A skill category is a broad classification of your athletic ability as it pertains to golf. It is determined from your handicap index. This concept is inspired from "Chapter 13: Calibration" from the book "The Practice Manual" by Adam Young.
Once you've entered in your handicap index into My Golf you will be assigned to one of the five skill categories. The handicap ranges for each category are:
- Category 1 - 29 or more
- Category 2 - 18 to 28
- Category 3 - 8 to 17
- Category 4 - 2 to 7
- Category 5 - 1 or better
(Note: My Golf versions older than 3.8 defined the categories in the reverse. See below for more details.)
The purpose of these skill categories is to define your boundaries of acceptability for each golf skill. A boundary is the limit at which a variable will be unacceptable. For example, if you are in category 3, it is considered unacceptable for a shot for a 6-iron to not be within 15 yards of your intended target, while for category 5 it would be unacceptable to be more than 10 yards from it. The lower the category the tighter the boundaries are.
Your boundaries of acceptability are primarily used for Calibration practice (such as when executing a Skill Assessment). However, if you have a golf ball launch monitor that allows you to define corridors for recorded data points (like with TrackMan(tm)) you can utilize these boundaries for all of your practices.
A single boundary is considered when executing a Skill Assessment. The goal is to successfully execute shots within the boundary 70% or better. For example, 14 out of 20 balls hit will have been within the boundary condition. If less than 70% are acceptable then either the skill is lapsing and needs Skill Treatment (50-59%, indicated in orange), your skill category is at risk and may change (20-49%, indicated in red) but needs Skill Treatment urgently, or was perhaps a bad day and should be tried again after rest (0-19%, indicated in purple).
The Variables
There are several variables considered for each skill category and are grouped by club family. Club families are Irons, Driver, Wedges, and Putter.
For Irons, the variables are:
- Target Size - How large the circle is around the target.
- Divot Start Range - Where to divot should start in relation to the ball, when hitting off turf and a launch monitor is not available with this data.
- Low Point Range - Where the lowest point of the club went in relation to the ball, when a launch monitor is available with this data.
- Strike Spot Size - Where on the club face the ball was struck.
For Driver, the variables are:
- Width of the Fairway - How wide the area is for your ball to come to rest.
- Strike Spot Size - Where on the club face the ball was struck.
For Wedges, the variables are:
- Distance Control Percentage - How much distance before and after the target, based on a percentage of the distance you are hitting from turf.
- Direction Control Percentage - How much distance left and right of the target, based on a percentage of the distance you are hitting from turf.
- Distance Control (Bunker) Percentage - How much distance before and after the target, based on a percentage of the distance you are hitting from sand.
- Direction Control (Bunker) Percentage - How much distance left and right of the target, based on a percentage of the distance you are hitting from sand.
For Putter, the variables are:
- Strike Spot Size - Where on the putter face the ball was struck.
- Maximum Putt Distance Beyond the Hole - The maximum distance beyond the hole that the ball should come to rest if the putt is not holed.
To see exactly what the boundaries are for each skill category variable, refer directly within the My Golf app.
My Golf Version 3.7 and older
Versions 3.7 and older defined the categories in the reverse of how they are in version s 3.8 and newer. The change was made in order for the skill category value to be increasing as your golf abilities increased. This makes it easier to understand (the higher the category, the better your skill) and to display in the app.
They categories used to be:
- Category 1 - 1 or better
- Category 2 - 2 to 7
- Category 3 - 8 to 17
- Category 4 - 18 to 28
- Category 5 - 29 or more
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