Golf Handicapper Help System

Welcome to Golf Handicapper.  The Golf Handicapper is a complete golf statistics system that was designed to help you track and analyze information about your golf game.  It's fun to use and helpful to the novice and advanced golfer alike.

How to collect data for Golf Handicapper

Concepts

Screens

Menus

Buttons

Entering score and course information

How to order Golf Handicapper

For Technical Support


How to collect data for Golf Handicapper

Golf Handicapper is fun and easy to use.  In order to make the most of this powerful system, however, the golfer needs to collect some data while on the golf course.  In addition to writing your score on the score card, write down how many putts you take on each hole, whether or not you hit the fairway on your drive, how far your drive was and whether or not you were in the sand.  This information will be entered into Golf Handicapper and used to calculate a number of things including greens in regulation, total and average fairways hit, etc...

I typically use 2 boxes to keep track of this information.  Here are some examples:

42Y

210

This means I scored a 4 on the hole, 2 putted and hit the fairway with a 210 yard drive

31

Means I scored a 3 on the hole and took 1 putt

73N

236 S

Means I scored a seven on the hole, took 3 putts, missed the fairway with a 236 yard drive and was in the sand.

Tips

Don't enter fairways for par 3's (You can disable fairways for par 3s on the options screen).

Only those holes where a "Y" or an "N" is entered in the fairway box on the scores screen will be considered for inclusion in the fairway statistics.  This holds true for the driving distance box and the sand shot box as well.

Always remember to write down the date you played.  This will be needed when entering your scores in Golf Handicapper and will help you uniquely identify a round.


Putting Average
Putting Averages

Two types of putting averages are calculated by Golf Handicapper.

"Average Putts per greenie" are the putts per hole on greens hit in regulation.   This is the number that the pros use when calculating average putts.  If a pro chips his third shot close and one putts, it doesn't mean he's putting well, it means he's not hitting greens.

"Average Putts" is the calculation of average number of putts per hole for all holes played.  This is the number that most of us pay attention to because we don't hit the green in regulation often enough to differentiate between the two.

Both averages are included in this program, however, so that golfers of all caliber can get the information they need.


Greenies

Greens in regulation (sometimes known as greenies) are calculated automatically by taking the difference between your score for a hole and your putts for a hole.  For instance, if you scored a 5 on a hole and you took 3 putts and the hole was a par 4, then you get credit for a greenie.  The difference between score and putts must be 1 or less for par 3s, 2 or less for par 4s and 3 or less for par 5s in order to score a greenie.


Concepts

Slope

Rating

USGA Handicapping

9 Hole Handicaps

ESC (Equitable Stroke Control)

Putting Averages

Greens In Regulation


Slope

Slope is a value that is used along with rating and score to determine a players handicap.  It is used to represent the relative difficulty of a golf course.  This number may not be available for all golf courses since slope is still a fairly new concept in golf handicapping.  When slope is specified, it will be between 75 and 150 (150 representing the most difficult).  If slope is not specified, the average slope of 113 is assumed according to the USGA formula.


Rating

Rating (sometimes printed on golf score cards as "course rating") is a number that is required in the USGA formula to calculate a handicap.  If you play a course that is not "rated" that round will not count against your handicap.  The rating for a course must be between 50 and 100.  Typically, the rating for a course is close to the value of par for the course.


Nine Hole Handicapping

Although the USGA does not recognize nine hole scores in it's handicapping algorithm, Golf Handicapper has been written to approximate a handicap using 9 hole scores.  You can enable or disable this option in the preferences screen.  When 9 hole handicapping is enabled, successive 9 hole scores are used as a single 18 hole score.  The rating used is 1/2 of the rating for the first 9 hole score and 1/2 of the rating for the second 9 hole score.  The same is done for slope.

While this does not give you a true USGA handicap, it does give you an indication of what your handicap would be if you were posting 18 hole scores.

If you play more than 9 holes but less than 18 holes, statistics will be calculated for all holes played. The scores on the holes played after 9, however, will not be included in your handicap calculation.


Equitable Stroke Control

Equitable Stroke Control or ESC is used by the USGA to insure that handicaps are not unfairly padded.  Depending on your handicap, there is a maximum score that you are allowed to post.  For a 17 handicap, for instance, the maximum score you can post is a 7 (on any hole).  ESC is performed automatically by Golf Handicapper.  Your gross score however is what you see when you view a score on the score screen.


How to order Golf Handicapper

Golf Handicapper can be purchased by sending $25 to:

_______________________________

 Software

c/o Christopher Bodine

4543 Dartmouth Dr.

Sacramento, Ca.      95841

_______________________________

Please include $1.50 Shipping and Handling for US orders and $2.50 Shipping and handling for foreign orders.  Checks, money orders and cash accepted.


USGA Handicapping

Golf Handicapper conforms to the USGA formula for calculating handicaps.  In order to establish a handicap, however, 5 scores must be recorded.  Until 5 scores are recorded, Golf Handicapper will report your handicap as "NA" (Not Available).


Golf Handicapper Screens

There are 6 basic screens in Golf Handicapper.  These screens serve as the foundation for the Golf Handicapper system.  They are:

Miscellaneous Screens

Main Screen

Options Screen

Data Entry Screens

The data entry screens allow you to enter the data necessary to calculate the thousands of statistics that Golf Handicapper is capable of calculating.  All of these screens include a section of the screen called an Options section.  This section is used to display buttons associated with entry of data such as Add, Delete and Update.

Golfer Screen

Course Screen

Score Screen

Statistics Screens

The statistics subsystem is the heart of the Golf Handicapper system.  These screens are where you will calculate statistics, display graphs and list scores for one or more golfers or courses.  There are a host of sub-screens available from the main Statistics Screen.

Statistics Screen


Main Screen

The main screen is displayed upon starting up Golf Handicapper.  It allows you to go to any of the other screens by pressing the buttons.  Optionally, you may use the menu bar to select a screen to go to from the main screen.

The main screen is used as an entry point into the system and may be bypassed altogether by using the menus after initially starting the application.


Golfer Screen

The golfer screen is used to enter information about golfers.  At least one golfer must be entered in the system before you can enter a golf score.


Course Screen

The course screen is used to enter information about the golf courses you play.  Once you have entered a course, you need never do it again, regardless of how many times you play the course.

Tip

The handicap field on this form is used to record the relative difficulty of the hole with respect to the other holes on the course.  This is sometimes called "hole rating".


Score Screen

This is the most complicated data entry screen.  This is where you enter score information for all golfers that you track.  There is a multitude of information collected and displayed on this screen.

One of the special features of this screen is the player filter.  If you only want to see scores for a certain player you can select that player in the "Show scores for..." menu.

Another interesting feature of this screen is that it calculates your handicap for you.  You can also get your handicap in the statistics screens.

Play with this screen and discover all of it's tricks.  For instance, color coding is used to differentiate Birdies, Pars and Bogies (or greater).  Birdies are red.  Pars are black.  And Bogies (or greater) are blue.  This color coding scheme is used for putts and fairways as well - 1 putts are red, 2 putts are black and 3 putts or worse are blue - a hit fairway is black, a missed fairway is blue.


Statistics Screen
Statistics Screens

The statistics screen is where the real fun starts.  From here you can launch calculations to display thousands of statistics about your game and the courses you play.  Trend analysis can be graphically displayed for any facet of your game.

This screen is divided into 3 main sections:

Selection Tools:  These are tools that allow you to selectively include or exclude scores or golfers from the calculations.  The selection tools only apply to the golfer reports statistics (see below).

Golfer Reports:  These reports give statistics about 1 or all golfers.  There is a lot to play with here.  Have fun!

Course Reports:  These reports give statistics about a course without regard to who played it (ie: selection tools dont affect the calculations for these screens).  These reports can be useful to understand the relative difficulty people have had with a course or a hole on that course.


Preferences Screen
Options Screen

The preferences screen is where you can change options for the program.  The options set in this screen will be remembered each time you use this program if you click on the Save button when you have completed setting options.

The options on this screen are divided into 5 sections.  Each section can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate tab.

General -	This section sets general system wide options.  Options include:

Enable autotab on score and course entry

When this option is checked, the cursor will automatically tab to the next field when entering score and course information.  The autotab feature only applys to the score, putts, fairways, drive distance and sand shots fields on the score screen and the par, yardage and rating fields on the course screen.

Date format

This pull down box allows you to select of several different date formats to use in Golf Handicapper.  The date format chosen will apply to every date displayed or printed in the system.

Main 	-	This section sets options for the Main Menu. Options include:

Main menu always on top

When this option is checked, the main menu will always stay on top of the other screens

Small buttons on main menu

When this option is checked, the main menu buttons will be smaller and will not inclued descriptive text.

Scores - 	This section sets options for the scores screen.  Options include:

Enter Putts by default

When this option is checked the Putts fields are enabled and you are prompted to enter putts.

Enter Fairways by default

When this option is checked the Fairways fields are enabled and you are prompted to enter fairways.

Enter Driving Distance by default

When this option is checked the Driving Distance fields are enabled and you are prompted to enter driving distances.

Enter Sand Shots by default

When this option is checked the Sand fields are enabled and you are prompted to enter sand shots.

Calculate Net Scores by default

When this option is checked, Golf Handicapper calculates net scores for the golfer and displays them in the totals portion of the scores screen.

Disable Fairways on Par 3s

If you do not want to track fairways for Par 3s, check this box.  Most of the time, a fairway hit on a par 3 is a bad thing.

Disable Driving Distance on Par 3s

If you do not want to track driving distances on Par 3s, check this box.  Most of the time, driving distances are not relevant on Par 3s.

Wide Screen

If you check this box the scores screen is resized to a wide size.  Dont check this box unless you are running Windows in 800x600 resolution or greater because the screen will be too large to fit on the desktop.

Courses -	This section sets options for the courses screen.  Options include:

Enter Hole Handicaps by default

When this option is checked the Hole Handicaps or Ratings fields are enabled and you will be prompted to enter this information.

Enter Yardage by default

When this option is checked, the Yardage fields are enabled and you will be prompted to enter yardage information.

Statistics - 	This section sets options for the statistics screens.  Options include:

Use 9 Hole Scores for Handicapping and Statistics

When this option is checked, 9 hole scores are included in your handicap calculation.

Plot 18 / 9 Hole Scores on Trend Analysis

This option allows you to choose whether you want to see 9 hole scores or 18 hole scores on the trend analysis graph.

Default Report Title

This text box allows you to specify a custom report title.  This title will be printed at the top of all of your reports.


Golf Handicapper Menus

The Golf Handicapper system makes use of menu options where it is appropriate.  The look and feel of the menus is consistent from screen to screen.  All menu options, however, are not available on all screens.  Some screens require special functionality such as the "Show scores for..." menu on the Scores screen.  The menus are intended to be self explanatory and in some cases redundant.

Almost all of the screens in Golf Handicapper have 3 Menus. They are:

File	Standard file menu.

Exit	Exit the system.

Options	This menu accesses the options screen.

Window

Courses	Accesses the courses screen.

Scores	Accesses the scores screen.

Golfers	Accesses the golfers screen.

Statistics	Accesses the statistics screen.

Main	Accesses the main screen.

Other menus include:

(Scores Screen)

Show scores for...	Allows you to selectively filter which golfer's scores you see in the list box.


Golf Handicapper Buttons

Buttons are used in Golf Handicapper to give quick access to functions.  The main screen has graphical buttons to take you to the Golfer, Courses, Scores and Statistics screens.

All of the data entry screens have standard "record update" buttons. These include:

Add	Add the record that you have just entered.

Update	Updates the record currently selected.

Delete	Deletes the record currently selected.

Other buttons common to all data entry screens are:

Close 	Closes the current screen and goes back to the main screen.

Clear	Clears all data from the fields on the current data entry screen.

The scores screen also includes:

Print	Prints the currently selected score.

The statistics screens and sub-screens have a separate set of buttons.  All statistics screens  include:

Close 	Close the current screen.

Print	Print the current report or graph.

Other statistics screens include:

Graph	Regraphs the data with the current data selection criteria.

Calculate	Recalculates the data with the current data selection criteria.

The Save button on the Preferences screen allows you to save the currently selected preferences for future sessions.  The Quit button disregards any changes made and reverts to preferences that were in effect when you entered the Preferences screen.


Technical Support

If you have problems, questions or comments about Golf Handicapper, you can send mail to:

CloverLeaf Software

4543 Dartmouth Dr.

Sacramento, CA   95841

or....

E-Mail to:

Internet:	74367,1131@compuserve.com

Compuserve:	74367,1131

I will do my best to respond as quickly as possible.


Entering score information
Entering score and course information

The information entered on the score screen is critical.  The more information you enter on this screen, the more statistics you will be able to calculate. (see How to collect data for Golf Handicapper).

Here are a few tips for entering score information:

- Use the keypad to enter your score.

- Use the + key to tab forward.

- Use the - key to tab backward.

- Use the 1 key for Y (in the Fairway and Sand fields).

- Use the 0 key for N (in the Fairway and Sand fields).

The above tips are only useful while you are entering score, putting, fairway, driving and sand shot information on the score screen and par, rating and yardage information on the course screen.  Use the normal Windows navigation keys while in the other fields.

Tip

By selecting a score and clicking the Add button, you can replicate a record in the Golf Handicapper database.  This technique also works for Golfer and Course records.  You must, however change the unique element of that record or Golf Handicapper will detect the entry as a duplicate record.  For golfer records, the unique element is last name + first name.  For course records the unique element is course name + course tees.  For score records, the unique element is player name + course name + date played.