Many of you are talking outta your butts, for you have no idea how it is been since the day one. So, let me clue you in...
There has been 3 main changes with how the game perceives a player (I am going to skip second one because it only lasted 2 days and was a bug)
First 6+ month(until past february) everyone in the game had same conditions. Which meant the following: If 2 players hit from same spot same club, perf hit and other variables, they will result in an identical outcome. Was it fair? I think so! There was a general wind deviation which left us surpised and whoever tee'd off #5 or #8 was the guiney pig, but as long as EVERYONE had SAME conditions, no one could complain!It came down to skills. 1 pick right club, spin and ditance. 2 execute the shot by hitting the bar. IF 1 and 2 worked, the result was a success!
Then, (first was noticed by tibbets and me in a game) when tibbets and I hit from #7 (both usually could get into precise distances) first shot would go straight(proper) while second would be 15 off...That was the original deviation, when people started getting unique games with unique outcomes, tt became a lottery golf.
What it is now: There are 2 main types of deviations....distance deviation, movement deviation(2 per type...). Generally speaking, the lower the wind the less pronounced the deviation. Also, if its straight down/head wind, they tend to be more gentler.
How are they identified? Simple... and this can be shown on many holes but I will use few of my fav headaches to illustrate. Earlier today, I am -7 at BP standing on #16, My goal basically, if it plays straigh down wind, I can get close enough to try for a birdie, anything else = play safe for par. The wind i got was 10 mph sideways....Because I know the fairway sits some 40-50ft below the tees and that every teeshot tends to veer left a bit, I move my aim about 1/2 to the right part of the fairway(because fairway is broken into 2 shades, its quite easy). Since I also know that when I misclick, I tend to doit to the right not left of the pin, therefore I play safer for that also. I got my driver, tiny off perf swing to the right (it was so tiny that i couldnt see space between that and perf, but it didnt beep). As soon as i hit my drive went WAY right. As if i hit a major hook, yet it flew perfectly straight and landed into 40/50 rough about 15 yards off the fairway. Now, the wind was 10 sideways, which would have easily fixed my tiny misclick, yet it went about 20 yards right. With oposite wind, I calculate the deviation was close to 25 yards!!! It made sense cause it had extremel conditions, big elevation change, and big side wind...I barely saved par. thats 1 example.
Another example, you stand on #8 and you get 9mph or so sideways wind...from right to left...you aim, about 15-20ft right of the flag, hit your full bs shot....and where it ends up? 20ft right...How the heck can it be?? There you get another deviation, this one is oposite of what happened on #16... Then, next player plays and his shot moves exaclty what it should...(ie unique circumstances)
There is another form of deviation and its really annoying once cause its most often shown on #7 BP. Mostly, when you are hitting into the wind, its rarely straight at you but often like 45 degree angle... Many times, you end up 15-20ft short because your ball just dies! For example: You have 103yds left, 10mph wid about 10/4 o'clock, you hit 115 club like 111 with full bs...You endup hiting about 103 total, and end up 20ft short...
Too annoying cause next player gets inside 3ft and thinks you're crazy.
Here the thing, I have 220 rounds saved, but probbaly played a 1000+...Tibbets has even more and few of us oldtimers can tell you more about different nuances each hole has than u could dream of!
When I play public games, I see people whack in and out of rough, for me, I almost always inside 4ft from any greenside bunker/rough. Ask people I play with regularly....I think this weekend i alone I made about 8 different chip/pitchins...I havent seen anyone else make 8 total (except tibbets/ncviz, avatarlee) in 2-3 month...
Why do you think that is?
So, stop thinking you know better than us, you simply do not!
Oh and simple play tourneys will easily make it that much harder for best players to win. No doubt, anyone who disgarees is simply delusional. I would be interested in seeing 4 round tourneys played every 24 hrs (per round) in the course of a week...That would be interesting for sure:)