Below are the average scores for each hole in tournament play, as of 2007:
hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | total |
Average, all divisions | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 5.0 | 3.4 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 3.3 | 71.3 |
Average, pro only | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 5.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 60.7 |
Nominal par | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 61 |
Below are more stats, giving the number of occurrences of each score, using only pro players, (MPO, MPM and MPG), in tournament play only. For pro divisions combined there were 15 players (30 rounds) from April Showers 2006, 28 rounds from the 2006 Battle Of Saratoga, 38 rounds from April Showers 2 in 2007, 34 rounds from the 2007 Battle, 46 rounds from April Showers 2009, and 30 from April Showers 2010, for a total of 206 rounds, pro only. Note: Old 14 and old 17 were used in April Showers 2006 and Battle 2006; new 14 and new 17 for April Showers 2007 and later. 17 was changed again in 2012, see below.
scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
hole 1 | 73 | 112 | 19 | 1 | 1 | ||||
hole 2 | 98 | 98 | 10 | ||||||
hole 3 | 1 | 119 | 78 | 8 | |||||
hole 4 | 118 | 66 | 19 | 2 | |||||
hole 5 | 5 | 67 | 82 | 40 | 10 | 2 | |||
hole 6 | 1 | 116 | 84 | 5 | |||||
hole 7 | 59 | 131 | 13 | 3 | |||||
hole 8 | 1 | 74 | 94 | 33 | 4 | ||||
hole 9 | 2 | 120 | 64 | 17 | 3 | ||||
hole 10 | 12 | 163 | 32 | 1 | |||||
hole 11 | 80 | 99 | 26 | 1 | |||||
hole 12 | 1 | 45 | 94 | 48 | 11 | 1 | 2 | ||
hole 13 | 59 | 108 | 35 | 4 | |||||
old 14 | 2 | 42 | 11 | 3 | |||||
new 14 | 62 | 63 | 20 | 6 | |||||
hole 15 | 8 | 131 | 60 | 5 | 2 | ||||
hole 16 | 2 | 57 | 68 | 46 | 30 | 4 | |||
old 17 | 7 | 40 | 9 | 2 | |||||
new 17 | 28 | 87 | 30 | 2 | 1 | ||||
hole 18 | 2 | 68 | 82 | 36 | 15 | 3 |
In the above: Aces: Nibs Carter hole
3, Mark McGarity hole 6, Greg Kurtz hole 18 twice. Eagle on 12 Mike Broderick.
Eagles on 16 Kurt Wagoner and Ken "Tank" Franks. Eagle on 8 Sean Healy. Eagles on 5, Craig Cutler, John DeBois, Daniel Marcus, Jason Johnson
and Troy Widden. Hole new-14 has never been eagled. Hole 4
has never been birdied!
The above table gives us a insight into which holes are well-designed, and which are poorly-designed, and gives us a chance to make improvements. A good hole should separate skilled players from less-skilled players, so there should a statistically smooth bell curve centered around par with a good and fairly equal number of birdies and bogeys on each side, and not too many skewed off the bell curve. Signs of a poorly designed hole are when too many people get the same score. The flatter the bell curve, the better the hole, because it separates the players better. For example, holes 12 and old 17 are bell curves centered around 4, but old 17 had a narrow bell curve and hole 12 has a wide one. This means hole 12 is better at separating the players. Old 14 and 10 have the worst bell curves...too many people getting a 3, and very few birdies or bogeys. A hole like that does not separate the players very much. For holes like that, we need to make birdies easier or pars harder, to flatten out the bell curve. Hole 14 has been changed and now separates the players better, hole 10 is next. Also, 15 and 9 get too many 3's and not enough 2's, but enough people get 4's on those holes that it separates the players well, so those holes won't be changed.
These stats also tell us the pars of the holes. The par is around the center of the bell curve. We clearly see that hole 12 is a par 4, it's the center of the bell curve. We can also see that hole 16 is a par 5, and so is hole 5. Hole 3 centers around par 2 but there is no such thing as a par 2. This just means it's a "deuce or die" hole, or an ace run. Hole 4 is odd, because it has never been birdied but gets bogied, double bogied and triple bogied often, yet it's still a par 3 by the stats.
Eagles in tournament play or organized doubles:
Hole 16 (Morgan Wright, Kurt Waggoner, Ken "Tank" Franks, Scott Selders,
Danny White, Bobby Jones)
Hole 12 (Mike Broderick)
Hole 8 has been deuced
in tournament (Mark McGarrity, Sean Healy) and in doubles by Jeff Zipkin
Hole 5 eagle 3's
in tournament: (Troy Widden, Craig Cutler (twice), Daniel Marcus, John DeBois, Jason Johnson, Mark
"Lanky Lefty" McGarrity, Dan Hasings and Liam Moore).
No double-eagles.
Witnessed aces:
Hole 1 Bobby Jones, Drew Dorman
Hole 2 Greg Hoffman
Hole 3 (many)
Hole 6 Mark McGarity
Hole 7 Ben Basilio
Hole 11 Loren Thompkins
Hole 18 Craig Cutler, Matt Alberghini, Greg Kurtz (twice)
Round ratings at this course based on April Showers 2012 second round:
April Showers, 2011
Below are instances of each score for MPO, MPM, and MPG players, from April Showers 6 in April, 2011. 23 players, 46 rounds. As above, only Pro players' scores were used. The 2 on hole 4, by Troy Widden, is something that happens extremely rarely. There was an eagle on 16 by Bobby Jones, and 2 eagles on 5, by Dan Hastings and Liam Moore. In the amateur divisions, aces on hole 2 by Greg Hoffman and hole 1 by Drew Dorman, and an eagle on 5 by Justin Hoffman, are notable. The 6 on hole 2 by a pro is also notable...how is it even possible?
scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
hole 1 | 15 | 21 | 9 | 1 | |||||
hole 2 | 21 | 21 | 3 | 1 | |||||
hole 3 | 22 | 18 | 6 | ||||||
hole 4 | 1 | 28 | 13 | 4 | |||||
hole 5 | 2 | 16 | 19 | 6 | 3 | ||||
hole 6 | 26 | 20 | |||||||
hole 7 | 18 | 23 | 5 | ||||||
hole 8 | 19 | 22 | 4 | 1 | |||||
hole 9 | 24 | 15 | 6 | 1 | |||||
hole 10 | 4 | 34 | 7 | 1 | |||||
hole 11 | 19 | 25 | 2 | ||||||
hole 12 | 12 | 25 | 6 | 3 | |||||
hole 13 | 13 | 22 | 6 | 3 | 2 | ||||
new 14 | 23 | 17 | 5 | 1 | |||||
hole 15 | 34 | 11 | 1 | ||||||
hole 16 | 1 | 12 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
hole 17 | 11 | 27 | 8 | ||||||
hole 18 | 18 | 19 | 6 | 3 |
Update 2011.
After April Showers 2011, hole 15 was increased to a par 4 hole by moving the pin forward 135 feet into a woods green. This moves the par to 62 and the SSA to 56
Update for 2012 and 2013.
In 2012, hole 17 was increased from 200 feet and par 3 to a 650 foot par 4, which will be the permanent layout for 17. This brings the course up to par 63 and the SSA to 57.
The below stats reflect the new layout, and are for the Battle of Saratoga 2012 and April Showers 2013, using rounds by pro and advanced divisions only. All pro divisions were used, and Advanced Men only. Advanced M, GM and W were not used. There were 30 such players in April Showers 2013 (60 rounds) and 17 in Battle 2012 (34 rounds). Total 94 rounds.
scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pro Average |
hole 1 | 35 | 48 | 11 | 2.74 | |||||
hole 2 | 42 | 41 | 10 | 1 | 2.68 | ||||
hole 3 | 1 | 46 | 44 | 3 | 2.52 | ||||
hole 4 | 58 | 33 | 3 | 3.41 | |||||
hole 5 | 3 | 33 | 39 | 16 | 3 | 4.82 | |||
hole 6 | 47 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 2.59 | ||||
hole 7 | 25 | 61 | 8 | 2.82 | |||||
hole 8 | 1 | 26 | 51 | 17 | 1 | 3.99 | |||
hole 9 | 44 | 35 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 3.72 | |||
hole 10 | 7 | 69 | 18 | 3.12 | |||||
hole 11 | 1 | 41 | 43 | 9 | 2.64 | ||||
hole 12 | 21 | 42 | 26 | 5 | 4.16 | ||||
hole 13 | 29 | 48 | 15 | 2 | 2.89 | ||||
hole 14 | 1 | 44 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 3.61 | |||
hole 15 | 6 | 42 | 36 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4.57 | ||
hole 16 | 2 | 19 | 34 | 28 | 7 | 4 | 5.33 | ||
hole 17 | 11 | 50 | 26 | 6 | 1 | 4.32 | |||
hole 18 | 33 | 36 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 3.04 |
Note the eagle on 14 by Eric McCabe, the eagle on 16, also by Eric McCabe, the ace on 11 by Eric Kretschmar, and the eagle on 8 by Greg Hoffman, all during Battle 2012.
April Showers 2013 included an ace on hole 3 by Greg Kurtz, 3 eagles on 5 by Danny White and Kyle Moriarty (Kyle did it both rounds!!), and an eagle on 16 by Chris Bolton.
During April Showers 7, in April 2012, Mark McGarrity (Lanky Lefty) got an eagle 2 on hole 17, the only time this has been done. The only eagle 2 on hole 12 in tournament play was by Mike Broderick a few years ago (see above).
Below is April Showers 9, 2014. All players with a rating of 900 or more were used, for a total of 35 players (70 rounds). Among players under 900, Scott Osika got an ace on 1 and a 3 on 16 which don't appear here.
Scores | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hole 1 | 26 | 32 | 11 | 1 | ||||
hole 2 | 23 | 39 | 7 | 1 | ||||
hole 3 | 36 | 28 | 6 | |||||
hole 4 | 52 | 13 | 4 | 1 | ||||
hole 5 | 1 | 25 | 28 | 12 | 3 | 1 | ||
hole 6 | 38 | 27 | 5 | |||||
hole 7 | 29 | 33 | 7 | 1 | ||||
hole 8 | 2 | 25 | 38 | 5 | ||||
hole 9 | 39 | 22 | 7 | 2 | ||||
hole 10 | 3 | 57 | 9 | 1 | ||||
hole 11 | 23 | 37 | 9 | 1 | ||||
hole 12 | 16 | 27 | 19 | 7 | 1 | |||
hole 13 | 24 | 36 | 13 | 1 | ||||
hole 14 | 28 | 29 | 9 | |||||
hole 15 | 5 | 42 | 21 | 1 | 1 | |||
hole 16 | 1 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 7 | 1 | ||
hole 17 | 9 | 31 | 22 | 7 | 1 | |||
hole 18 | 25 | 25 | 14 | 4 |
Below is Battle of Saratoga 12, October 2014. Players with 900 or better rating were used, and there were 30 such players (60 rounds)
Hole 9 fairway was opened up during 2014, to make it into a true par 3 hole instead of a par 3 �, and 4 people did get 2's. In 21 previous tournaments over 12 years, only 2 people have ever deuced hole 9, but now we got 4 in one tournament (Gary Crowley, Danny White, Mike Delisle Jr. and Dan Hastings). Dan Hastings got an eagle on 14, Dan Marcus got an eagle on 16, Harry L and Dom S got rare birdies on 4, and Mike Delisle Jr. got an ace.
Scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hole 1 | 18 | 26 | 16 | |||||
hole 2 | 28 | 30 | 2 | |||||
hole 3 | 1 | 34 | 23 | 1 | 1 | |||
hole 4 | 2 | 46 | 11 | 1 | ||||
hole 5 | 23 | 21 | 12 | 3 | 1 | |||
hole 6 | 36 | 20 | 4 | |||||
hole 7 | 13 | 42 | 5 | |||||
hole 8 | 13 | 38 | 7 | 2 | ||||
hole 9 | 4 | 42 | 11 | 3 | ||||
hole 10 | 3 | 40 | 15 | 2 | ||||
hole 11 | 22 | 31 | 7 | |||||
hole 12 | 10 | 33 | 13 | 3 | 1 | |||
hole 13 | 21 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||
hole 14 | 1 | 30 | 24 | 4 | 1 | |||
hole 15 | 6 | 30 | 19 | 4 | 1 | |||
hole 16 | 1 | 18 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 1 | ||
hole 17 | 12 | 29 | 18 | 1 | ||||
hole 18 | 35 | 15 | 8 | 2 |
In 2018, trees were cut near the basket of 9, opening it up even more. Let's check the stats to see if there were more birdies for Battle 16.
133 rounds, all divisions used.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hole 1 | 42 | 54 | 32 | 5 | 1 | ||||||
hole 2 | 25 | 74 | 29 | 5 | 2 | ||||||
hole 3 | 60 | 47 | 24 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
hole 4 | 69 | 48 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | |||||
hole 5 | 2 | 18 | 47 | 35 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 5 | |||
hole 6 | 1 | 48 | 72 | 11 | 1 | 6 | |||||
hole 7 | 23 | 88 | 20 | 2 | 7 | ||||||
hole 8 | 24 | 53 | 36 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||||
hole 9 | 10 | 90 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 9 | |||||
hole 10 | 4 | 65 | 47 | 15 | 2 | 10 | |||||
hole 11 | 47 | 72 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 11 | |||||
hole 12 | 15 | 47 | 42 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 12 | ||||
hole 13 | 30 | 67 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 13 | |||||
hole 14 | 2 | 37 | 66 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 14 | ||||
hole 15 | 4 | 55 | 42 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 15 | ||||
hole 16 | 3 | 20 | 29 | 44 | 25 | 11 | 1 | 16 | |||
hole 17 | 7 | 39 | 46 | 17 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 17 | |||
hole 18 | 33 | 57 | 32 | 7 | 4 | 18 |
An ace by Tyler D, 3 eagles on 16 by Cody M, Harry L and Rick G, and 2 eagles on 5, both by Harry L!