So, another season is coming up soon. It seems like last year’s Team format was kind of a bust, so, I thought we’d try something a little different this season. Just for fun.

I was watching a golf channel on YouTube over the winter, and, one week they had a foursome that played a knockout round. Basically, each hole would have the player with the highest score on the hole eliminated from the competition. If there was a tie, they would have some arbitrary play-off before proceeding to the next hole. Something we obviously couldn’t do, given our league format. However, I think we can come up with a way to make it work. Anyway, here is what I came up with.

Note: This applies ONLY to the Knockout Competition. Normal league play is unaffected by this. The results will be determined AFTER the round is completed, and points will be announced along with the other normal results when they are posted.

Using net scores only, and starting with the first hole, the highest score on the hole, AND ties, are eliminated from the Knockout competition.

Points will be applied via the table below, starting with 0 points awarded to players knocked out at the first hole.

Hole	Points
1	0
2	1
3	2
4	3
5	4
6	5
7	6
8	7
9	8

Once all but one player has been eliminated, scoring stops. So, it could happen than the winner for a given week only receives 5 points, although, in running this method for 4 weeks from last season, that doesn’t seem likely to happen often, if at all. All four weeks tested went all the way to the last hole, and even beyond. Which brings me to ties.

Handling ties, or multiple players at the end, is best explained via scenarios.

For instance, say after 8 holes, 2 players remain, and they both have the same score on the 9^th hole. To break this tie, we would go back to the 1^st hole and begin the process again for JUST THESE TWO PLAYERS. Whichever player survives the longest gets a 9^th point, while the other player receives the 8^th point.

If, after the 8^th hole, there are 2 (or more) players remaining, but they do not all tie on the 9^th hole, the highest score(s) will receive the 8^th point. Any remaining players will be handled as follows:

If only one player remains at this point, that player receives 9 points. If more than one player remains, then the same tie-breaker process that is used for 2 players will be used until 1 player remains. That player will receive 10 points while all of the players eliminated from the playoff will receive 9 points each. 10 points is the maximum that will be awarded during a single round. This extra 10^th point is for surviving the playoff.

If a final tie occurs BEFORE reaching the final hole, the same tie-breaker methodology will be used, but, the points awarded will be capped at the hole where the tie is ultimately broken, with the winner receiving 1 additional point for the round.

Below is an example of the scoring as applied to a round from last season:

Hole		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Points Awarded

									¹Playoff initiated
MAXIMUM		7	5	6	5	6	5	6	3	5
Mark		4	5								1
Bette		6	4	5	4	5	3	4	3	5	7
Tom		5	3	5	5						3
Tim		7									0
Bob		6	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	7
Dan		5	3	5	4	5	5				5
Jim		5	5								1
Dan R		5	4	6							2
Mike M		6	5								1
Brian		3	5								1
Marty		5	4	5	4	4	4	6			6
Dave	²	5	4	4	4	4	3	5	3	5	8
Andy		4	4	5	4	4	5				5
Gloria		3	3	4	4	6					4
									7
		¹ A playoff is initiated at the 8th hole as the 3 remaining players, Bette, Bob and Dave all have scores of 3
		² Dave wins play-off on first hole, bettering Bette's and Bob's scores of 6, with a 5, garnering him 10 points, and them 9 points each.

All points will be used to calculate a season-long average which will be used at the end to determine the “Knockout Champ”. However, each weekly leader will be recognized by having a small pair of boxing gloves attached in some fashion to their golf bag/cart, so as to be displayed (proudly) during the next round played.