The easy answer is reading the blog and hopefully getting ready for the start of the 2020 Broken Joe Golf season.

After a lot of thought, I have decided that it may be time for some changes. I have been working on the handicaps and the 2020 schedule for a couple of months, this is what I came up with.

2020 BJG Handicaps:

I started out looking at the average scores from 2019 to give me a starting point for the 2020 handicaps. After going down the rabbit hole, I realized that “average” scores were not going to work because of the difference between a golfer's lowest score and the highest score was skewing the numbers. For example:

Name Low High Difference

Matt 109 153 44

Nic 100 135 35

Dan 99 127 28

Chris 95 119 24

Rock 91 113 22

Jake 90 112 22

Steve 96 115 19

Cody 84 103 19

Joe T 96 114 18

Rey 94 112 18

Dave 87 105 18

Adam 108 123 15

Joe 93 108 15

Cirelli 98 110 12

Jon 117 125 8

Bryan 89 97 8

If we used AVERAGE Scores to create our handicaps and that golfer shot his low score, Matt would have shot an 83 and Cody and Dave would have shot a 101. This would have been the same scenario when Chris lost the Winter Classic to Matt in 2015.

With that in mind, I am going with just the low scores because handicaps are based on potential (read that as “Play Better Golf”). This is what the numbers look like along with my "eye test".

2020 BJG Schedule:

I have also been working on the 2020 schedule and while I was on my 24th version (along with looking at handicaps) I realized that we don’t play enough actual golf. A normal season consists of 4 Majors and 5 Tournaments. The tournaments (Pretenders, 3 Club Challenge, Alt Shots, and Match Play) are all fun and exciting but they relied on everyone showing up plus, at the end of the year, we only had 5 rounds of golf for handicapping. The tournaments were great for breaking up the golfing season when we played 34 weeks. Now that the regular season is every other Sunday and only lasts between 9 to 11 weeks, it is time to remove a couple of these tournaments.

Again, after many versions, this is my recommendation.

It has us playing more individual rounds of golf, it keeps a couple of challenging tournaments, it gives us 2 more weeks (11) for the regular season, we open the season with a kind of practice round and it has a couple of rounds that we keep things interesting and golfers playing golf. It also doubles up golf courses so you can play the same course as the upcoming Major course. Another idea I have been kicking around is that the BJG Championship is the Final Round with the first 3 Majors being the first 3 rounds.

We start the season earlier with the NEW BJG AM-AM-AM-AM. This is a four-man team event but everyone plays their own ball with their BJG handicap. Total up the each groups scores and the group with the lowest score wins. This is also a good “ice breaker” to start the 2020 BJG season.

Since I was able to start the season a little early, it allowed me to add a new round of golf to our schedule, The Chubby Classic. I got the name from Chubb Classic which is on the PGA’s Champion Tour.

I removed the Chose FORE (Alt Shots) and replaced it with The (Time) Travelers. I selected this name because it is the same weekend as The Travelers. It would be nice to play this round in CT but...

I removed Match Play and replaced it with The Quest for Valhalla. During this match, each GROUP is fighting for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place points. For example, in Group One: Cody, Dave, Bryan, and Jake would be fighting for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place points against each other, as would each of the other groups. That could shake up the points. Welcome to BJG's version of Valhalla.

For the second round of the FedUp Cup, I added The Battle of the Vanquished. This will give the bottom 8 golfers something to do while the top 8 golfers continue to move forwardt. It’s the battle for 9th place but at least your still playing golf.

And last but not least, I added an “all hands on deck” for the FedUp Cup FINALS. I haven’t got all of the details worked out yet but at the end of the long season and we crown our new Champion, there should be more than three other people there.

2020 BJG Fees

The Annual BJG fee is based on the same purchases that occur each year, at least that’s the way it works in February and on paper.

At the end of 2019 season, I once again lost some good change but that is just a drop in the bucket compared to the compensation and respect that comes with being the BJG Commissioner.

Right now the 2020 purchases come up to about $500, divided that by 16 and the cost is $32.00 per Golfer (Round up to $35.00).

2020 BJG Rules

We need to find a way to keep “searching for a lost ball” to 3 minutes. I know it sucks to lose a ball just off the fairway but… We can also review the rules and answer any questions.

I have decided to bring a democratic republic to BJG by creating committees for each of these important decisions and to help guide BJG in 2020.

Scheduling Committee: Joe, Rock, Rey, and Cody. Rock will be the Committee Chairman

Handicap Committee: Chris, Jake, Bryan and Joe T. Chris will be the Committee Chairman

Fees Committee: Dan, Matt, Jon, and Nic. Dan will be the Committee Chairman

Rules Committee: Dave, Adam, Cirelli, and Steve. Dave will be the Committee Chairman

So we have a date for the BJG Winter Meeting, 3/15/20 BUT we don't have a location to hold the meeting. Any volunteers to host 16 people for this meeting? I know some of you can't make that call on your own, so talk to your significant other, mom or landlord. Hurry because there is only 14 days until this meeting.

If we don't have a location for the BJG Winter Meeting, I will meet with the Committee Chairs, work out the detals for the BJG season and then send it out to you in a Blog Post.

I also need to know who is playing golf with BJG in 2020 so we can figure out the fees. Let me know today.

I have the 2019 winner name plates, I ordered the 2019 Fed Up Cup Champion and the Winter Classic Champion golf shirts and the 2020 "Misters" green jacket.

Enjoy your "extra" day.

Respectfully,

Broken Joe

Commissioner