean	Harvey	18	10	43	44.80

18 looks pretty high, but his number ten score is a 50, so it'll take one or two goodish rounds to pull that score right down, and threaten Pete a bit.

Kudos to Jonny for a cracking day last Sunday - 35 in HH followed by 35 in SP. A record for the 24? Quite probably, but I don't know the historical stats...

On par

FirstName:	Points	Num rounds	Par:	Avge	HH Avrge	SP Avrge
Jonny	-31	24	39	38.67	38.00	39.60
George	-20	28	40	40.50	39.79	41.21
Neal	-19	22	43	42.91	42.50	43.40
Mike	-17	34	39	39.91	39.22	40.69
Andy	-17	35	40	41.60	40.89	42.35
Steve	-12	22	43	44.86	43.58	46.40
Bud	-6	19	38	39.11	37.90	40.44
Pete	3	16	47	48.56	48.78	48.29

First off, look at Neal! Suddenly he's found himself in third. A cracking start to his round yesterday saw his first three drives within very "gettable" distances to the pin. One birdy out of the three and a boost in confidence saw him go on to a great round.

So, what can we see from the numbers? First of all, there's a huge discrepancy between South Park and Headington Hill average scores - we are all between one and three shots better in HH than SP. Next year, on Steve's suggestion, we'll change the league to ensure the top ten must include five scores from each course.

Only Jonny and Neal have overall averages that are lower than their par. Does that mean we set the par too high, or they're playing really well? It's the latter, surely.This tally may be interesting though:

Name:	Deviation
Jonny	1%
George	1%
Neal	0%
Mike	2%
Andy	4%
Steve	4%
Bud	3%
Pete	3%

What does this show? This is the percentage difference of a player's average away from their par.It means that Andy and Steve's averages are the furthest away from their par, but the people at the top of the league are closest to their par. (if we do the same stats on those with less than 10 rounds, the deviation gets pretty huge).

Conclusion? I think the pars were, on the whole, well calculated.


(sorry about the awful HTML on this - i'm still struggling to work out a quick and efficient way to copy the data from Access or Excel into a blog post...

Today was pretty active with lots of movers and shakers in the league:

FirstName:	LastName:	Points
Jonny	Morris	-28
George	Aslett	-20
Mike	Ekers	-17
Neal	Graneau	-16
Andy	Cotgreave	-14
Steve	Pearce	-12
Bud	Tilton	-5
Pete	C	3

What's the story? George takes a solid hold onto second place, and Neal rises above Andy. Steve is pushing Andy close, and Bud's slowly approaching us all, too.

Me? Well, I've been bloody awful since the British Open. I haven't shot under 40 since then, and today was truly appalling. My putting and approaching has fallen to pieces, and my drives aren't much cop either. Hum ho.

Steve hit a 40 yard approach shot on HH1 which was v nice, and George played some great golf to pull back a 2 shot deficit in South Park to win that round. Solid putting from a long way away saw off Neal's lead. Not a lot you can do against someone hitting the pin consistently from 30ft.

One one positive player left

Here's the latest:

FirstName:	LastName:	Points
Jonny	Morris	-28
Mike	Ekers	-17
George	Aslett	-17
Andy	Cotgreave	-14
Neal	Graneau	-11
Steve	Pearce	-9
Bud	Tilton	-2
Pete	C	3

What can we see from this?
From the bottom, Pete's the only still in positive scores. C'mon Pete, less swearing, more accuracy!

Bud's finally penetrated the zero. (that sounds rude, and I'm sure I could come up with something facetious to add to it)

In the middle, not a lot to say.

But, near the top, George has taken equal second, and with no Mike around, George is sure to move into a solid second place.

And Jonny, well, another couple of great rounds see him flying ahead.

As for me, well, I feel like I am in a slump. I can't putt for toffee. Someone needs to tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Updated files available above...

Disc Golf feature on Transworld Sport

Here's the feature we had on transworld sport:

Database and spreadsheet

Right. There's two links above. One is the 3MB database. It's now got all sorts of forms you can look at to see various different stats and things. Download, open, and enjoy. If you want to see the nuts and bolts, press F11 to get to the meat of the database.

If that's not your thing, you can download the Excel snapshot. This is the current standings, and all scores. No formatting, just the data.

Feedback please.

While Andy was away...

Andy was away yesterday. While he wallowed on a train and in a faceless corporate hotel in Leeds, golf carried in little old Oxford.

I only have results from Jonny and George to add to the league, but here's the current standings (if you haven't played ten rounds yet, you're not in the list):

FirstName:	LastName:	Points	Num rounds	Avge	HH Avrge	HH Best	SP Avrge	SP Best
Jonny	Morris	-25	20	38.90	38.27	34.00	39.67	37.00
Mike	Ekers	-17	34	39.91	39.22	35.00	40.69	38.00
George	Aslett	-14	21	40.71	39.80	38.00	41.55	38.00
Andy	Cotgreave	-13	28	41.43	40.79	36.00	42.07	38.00
Neal	Graneau	-11	18	43.28	42.90	40.00	43.75	40.00
Steve	Pearce	-9	19	45.00	43.80	38.00	46.33	42.00
Bud	Tilton	2	14	39.14	38.14	35.00	40.14	38.00
Pete	C	3	16	48.56	48.78	43.00	48.29	45.00

I'm still working out the best way to get the data online. I've now got a nice access database that makes it easy to add scores and check stats. That's available on the link above. But I realise that sucks if you don't have Access.

I have also added a snapshot Excel file to download.

The aim is to have something that is easy for me to maintain and upload and easy for you to download. A fully sorted web application would be nice, but my skills don't stretch to that...