Charlie Woods exempt into AJGA

[wegobomber31]

3 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Lucky is very focused on IG & social media with lots of visible sponsors.

Unfortunately, his scores haven't kept up with his social media activities & his many golf sponsors. 

This AJGA was an opportunity to show what he's capable of.  

 

Lucky did win the Notah Begay National Championship where he beat top-ranked D1 commits (incl UNC). He also won the Curry Cup last year (against weak fields), but unfortunately his ranking has continued to decline (for the 2024 class). 

 

Interesting that Lucky had previously committed to U of Houston a while back - and he recently decommitted (? or dropped from UH) & is now looking for a new school as a reclassified 2025. 

that’s interesting…last summer I saw Lucky and his Dad trying to convince a top 5 2026 kid to commit to Houston and “win National championships together”

[leezer99]

55 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

that’s interesting…last summer I saw Lucky and his Dad trying to convince a top 5 2026 kid to commit to Houston and “win National championships together”

 

I've been hearing this at the High School level as well. An older kid will go to a certain HS and try to convince other kids to join them to win HS championships. I even heard a dad say "come to LSHS if you want to win" to a kid. 

[golferdad8]

3 hours ago, leezer99 said:

 

I've been hearing this at the High School level as well. An older kid will go to a certain HS and try to convince other kids to join them to win HS championships. I even heard a dad say "come to LSHS if you want to win" to a kid. 

De La Salle HS in Norcal is a catholic private school & football powerhouse, but the past few years they’ve been recruiting boy golfers & last year won the state championship. 

[Tugu]

5 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

De La Salle HS in Norcal is a catholic private school & football powerhouse, but the past few years they’ve been recruiting boy golfers & last year won the state championship. 

@golferdad8 Got a funny story on this when we meet up. But for now this reminds me of the age old question, if a tree falls in the forest, but noone's there to hear it, does it make a noise?

 

I just mean, does anyone even care in golf? I never personally met anyone who did/does.

Edited March 23 by Tugu

[golfdad1]

16 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Lucky is very focused on IG & social media with lots of visible sponsors.

Unfortunately, his scores haven't kept up with his social media activities & his many golf sponsors. 

This AJGA was an opportunity to show what he's capable of.  

 

Lucky did win the Notah Begay National Championship where he beat top-ranked D1 commits (incl UNC). He also won the Curry Cup last year (against weak fields), but unfortunately his ranking has continued to decline (for the 2024 class). 

 

Interesting that Lucky had previously committed to U of Houston a while back - and he recently decommitted (? or dropped from UH) & is now looking for a new school as a reclassified 2025. 

He spends all of his time on social media  spewing comments like 'Poor me, I don't have the means and access to all of these top tournaments and AJGAs', and continuously lies to attract sponsors. It's very sad. Has developed quite the following of 'haters' due to this, which is rare for a junior golfer, but proceeds to use the 'Haters gonna hate' schtick. Sad that he actually has sponsors who fall for it. Houston did drop him.

Edited March 23 by golfdad1

[jigsaw1011]

Lucky no longer has an IG account. I wonder if that had anything to do with the dropping by UH. Personally have read some of his comments on IG that were very questionable. 

[golferdad8]

6 minutes ago, jigsaw1011 said:

Lucky no longer has an IG account. I wonder if that had anything to do with the dropping by UH. Personally have read some of his comments on IG that were very questionable. 

Lucky7swing still active on IG 

[jigsaw1011]

Strange I haven’t been able to access it. Does it mean I was blocked lol?

[Tugu]

If Lucky's content is...frowned upon. What do we make of this?

 

 

I do find it interesting when it's highlighted a college golfer shoots +64, then follows it up with a tourney where he is 89/93, is ranked around 2000 and has the above cringe inducing claims in his own personal bio, there's handbags at ten paces over supposed cyber bullying and the thread is shut down. But now the cyber police is literally not here to tell us of Lucky's worth as a human being and how disadvantaged he is. 

 

Was that previously the Columbia kid's mom or dad? Or is there a serious double standard going on here? I wanna know where's Karen (or male version) now?

Edited March 23 by Tugu

[leezer99]

So back on the topic of Charlie: +15 through round 2. Currently tied with lucky who, at the time of this post, still has four holes to play. 

[Golfquant]

I guess one way to look at it is it’s good he got an exemption bc he wouldn’t have qualified otherwise….

[jadenwrx]

18 hours ago, Tugu said:

@golferdad8 Got a funny story on this when we meet up. But for now this reminds me of the age old question, if a tree falls in the forest, but noone's there to hear it, does it make a noise?

 

I just mean, does anyone even care in golf? I never personally met anyone who did/does.

Whats the story on de la salle lol

[LawGenius305]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:12 PM, golferdad8 said:

CW is doing ok among the field given the scores that I'm seeing today, in the mix with numerous D1 commits, and within striking distance of Loree, a top 2025 UCLA commit. Certainly he's able to hang with these boys. 

 

Also, CW is ahead of Lucky Cruz who previously won the Notah Begay Championship (and had beaten CW by at least 10 strokes.

 

https://www.ajga.org/tournaments/2024/will-lowery-junior-championship/leaderboard

 

That Notah field was awful. Cruz dad is a nut. Lucky is overrated. 

[LawGenius305]

On 3/26/2024 at 8:15 AM, jayslaysongolf said:

The scores at this event were  very bad for what should have been one the best fields of the year for a AJGA open.

 

I know it’s a hard course and weather most likely was an issue. However these players should not have scored as high as they did.  
 

There were a lot players just like Charlie that did not deserve to be there.

 

 

The scores at this venue are always high.

[golferdad8]

1 hour ago, LawGenius305 said:

The scores at this venue are always high.

JGS adjusted the tournament to 78 rating for all 3 rounds. 

[jigsaw1011]

12 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

JGS adjusted the tournament to 78 rating for all 3 rounds. 

The AJGA bump where “good “ players never have a bad round.

[golferdad8]

35 minutes ago, jigsaw1011 said:

The AJGA bump where “good “ players never have a bad round.

Actually, it's not an AJGA bump. JGS does it on their end, and it favors the tournaments where certain regions already have inflated JGS ranked player. Therefore, they all receive the "bump" - and this is now players get -10 on differentials if they shoot 68 and end up with overall -5 to -8 differentials (despite averaging 75+). 

Lastly, when JGS gives 25% to strength of field IN ADDITION to CCA/adjusted rating, they essentially give "ranked" players a double bump. 

[jigsaw1011]

Yes, that is what I meant. The bump comes from JGS with AJGA tournaments. It doesn’t happen the same way in other tournaments.

30 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

Actually, it's not an AJGA bump. JGS does it on their end, and it favors the tournaments where certain regions already have inflated JGS ranked player. Therefore, they all receive the "bump" - and this is now players get -10 on differentials if they shoot 68 and end up with overall -5 to -8 differentials (despite averaging 75+). 

Lastly, when JGS gives 25% to strength of field IN ADDITION to CCA/adjusted rating, they essentially give "ranked" players a double bump. 

 

[Golfquant]

47 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

Actually, it's not an AJGA bump. JGS does it on their end, and it favors the tournaments where certain regions already have inflated JGS ranked player. Therefore, they all receive the "bump" - and this is now players get -10 on differentials if they shoot 68 and end up with overall -5 to -8 differentials (despite averaging 75+). 

Lastly, when JGS gives 25% to strength of field IN ADDITION to CCA/adjusted rating, they essentially give "ranked" players a double bump. 

*ELITE FIELD*

(e.g. CW, +52 Big10, etc)

[golferdad8]

2 hours ago, jigsaw1011 said:

Yes, that is what I meant. The bump comes from JGS with AJGA tournaments. It doesn’t happen the same way in other tournaments.

 

Actually I see biggest bumps/Adj w JGS iin SoCal, Carolinas, texas, Florida & SoCal. 

[jigsaw1011]

We are up North and we never see the type of adjustments in other areas.  It has more to do with strength of field then actual course conditions. My son can play a tournament on a tough course (according to course rating) in wind and cold and never see an adjustment more than 1.

15 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

Actually I see biggest bumps/Adj w JGS iin SoCal, Carolinas, texas, Florida & SoCal. 

 

[Tugu]

2 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Actually, it's not an AJGA bump. JGS does it on their end, and it favors the tournaments where certain regions already have inflated JGS ranked player. Therefore, they all receive the "bump" - and this is now players get -10 on differentials if they shoot 68 and end up with overall -5 to -8 differentials (despite averaging 75+). 

Lastly, when JGS gives 25% to strength of field IN ADDITION to CCA/adjusted rating, they essentially give "ranked" players a double bump. 

Can this post be mandatory reading for college coaches? 

 

[TroyB123]

1 hour ago, jigsaw1011 said:

We are up North and we never see the type of adjustments in other areas.  It has more to do with strength of field then actual course conditions. My son can play a tournament on a tough course (according to course rating) in wind and cold and never see an adjustment more than 1.

 

My son plays mostly VA/NC events.   The field doesn't have to be super strong, but it does need to have at least 40ish already ranked players to get a proper adjustment.   If it's less than ten ranked players, there is no adjustment.   Less than 20 or 30, and the adjustment will be minimal.

 

We've been mostly sticking to events we know will have at least 40-50 ranked players, and all the adjustments either up or down are usually fair IMO.

 

On the other side of things, kids shooting in the 60s on 72 rated courses with flat fairways, no serious trouble, and greens that aren't too severe are getting ratings boost as well.   It shows too when they come play on a tough NC Sandhills course.

[golferdad8]

1 hour ago, jigsaw1011 said:

We are up North and we never see the type of adjustments in other areas.  It has more to do with strength of field then actual course conditions. My son can play a tournament on a tough course (according to course rating) in wind and cold and never see an adjustment more than 1.

 

Imho, northwest, northeast, and NorCal are the most disadvantaged - they get the least amount of favorable adjustments vs socal TX FL Carolinas. 

[LawGenius305]

20 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Actually, it's not an AJGA bump. JGS does it on their end, and it favors the tournaments where certain regions already have inflated JGS ranked player. Therefore, they all receive the "bump" - and this is now players get -10 on differentials if they shoot 68 and end up with overall -5 to -8 differentials (despite averaging 75+). 

Lastly, when JGS gives 25% to strength of field IN ADDITION to CCA/adjusted rating, they essentially give "ranked" players a double bump. 

Charlie still got that AJGA bump. No matter how you word it, it is an AJGA bump. Wasn't worthy of getting into the field and had not played the right events to earn the spot. He got the AJGA bump because of who he is, not because of what he has done.

[golferdad8]

58 minutes ago, LawGenius305 said:

Charlie still got that AJGA bump. No matter how you word it, it is an AJGA bump. Wasn't worthy of getting into the field and had not played the right events to earn the spot. He got the AJGA bump because of who he is, not because of what he has done.

Although AJGA isn't perfect, I'm fine with the sponsor getting some exemptions (incl for CW). This is similar to how all PGA/Korn Ferry tournaments are run - and why there are often amateurs/college players are in the field - it's the sponsors' prerogative.

 

Almost every AJGA Open event has 4-6 exemptions given to the Tournament Committee/sponsors who help fund the $35 to $50k needed for each tournament. Without the sponsors, there would be no tournaments at all. This has helped AJGA provide more Open tournaments than the past five to 10 years (which is also why many coaches criticize that Fully Exempt doesn't mean as much since there are so many players who are exempt).

 

Just for fun, take a look at the the current AJGA in Sacramento, CA - it will be interesting to see how this turns out. As early spring Open as well as offering 100 Rolex Points AND "full exemptions" to the TOP 10 places (vs. normally Top 5, which will soon become Top 3 for the boys), it brought in top players from all over the country (and Western US). Almost the entire field are Fully-Exempt (prior top 5 placement) players and a few needed 39 stars to get in.

 

While many of these names are top 2024/2025 committed D1 players, if you click on the Names, you can see which players are Fully Exempt or zero/minimal Rolex rankings and get an idea who got in off exemptions. It will be interesting to see which invited "players" can finish top 10% vs bottom 10%. 

https://www.ajga.org/tournaments/2024/sacramento-junior-championship-presented-by-morton-golf-foundation/field

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[golferdad8]

18 minutes ago, jayslaysongolf said:

You are correct that is where JGS is giving tournaments the biggest bumps this year. 

 

The bump though happens because certain number of high ranked players are playing in a given tournament and didn’t do as well as there diff score.   The best way to game JGS is just play with kids much higher ranked than your kid.  Some local tournaments in California, TX and FL have kids ranked in the 100 playing them and those kids all get boost playing them.
 

AJGA tournaments are most likely fields to have the correct formula but does happen in other tournaments.

 

If you see higher ranked kids dropping out of a tournament you should as well for rankings purposes.

 

My experience in dealing with the JGS ranking inflation is to use it as an opportunity to get motivated and compete at the national level - and PROVE JGS wrong. 

 

Plenty of top norcal kids over the years have ignored JGS/rankings and played mostly local/regional tournaments. As an example, Justin Suh made it to PGA via USC without the national attention - even as many higher ranked JGS players didn't make it to the PGA (or even success in college).

As more recent examples, Clark Van Gaalen (Oklahoma) and Eric Yun (Princeton) were outside of the top 100 in JGS - and NOT top 10 or top 25. Yet, when they started competing in national tournaments, they would regularly beat top 5 and top 10 players who had (inflated) differentials and that were 3 to 5 strokes better. 

 

The good news is that smart coaches figure this out and pick off some VERY good D1 players - before the rest of the world saw the national competition results to see how to take advantage of flawed JGS.  

 

P.S. Fun fact - many of these JGS "top ranked" national players got into college and dropped out of the team after the first year, and their top rankings "which were gamed" with only 4 or 5 tournaments and inflated fields - eventually they didn't help the coaches/schools with improving the team. 

[Tugu]

2 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

My experience in dealing with the JGS ranking inflation is to use it as an opportunity to get motivated and compete at the national level - and PROVE JGS wrong. 

 

Plenty of top norcal kids over the years have ignored JGS/rankings and played mostly local/regional tournaments. As an example, Justin Suh made it to PGA via USC without the national attention - even as many higher ranked JGS players didn't make it to the PGA (or even success in college).

As more recent examples, Clark Van Gaalen (Oklahoma) and Eric Yun (Princeton) were outside of the top 100 in JGS - and NOT top 10 or top 25. Yet, when they started competing in national tournaments, they would regularly beat top 5 and top 10 players who had (inflated) differentials and that were 3 to 5 strokes better. 

 

The good news is that smart coaches figure this out and pick off some VERY good D1 players - before the rest of the world saw the national competition results to see how to take advantage of flawed JGS.  

 

P.S. Fun fact - many of these JGS "top ranked" national players got into college and dropped out of the team after the first year, and their top rankings "which were gamed" with only 4 or 5 tournaments and inflated fields - eventually they didn't help the coaches/schools with improving the team. 

How about Peter Kuest, Kevin Chappell, Spencer Levin, Cameron Champ, Nick Watney, Ricky Barnes, Michael Weaver and even Dechambeau played mostly local events in Norcal.

 

Right now the standard bearer for Norcal and not trying to get any rankings bump is Asterisk Talley. Plays and wins JTNC's when not winning Rolex AJGA, Sage Valley and other AJGA etc. 

 

 

[Golfquant]

Devil's advocate: if already highly ranked, what is the benefit of playing "lower level" events, which can only hurt, but not help, one's ranking/status?

 

Finite resources (esp time)

[Tugu]

1 hour ago, Golfquant said:

Devil's advocate: if already highly ranked, what is the benefit of playing "lower level" events, which can only hurt, but not help, one's ranking/status?

 

Finite resources (esp time)

In short the small events allows one to continuously improve at their craft. Players rarely get enough reps to know what it is to either defend or chase a lead in a live situation. The smaller events week in and week out allow a player to continually learn how to play competition golf and possibly win them.

 

For the most part parents are the ones focusing on ranking points. Kids just want to play (irrespective of the points), the ones i met anyways. Scottie Scheffler wasnt playing for ranking points when he won over 70 Northern Texas Jnr events. 

 

If beating the CCA and getting the strength of field calculations bump is the main point of playing, then JGS ranking is the right focus. After all where one finishes is only 10% of the overall equation (pls correct me if I'm off on this).