Below is Ricky’s paper scorecard, with the incorrect score recorded, followed by the UDisc hole info over the first six holes, correctly showing hole 4’s deuce . After the round, UDisc was changed to match the paper scorecard without consulting the players. This (which also happened in round 2 on this same card) cost Ricky another two stroke penalty.
These are the highest profile cases where the UDisc app could have saved players strokes and money. There were over a dozen cases last year where players got penalty strokes for adding their scorecards incorrectly. Conversely, there were another dozen cases where the UDisc app saved players strokes by serving as a double check for their scores.
During the first DGPT event of the season, there were multiple scoring errors. Not only that, there were multiple types of scoring errors, all of which could have been avoided by a quick double check with UDisc before the scorecards were turned in. There were players that added their scorecard wrong and received a two stroke penalty. There were also players who had their scores written wrong on the scorecard by another player whose turn it was to keep score, again costing the player who had the wrong score a two stroke penalty.
In all of the cases above, the Pro Tour has a solution at the ready: the UDisc scoring app. In order for this solution to be fairly applied, it needs to be used equally by all players. The DGPT will mandate usage of the UDisc app at each of the nine remaining DGPT events in 2017. At the end of the year, the results of this test will be evaluated.
There are two ways for scores to be incorrect at the end of the round. They are either added wrong or the wrong score is written on the scorecard. In the first case, where players add their scores incorrectly, the UDisc app would simply add the scores up correctly and the player would notice that the two totals don’t match. Problem solved.
In the second case, scores are entered incorrectly on the scorecard. This happens when a player says, “I got a three” and the scorekeeper writes down a score other than three. This could be due to simple miscommunication or just hearing what you expect to hear . For example, I think you are going to make a putt so I turn around and walk to the next tee as you putt out. You oddly missing your five footer. When you go to the next tee and say you got a three, I could literally hear you say you got a two, because it is what I expected.
The UDisc app requires a player to say where each shot landed and records the score based on this information. With players saying where each shot landed, or a score keeper recording where each shot landed as they go, the miscommunication examples from the paragraph above would disagree with the scores in the UDisc app. Again, the error would be caught before the scorecard was turned in.
At our first event, the UDisc app had the correct data in all three cases that resulted in penalty strokes, but it was not checked against the scores on the scorecard. Here is our plan to test the usage of the UDisc app at the next Pro Tour event:
- The UDisc app must be used by each card. It is the responsibility of each player to keep score using the app for four or five holes, the same as the scorecard, which is also used. We would recommend that different people enter the information on the scorecard and the app.
- At the completion of each hole, the players proceed to the next tee where the UDisc scorer asks, “Player 1, throws and score”. Player 1 replies “fairway, circle 1, 10 foot putt for a three”. The UDisc scorer enters the landing position of each throw while the scorecard scorer enters a “3”. This continues for each player – and adds about a minute to the time spent on the next tee pad. With every card doing this, it would cause no additional backups, but would slow the round down by about 15 mintues.
- At the completion of the round, players must compare the score on the scorecard to the score in the UDisc app. If the scores match, the card is turned in and the UDisc app score is finalized. If the scores do not match, the card and UDisc app are reviewed until the error is found. Once found, the card is turned in and the UDisc app score is finalized.
We understand that the tradition of the scorecard is important. It is also important to remember the overall goal – to reward each player based on the number of throws it took them to navigate the course. Using the UDisc app in conjunction with a paper scorecard will double check every score and remove the possibility of a player losing thousands of dollars due to a scoring error.
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Lastly, we should point out that the UDisc app is already an integral part of the Pro Tour. It provides live scoring and in-depth, real-time statistics for the spectators, players, and course designers. Here are some stats regarding UDisc usage on the Pro Tour.
Over 30K users, across all 50 states and over 60 countries followed the live scores. Over 20,000 times, player stats were reviewed. Millions of times, ads were viewed and served.
