The rules are the same as always. Read and memorize. This event will begin at 4:00, on Monday the 26th in the 7th floor playroom. If you would like to register for a specific tee-time, mail your team sub-captain for this event or sign up on the 7th floor whiteboard on the day of the event. Otherwise, just show up and get ready to quack.
Place:
The first tee is in the 7th floor playroom. The course has six holes positioned around the 7th floor. If it rains, we'll be using the 4th floor course instead.
Date & Time:
Since we can only start a new foursome every 15 minutes or so, there is no reason everybody needs to show up all at once. You can show up any time between 4:00 PM and 6:30 PM and we'll schedule you to tee off as soon as possible. I will be asking the golf subcaptains to try and arrange to stagger the arrival of their teammates. If you have special scheduling constraints, you should contact your team's golf subcaptain, but please realize that there is only so much we can do to accommodate you without driving ourselves crazy. (If you arrive, take a number, wander away, fail to hear your number called, and then you hassle the commissioner because you have to keep waiting around, something -bad- may happen to your team's score.) Under no circumstances will we accept any responsibility to search for you when it is your turn to play. To make life easier, I will make a list of people's tee-time on the white board in the 7th floor playroom.
Scoring:
Individual scores are determined as usual for golf: count the number of strokes it takes you to get the ball in the hole and subtract the par score for that hole, then sum your scores for all six holes.
This year's team scoring algorithm is the same as previous years' (and it is still coded in Scheme despite threats to switch to TECO). Remember: participation counts a great deal. 3 years ago, the last place team could have come in second if they had had one additional player (no matter how poor a golfer). 2 years ago, the second place team could have finished first if they had found one more golfer who could shoot no worse than 17 over par. Skill is still an advantage, but a large team of duffers is really hard to beat.
The teams will then be scored as follows:
(define (score-golf teams)
(define everybody (apply append teams))
(define participation-points
(* 2 (- (apply max (map length teams))
(apply min (map length teams)))))
(define (score-player player)
(+ participation-points
(apply + (map (lambda (opponent)
(cond ((< player opponent) 2)
((= player opponent) 1)
(else 0)))
everybody))))
(define (score-team team)
(apply + (map score-player team)))
(map score-team teams))
Any questions?
Rules:
7th floor golf has many rules both practical and traditional. And they -never- change. But just in case you haven't memorized them yet, I'll repeat them:
Meter Rule
There is a one stroke penalty for any shot that achieves an elevation in excess of one meter. In addition, that shot must be replayed. The wisdom of this rule will be appreciated when you learn that in the past we have lost golf balls into the ceiling...
Dime Rule
It is periodically necessary to mark the location of your ball with some small flat object so as not to obstruct the path of other players. The only acceptable marker is a United States 10-cent piece, commonly called a "dime".
Obstacles: Wheels, Trash, Cables, Doors, People
In general, if something is in your way, you must play around it. There are some exceptions: Objects with wheels may be rolled about. Trash is underbrush, and can thus be cleared out of the way. Cables are vines, so they may be rearranged at will.
Doors may -not- have their position changed. You may open a door in order to enter an office to find your ball, but you must return the door to its original position before shooting.
Hackers at workstations in the hallways do -not- have to adjust themselves to make your next shot convenient, even if they are sitting on chairs with wheels. However, it is considered poor sportsmanship for one team to "suddenly" have many of their players decide to start hacking just as players from another team reach that part of the course.
People walking across the course while you are trying to play are ducks. You can try shooing them away, but in general you just have to wait for them the waddle off. Golfers have been known to quack at the ducks.
It is advisable to check for ducks on the fairway before you tee off, especially if you are planning to apply significant force to the ball. The traditional warning cry of "Fore!" is advisable in this case.
Moving the ball
Before any shot, at the cost of a single stroke, you may adjust the position of your ball by up to one club length so long as you move it no -closer- to the hole. This adjustment -is- allowed to pass through walls and other obstacles. For two strokes, you may adjust your ball by any distance, but still no closer to the hole.
When is the ball in the hole?
Since the plastic holes are actually more like hills, it is frequently difficult to determine when a ball can be said to have actually been -in- the hole. Over the years a number of rules have been used, none of them entirely satisfactory. For the purposes of this contest we will be using the Simplified Middle Region Rule: If your ball touches the middle region of the plastic hole, then the ball was in the hole.
Who tees off?
On the first hole, players may tee off in any order. On subsequent holes the order is determined by how well the players did on the previous hole -- the players who did the best on the previous hole teeing off before those who did less well. Players who did equally well tee off in the reverse of their order on the previous hole. The general idea here is to waste a lot of time deferring to each other and straining your memories trying to recall what happened just moments ago.
Who goes next?
After everybody has teed off, the player whose ball is farthest from the hole always goes next. Note that there is a notion of "logical distance" that is frequently invoked. If on the second hole, for example, your tee shot carries your ball into the kitchen, where it takes a bad hop and winds up in an empty water cooler bottle, you are probably now "logically away" no matter where your opponents are.
Who keeps score?
Players are responsible for keeping track of their own score. You can count, right? The other players in your foursome will keep you honest.
How do I use the club?
I'm kidding, right? Actually I'm not -- we're more liberal at the 7th Floor Country Club than you might expect. You are allowed to use the club in -any- manner to strike the ball. For example, when the ball is under a piece of furniture it is frequently useful to use the club as if it were a pool cue, striking the ball with the end of the handle.
Hacking Penalty
There is a two stroke penalty assessed for any player caught hacking during play. The traditional definition of hacking has been: typing an expression to a Lisp interpreter. Given the popularity of other programming languages these days, we will be expanding this definition to cover the typing of expressions in any language that cannot be recognized by a Finite State Machine.
Don't forget to bring a dime.
Oded
oded@ai.mit.edu