Golf score cards have always held a special significance for The Raptor.  In most cases they are "artful" and contain colorings, photos, and intricate patterns to assist with the scoring process.  Many years ago, while growing up with the game of golf, The Raptor had collected score cards and it would be safe to say there were some classic "old-school" cards with interesting tidbits of historical perspective...unfortunately, my mother threw all those cards out when I went off to college in 1976. 

Since then, I still have a collectors spirit when it comes to scorecards but do not have any residual cards organized to examine.  Probably due to cost factors, many facilities do not place a lot of emphasis on the appearance of the score card.  Foe example, Erie's most exclusive club has a relatively austere card which contains very little information.  On the other hand, if you are playing golf at Peak n Peek, you will note very elaborate scorecards that contain, photos, schematics as well as distances.

The Raptor recalls the first couple of seasons of play at LVCC in North East, PA and some scorecard shenanigans which were perpetrated by LVCC Pro Billy Kaye.  At that time, Lake View's 18th hole measured 425 yards on the scorecard.  However, when Billy relocated and a new card was designed, the yardage was more accurately stated at around 375 yards from tee to green...a substantial difference. It seems Billy was inflating the yardage to make the course appear to have a lengthy and difficult finishing hole. Was this bad?...Probably...but Billy got away with it.

Yardages on scorecards should be a lot more precise than they would have been years ago with the advent of the device which calculates yardage.  This could be a Bushnell or Leupold laser sight or a hand held Sky Caddie.  I believe Leupold is coming out with a device which will calculate the terrain of a hole and provide instantaneous feedback on slope and slants.  Unfortunately, there are no plans to monitor wind speeds...yet.

Initial Assessment -

The Raptor had been examining various aspects of the WWGC Yardage Specification and has come to the following conclusions...First, the course was originally measured during the process of design and construction and a "scorecard" had been developed by WWGC Turf Care Superintendant, Rob Gorring and WWGC Golf Pro, Rich Rocky...this scorecard can be seen in another page on this site...

In the spring of 2007, the West Penn Golf Association brought in a team to establish the course rating and slope rating for handicapping purposes.  The yardages which West Penn provided are "similar" to the yardages developed by the WWGC staff and there are just a small handful of variables.  Once the West Penn group established "official" yardages, West Penn "markers" or plates were provided for the par 4's and par 5's and these markers were more than likely placed into service by the WWGC staff.  These official markers are designated as the members tees for handicapping purposes and are classified as the Blue Tees. 

Based on my audit, I determined that West Penn does not provide markers for the Par 3's.  In lieu, the WWGC staff installed grey marble markers with yardages etched into the face for the par threes.

The Raptor had been noticing some variables regarding the markers and performed an audit of the markers on Saturday, June 12th and determined that there were six markers which had been incorrectly placed and in all likelihood should be "shuffled"...these include 4, 5, 7, 12 and 9, 13.

While it may be difficult to determine how the dramatic difference occurred in the measurement of the 4th hole...and to a lesser extent on the 5th hole...The Raptor is in the impression that the initial measurement performed by the WWGC was on a straight line from the tee to the green while the West Penn measurement used a "dogleg" approach in establishing the measurement.  By this I mean that the measurement went from the tee box to a point in the center of the fairway at 100 or 150 yards to the putting surface...then a second measurement occurred from the center point to the center of the putting surface.

As far as the 9th hole measurement is concerned, The Raptor recalls that the 2nd generation scorecard which was released in 2009 had a 20 yard increase for the Black, Blue and White tee box over the initial measurement.  As a result, the marker which is presently at the 13th tee which actually belongs at the 9th tee may have to be refitted with a new measurement.  This 20 yard variable may be due in part to the GPS measurement which may have some precision over the laser measurement.  In addition, the 9th green has a false front and there is a possibility that the initial measurement was performed at a point closer to the false front which has generated the variance

There is no explanation for the variable found on the 11th hole but the dramaic diiferences betweem West Penn and WWGC suggest a revise to more acurately reflect the true yardage on the hole.

In addition, The Raptor has determined that there appears an potential number transposition on the 17th hole marker. The analysis is as follows...the West Penn marker is listed at 398 yards on the Blue Tee and by extrapolation the Black Tee Yardage is 415 yards.  In contrast, the WWGC yardage is 389 yards from the Blue Tee and 405 yards from the Black Tee.  The marble "monument" which is located at the tee is more closely tied into the WWGC scorecard measurements and it is recommended that this measurement be revisited. 

Finally, the 18th hole measurement is suspect from the tee all the way to the green and some sort of convention needs to be adopted to establish some precise measurement as there is 100% inconsistency between West Penn, WWGC, Sky Caddie, Callaway UPro and hand held Bushnell measurements every step of the way.