Last year at this time, I looked at the Best and Worst rounds of APBA Golf I had played since I began keeping records in June 2020 using the Game Caddie Record Book. That was based on 1,332 rounds played, many of which were against real-life opponents, and so included their scorecard data as well.
In this post and the next, I am going to focus on what transpired in 2023 and how that compares to previous years’ records. Up first . . . the Best of 2023.
The round count is now up to 2,115, which means I tallied 783 rounds in 2023–including rounds from other people I competed against. As before, all of these rounds were played using the Game Caddie, and almost all of them used the Master Game rules.
Looking at all rounds played since 2020, they are spread very unevenly across 20 courses, all but one of which were designed by APBA. (The exception is East Lake by ASG.) The range is from 2 rounds per course to 301. The large number of rounds played on some courses is because of replay tournaments I conducted (or are currently taking place) on them.
The distribution of rounds played since 2020 appears below:
The average score for all rounds played is 71.8 at 0.6 strokes over par. The charts below show the best scores for each course, with Match Dates in 2023 highlighted in red:
I’m not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this data, given the unequal number of rounds played. My sense is that Los Angeles (Riviera) is the easiest course on this list with Birthplace (St. Andrews), perhaps, coming in second. Los Angeles has few opportunities to get in serious trouble, and the wind at Birthplace, although strong at times, is known before each shot and can be planned for.
Many of the best rounds I’ve ever recorded were played in 2023. Justin Thomas (2022) tied the record for lowest score relative to par held by Bryson DeChambeau (2020) since May 2021. Both were 11-under par, Thomas at Birthplace and DeChambeau at The Stadium Course (TPC Sawgrass).
Here are the ten best scores relative to par in my database (including ties). All but three were played in 2023:
Six more holes-in-one made their way into the record books in 2023–all tournament related–bringing the total since August 2020 to 14. Here is the full list:
More noteworthy performances in 2023 include:
- Marc Leishman (2022) tied the record set by Hideki Matsuyama (2019) in September 2020 for the longest drive–a 390-yard blast at Sooner Hills (Southern Hills) on a day with Moderate wind and Dry course conditions.
- The leader in Average Driving Distance, a new statistic introduced in late 2023, is LPGA golfer Nelly Korda (2022). She averaged 268 yards over two rounds at Metro D.C. (Congressional). The average for all LPGA golfers thus far is 249 yards after 103 rounds. I’ve yet to collect similar data for the PGA players.
- All but two of the top 10 longest putts per round were recorded in 2023. Séamus Power (2022) heads the list with a 132-foot “miracle” putt at Birthplace back in March. To no one’s surprise, with it’s enormous greens Birthplace claims the top five longest putts in my database.
- As you might have guessed, Power (2022) also set the record for Total Distance of Putts Made in that same March round at Birthplace–a whopping 268 feet! Half of the top ten entries for Total Distance of Putts Made occurred in 2023.
- In 2023, there was a tie for fewest number of putts in a round: 22 by Ralph Guldahl (1941) at Seaside (Pebble Beach) and Ian Woosnam (1991) at Metro D.C. My all-time record is 20 held by Jerry Barber (1961) and Mark Calcavecchia (1989) both at Yatch Club (Harbour Town).
All in all, 2023 was a fun year playing APBA Golf. Unsurprisingly, the more I play a particular course the better I get at figuring out what to do, and more importantly, what not to do. Yet, that is no guarantee of a good round. Up next, as you’ll see . . . the Worst of 2023.