They’re even better than you thought

Kip HenleyUnderstanding how good the pros really are is best illustrated by the story of Kip Henley

All Kip Henley ever wanted was to be a tour player. His obsession began at age 5 when his mother, who worked folding boxes at the Arnold Palmer company in Chattanooga, provided her young son with a cut-off set of Arnold Palmer signature clubs.

Kip gave up his amateur status in 1982, trying tour school. No one tried harder and got less out of it than ol’ Kipper,” he said. “I paid a fortune in Q-School fees for probably 12 years.” After running out of funds, he turned to the life of a club pro and became a Class A PGA professional.

He has maintained his Class A standing with the PGA of America for years. Over the past 5 years, he made the transition to caddying for Tour Pro Brian Gay (that’s Kip in the white jumpsuit with Brian at the Masters) . Kipy Henley Caddy In fact, Kip picked up $100,000 a couple of years ago when Gay won the FedEx/St. Jude Classic in Memphis.

Last fall, for reasons he still doesn’t understand, Kip Henley played in and won the Tennessee PGA Section championship, “even though I hadn’t broken par all year.” Talk about the blind squirrel finding a nut. “I shot 10 under for 54 holes,” Henley said. “Like I said, a miracle. I stood on the 16th hole in the final round and made birdie on 16, 17 and 18, with my hands shaking.” Continue reading “They’re even better than you thought”

You vs. the Pros: New Pros Added

PGALPGA

Over the weekend we expanded our You vs. the Pros report, so that now your can choose from all of the top ranked golfers from the PGA and LPGA tours and view their stats from 2009.

We’re always looking to improve the report, so if you have other statistics that you track and would like to compare  (note that the PGA has to track them as well), or if there is another golfer you would rather measure yourself against, just let us know and we’d be happy to add them in

Update: Out of Season Scores

After receiving feedback about the confusion involving out-of-season scores, we’ve made things easier and more intuitive.

If you live in a Northern region (e.g. NY), it is important that you do not post scores during the inactive season. This is because course slope & ratings (the measures of course difficulty) may not be accurate in winter conditions (and thus skew your handicap). Checking the box still let’s you post your score – however, a score that you designate as out-of-season is only recorded in your Score History, and does not get used in the handicap calculation.

Before, the out-of-season checkbox would appear throughout the winter. Now, it will only appear if you are actually in a region Continue reading “Update: Out of Season Scores”

Introducing Dan Gonzalez

MyScorecard is excited to announce the start of the “On the Course with Dan Gonzalez” blog series. You’ll get to know more about Dan starting with his first post in a few days, but we felt it our duty to make a formal introduction, friend to friend.

So, Dan, meet the MyScorecard folks. MyScorecard folks, meet Dan. Dan is a golf writer and amateur golfer from Chapel Hill, NC. He plays most of his golf at the UNC Finley golf course (a must-play if you’re ever down in the triangle area), and is a frequent competitor in amateur events around the state. He’s just like you. He likes golf… a lot.

Dan will be posting a regular blog on this site, topics to vary. Our hope is that you’ll find his perspectives fresh, entertaining, and sometimes even informative. We also hope that you’ll feel inspired to post your thoughts and comments in reply. We’d love to hear from you.

Now, quit reading this and go play some golf!

The MyScorecard Team

Welcome!

Welcome! As we continue to explore new and better methods to communicate with you, the members of the MyScorecard community, our latest effort is the online handicap blog.

The goal of the blog is move from the one-way publishing model of our articles and newsletters to a more interactive method of communication.

Based on your feedback and suggestions, we will focus our blog entries on three topics:

 

Feature Updates: We are continually updating the site, both on the front and back end. In the past we would err on the side of conservatism and avoid sending you emails about small updates and minor features. Now we will post these to the blog so you can be aware of (and take advantage of) the latest and greatest improvements to the site.

 

Facts & Figures: A byproduct of our membership is the large amount of information that we gather about handicaps. Many of you realize this and send us questions: What is the average handicap? What is the hardest golf course in America? How much do average temperatures impact your scores? We can now share these answers with everyone and will post short, interesting updates to the blog.

 

golf handicap on the courseOn the Course with Dan Gonzalez: Dan is an amateur golfer and golf writer, who will be sharing stories from on the course. Though he has a handicap index of 2.6, we believe golfers of all skill levels – from beginners to professionals – will identify with his stories.

 

For those of you less familiar with blogs, new posts will appear at the top of the page. You can filter the posts by category/topic using the navigational links on the right. You are welcome to add your own thoughts and comments to each blog post using the Comment links below. And if you really enjoy what you’re reading, you can subscribe to the blog by clicking on the orange RSS icon in the lower left corner of the page.

As always, if you have suggestions for improving the blog, don’t hesitate to let us know – either in your blog feedback or by sending us an email.

The MyScorecard Team