Competition stableford adjustment
The Competition Stableford Adjustment (CSA) is an appreciation or depreciation of the individual performance achieved by all players in golf tournaments. It is carried out when the average result deviates significantly from a statistical mean. This regulation was introduced by the German Golf Association (DGV) on January 1st, 2007. It is very controversial among golfers.
Basic idea
It is desirable to achieve the highest possible comparability of game performance in tournaments. A comparable game performance should, if possible, produce the same result for the player on different courts and on different days. The so-called course rating records the architectural difficulties of the respective golf course and takes into account average ratings z. B. the rough, the fairway strength or the flag placement. In betting games, however, it happens that exceptional conditions make the game more difficult or easier. Influences such as bad weather, above-average fast or slow greens cannot be recorded with the rating. The competition results of a field of participants can be strongly influenced by this. The generally applicable course rating then does not optimally reflect the degree of difficulty of the course on the day of the competition. Here the CSA should achieve better comparability.
Procedure
The CSA assumes that the results of a game directly reflect the day's game conditions. If the conditions are average, the game results are also average. Applying the CSA does not change anything. If the conditions are more difficult or easier, the results of the players will be worse or better on average. The results of all players in a competition are adjusted by −1 to +3 Stableford net points after the CSA has been determined for the handicap management.
To do this, one compares the proportion of results achieved of 35 and more Stableford net points with the proportion of the average expected results of 35 and more Stableford net points. However, only players in handicap classes 1 to 4, i.e. handicap −26.4 or better, are used for this calculation . If the results are better than would be statistically expected, the performance is devalued. In the opposite case, an upgrade is also possible. The net result of each individual player (and thus the new handicap, if applicable) is only determined after the tournament has ended. CSA is calculated automatically by the software at the end of each game and without any action or choice for the game management.
Other countries
CSA has been used analogously in Great Britain ( Competition Scratch Score ) and in some continental European countries for a number of years . It is a match-related Stableford adjustment that automatically adjusts the results achieved in a match to the playing conditions of the day in question. The 10% rule that previously existed in Germany is no longer applicable.
restrictions
The results of the players from the target classes 5 and 6 are not used to determine the CSA, but are also adjusted by the difference calculated with the values of classes 1 to 4. If only players in handicap classes 5 and 6 take part in a competition, no CSA is applied and the results always count as earned. The same applies to competitions in which fewer than 15 participants of the target classes 1 to 4 start, as well as to EDS rounds and 9-hole tournaments, in which there is also no CSA.
If a competition is canceled (ie the game management breaks the competition from and there is no award ceremony), no CSA is applied and only the under-games (without adjustment) are evaluated.
Game management or handicap committees may never decide for themselves whether only the results with under-games count from a handicapped game.
Criticism after the introduction
In line with the claim to a fairer performance evaluation, the criticism from the active part is quite harsh. Initiatives to abolish the regulation have already been launched. The following is criticized:
- The incomprehensibility of the regulation due to the statistical procedure, which is difficult for laypeople to understand.
- A database that cannot be transferred to Germany. In Germany there are many players who are slow to exhaust their performance potential and gradually improve their handicap. So-called underplayings are much more common than in countries like England. Here, the majority have played themselves to the limit of their performance for a long time, improvements are rare.
- When it was introduced, CSA only required 10 players in handicap classes 1 to 4, which are decisive for the adjustments. A small number of outliers that perform very well causes a devaluation by the CSA.
Changes from 2008
Due to the massive complaints, the regulation was refined. The aim was to reduce the number of tournaments in which an adjustment by CSA takes place. The following changes took effect.
- 9-hole tournaments are generally no longer affected by this rule. So there is no adjustment by CSA.
- The minimum number of players who have to participate in handicap classes 1 to 4 in order for CSA to be applied is no longer 10 as at the beginning, but 15.
- Results from 35 instead of the previous 34 Stableford net points upwards are used as the basis for calculation. If less than 50 percent of the competition participants relevant for the CSA belong to handicap classes 3 or 4, 34 Stableford net points remain as the calculation basis.
Changes from 2012
From 2012 the CSA will lose its validity and will be replaced by the Computed Buffer Adjustment (CBA).