By Frank Thomas August 22, 2008

Our equipment guru, Golf Digest Technical Advisor Frank Thomas, has the answers to your questions. Click here to submit a question for possible use in this column and you could receive a signed copy of Frank's latest book, "Just Hit It: Our Equipment and Our Game." For more from Frank you can visit his site franklygolf.com. [Note: Each week submitted questions will be reviewed and the best one will receive a signed copy of Frank's book, "Just Hit It."]

HOLE IN ONE OR NOT?

I recently hit the ball into the cup for a hole-in-one, but the ball did not fall to the bottom of it. Instead, was wedged between the flag and the cup. Then my playing partner moved the flag and the ball came out without falling to the bottom of the cup. I told him that he did not have any business moving the flag and that he should have allowed me to move the flag to allow the ball to fall to the bottom of the cup.

Frank, what happens now?

--Roosevelt

Roosevelt,

The first thing you should do is to lose your playing partner's phone number. Deprivation of a hole-in-one is nothing to sneeze at. Then I would suggest that you sue him for the fee of a psychologist needed to resolve this mentally traumatic experience. I would probably claim some punitive damages while you are at it to teach him a lesson not to do this again.

The ball is considered to be "holed" if it is at rest and all of it is below the level of the lip of the hole. If this was the case then you made a hole-in-one and may have to, belatedly, buy a round of drinks for those who were at the course. I don't know whether this is a good idea, but it obviously depends on how many golfers were playing that day and/or if you subscribe to a "hole-in-one' insurance plan at the club.

On a more serious note, we need to establish if the 'perpetrator of this act' was really your partner in match play or your opponent. If he was your partner then what he does, with or without your authorization, is as if you did it yourself.

If the entire ball was not below the level of the lip and it did not fall into the hole when the flag was removed by your opponent -- in match play -- he gets a stroke penalty for moving your ball, because you did not authorize him to move the flag. You then replace the ball against the stick and take it out VERY CAREFULLY yourself. Same procedure for stroke play, but your fellow competitor does not get a penalty stroke.

If you authorized your opponent or fellow competitor to move the flag stick and he screwed it up and the ball didn't fall into the hole, then you must place it on the edge of the hole and you didn't get that hole-in-one.

I think I would just find a good lawyer or lose his phone number, depending on which costs less.

Frank

FIGURING SLOPE AND RATING

My question is about course slope and rating. Exactly what are they and how are they figured? I think there are many like myself who would like to know for sure just what these are and how they work, especially when figuring a handicap. I also know that this question is not about club technology, but maybe as a change of pace you would address this. Who better than you, with your extensive knowledge of the game, to clear this up for us.

Thanks,

--Ron

Ron,

Thanks for the kind comments. I do happen to have some insight into the slope rating as I directed the Handicap Research Team in the development of the slope system in 1979. It is a system which better reflects a golfer's real skill nationally, not just at his home course, and thus makes the handicap portable.

I will try to go through this in easy to follow steps:

Most courses are designed and rated -- the number used to calculate the handicap -- for the scratch golfer. The concept of slope is to account for the differences in the difficulty of courses, which may play to the same degree of difficulty for the scratch golfer, but are considerably different in difficulty for the average golfer.

The difference in difficulty, for example of courses with the same length, may be because of forced carries over water or waste areas of 120 to 180 yards, which don't phase the scratch golfer but send shivers down the spine of the bogey golfer, as do various other hazards like rough and trees, etc.

A golfer's handicap developed on one course is not necessarily a good reflection of his/her expected or actual performance on another. So an adjustment has to be made to correct for this disparity. Courses are thus rated for both the scratch and bogey golfer, and the difference dictates the slope of the adjustment line used to calculate the handicap.

With a high slope or degree of difficulty, say for instance a slope of 155 (the score minus the course rating), is adjusted down before being used to calculate the handicap. If the slope was low, like a slope of 95, then the score minus the course rating is adjusted up before being used to calculate the handicap. The base line, where no adjustment is required is a slope of 113.

The slope system is the great equalizer, which adjusts the handicap to better describe every golfer's true skill level based on a course of average difficulty, i.e. a slope of 113.

If you visit a course with a slope of 113, the number of strokes you receive is based only on your handicap with no adjustment. If the slope is higher than 113 you receive more strokes than your handicap indicates, and if it is lower than 113 then you receive fewer strokes.

Ron, I hope this answers your question and that I have helped to explain the basics of course slope and rating.

Frank