My last 6 days:

Sat for another session and made another 280...SUCK it kuso

Headline:

LOL. Okay, so since he finally agreed to take up golf, we're now going 3-4 times a week. When we play with some gambling friends, there's obv betting. Last week we were a 4some so we played twin match-play and he was on my team...we won by 7 points (3.5 holes).

This week, just 3 of us, so we played skins for $1/hole. I gave him 36 strokes, and the other guy 18. I started off good with birds on the first two holes...we carried over the first, I won the 2nd...then a long string of carry-overs till I won. After 9, I won 8, the other guy 1...and on the 10th tee shob starts whining that he hasn't won a single hole. Well, donkey sir, he had putts a number of times from <5' to win holes...but he can 4 putt from 15 feet Then, he promptly pars the 10th (net eagle) and obv wins that hole...and he's happy again

Fast forward 7 holes because we carried over 6...and he only has to 2 putt from 16'...but he knocks it 10' by...so now me thinking I have to sink a 6' par putt changes to just having to 2 putt...lol.

Then on 18 we carry over and decide not to go extra holes...final: Me 14, other guy 2, Shob 1 - hey, at least he wasn't shut out.

So, when it comes time to pay out...he starts bitching and whining...yadda yadda yadda. Whatever buddy! Learn to putt!!

Skins is to golf (if properly handicapped...and it was) as chinese poker is to poker...

i'm no statistician, but i think the variance between your play and people you give 18 and 36 strokes to will make you the prohibitive favorite over a large sample size in a skins match even if the handicaps are completely accurate in stroke play.

as you mentioned above, it's relatively easy for you to "tread water" (i.e, to carry over) and wait for a hole in which both of them self-destruct (relatively speaking). when i played in japan (wicked tight courses), i varied between 36 and 18 strokes, and my scorecard would have a lot of bogies, an occassional par, a few double bogies, and one or two "self-destructs". in courses with wider playing areas (i.e., not much ob) and tame rough/hazards, my score may not have been so extreme, but still, you get the point.

i encourage you or shob to post about this in odds and/or ag. i think you'll find that the variance is your (bk9) friend.

Oh, also, $1 per hole? Shob = busto?