Old School Cool
Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer take a smoke break on the tee box during a tournament.
I'm unsure if I watched Hogan play golf, but I remember watching Palmer in the early 1960s on a 20-inch black-and-white Zenith console TV. It was fun to watch Palmer drive, but I could never see the ball's flight due to the limitations of the camera and TV technology at the time. Things change. Today, TVs can be as large as 98 inches and mounted on walls. The flight of golf balls can now be tracked by radar. Additionally, a cameraman today would never show a professional golfer smoking. However, if he did, the camera technology is so advanced that you might be able to identify the cigarette brand.
More things changed. In the day, Palmer would simply sign his scorecard, more than likely grab the 1st place trophy he won, and go home. However, in 1981, the newly created GHIN service was developed* and adopted, requiring Palmer and every other golfer to post their tournament score as either "CH" (Competition Home) or "CA" (Competition Away). Taking a "trust no one" position, the USGA wants to keep scores sorted by categories to compare someone's recreational scores to their tournament scores. You can see all the codes when posting your score on the GHIN app.
If there is a pattern of high recreational scores and low tournament scores, the USGA and others would consider this golfer a sandbagger. – a person who plays intentionally poorly for fun and then uses the ill-gotten handicap strokes to win low-net prizes in tournaments. Today, golf course tournament committees will typically use tournament scores to establish handicap ranks for competitions.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
If you ever compete in a tournament or league play (Thursday Night Men's League), check with the officials to find the answers to the following questions:
- Will the score be an acceptable score for posting? Any "scramble" format is not an acceptable score
- Will the officials post your score in GHIN afterward? (This question has recently been answered by Andrew Grove. SGL will post acceptable tournament and league scores.)
Scores must be posted as either CA or CH.
*One of the GHIN developers was related to Eric "Doc" Barton, a member of Salishan GL. More on this in the future.
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Exceptional Score Report
