Playing the Golf Sector By Rich (rich76) Welcome sports enthusiasts. You have found what is possibly the very best sports internet game on this planet. This sector, Golf, is my favorite, and I’m considered to be a nutcase about the sport. Truth be told, I probably am. Without further ado, let's see if I can help you understand how this sector works. The first and most important thing I can tell you is that golf dividends are "BIRDIE DRIVEN". There are 7 categories that contribute to a golf "divi" (short for dividend) and whether there are zeroes in a category or not, they all contribute to the divi. The exception here is the earnings category, which affects the final round only. I'll talk here about what earned a golfer what and not projections. You'll have to do SOME of the work for yourself (looking up projections being one of those things). Let's examine the number one player in the world.... Tiger Woods. As you might expect, being who/what he is, his projections are among the highest in this sector. For him to receive a significant divi, he basically has to "go low" as they say, meaning he has to shoot a phenomenal round. In the 1st round of the Mercedes Championship Tiger (J$:WOODS) shot a 2 under round that included an Eagle/5 Birdies/3 Bogies/1 Double Bogey/hit 78% of the greens (GIR) and received a divi of 3.19%. He surpassed his eagle, birds, and GIR (greens in regulation) projections but was "hit" on his divi due to his performance with regards to bogies and double bogies. In the 2nd round of that tournament he had 6B/1BG/1DBL BG and again hit 78% of the greens and received 3%. The difference between those two rounds is obvious... in round 2 he had no eagle and 2 less bogies. In the 3rd round of that tournament he had 9B/1BG and received 8.1%... a perfect example of "going low" and getting rewarded accordingly. In the 4th round he had 5B/3BG and earned $275,000.00 by finishing in 4th place. That finish got him a 2% divi. Let's look at a "low projection" golfer: Steve Elkington. In the Bob Hope tournament, 1st round, he had 6B/2BG and received 4.68%. 2nd round - 4B/2BG and received 2.03%. 3rd round - 4B/0BG and received 2.77%. 4th round - 7B/4BG earned $10,000.00 and received 7.47%. (I purposely omitted GIR - greens in regulation - as that particular category has very little affect on divi's. I will say this: if you have 2 golfers that you are computing very similar divi's for, and are competing in a monthly, where every % matters, look at GIR. If they are significantly different go with the golfer that has surpassed his GIR projections by the most). Now, in both cases the players' divi's were affected not only by what they got, but what they didn't get as well. In rounds where a golfer does not get an eagle or a double bogey, their divi will be "bumped" accordingly... up OR down. A category I have not mentioned as of yet is Aces.... hole in one... the Holy Grail for golfers. You'd be amazed at how many pros have not gotten one by the way. I'll keep this simple... if a golfer gets an Ace.... HE IS A BUY!!!!! As I recall it is worth approximately 17% on it's own. Now.... couple that with all the other categories. If a golfer gets an ace and NO birds (as unlikely as it is) his divi will get knocked down pretty hard. On the other hand, if he surpasses his bird projection along WITH the ace, you can count on over 20%... sweeeeeeet! Remember this: golf divi's are BIRDIE DRIVEN. In order to get a decent divi, (without an eagle or an ace) they must surpass their birdie projections by at least 1.5X. Remember that the negative categories (bogies & double bogies) will knock that divi DOWN. The positive categories (Aces and eagles) will bump that divi UP! That, my friends, is golf sector divi's 101. In the future I will add information to expand on the above. If you're having problems and need some help, I am always willing to answer questions via port-mail. Don't be bashful. Questions about this article? Send a private message to the author.