( atc )
Griffin’s Big
Breakthrough
by CHRIS LANG
LANTO GRIFFIN TOLD REPORTERS AFTER his Houston Open victory in Octo-
ber that he wasn’t nervous standing over a six-foot putt on the 18th green, one that
would prove to be a life-altering shot.
Funny thing about that. I was pretty nervous. Sitting in a bar, with football all
around me, I watched on my phone as Griffin hit his approach into 18 to the right
side of the green, 60 feet away from the hole. Then came the clutch lag putt, leaving
him six feet away from all sorts of golf goodies—The Masters, The Players Champi-
onship, job security until the end of the 2021-22 season. No big deal.
We were understandably pumped at the VSGA when Griffin sank that putt. After
all, it was just three years ago that he was in a playoff at Ballyhack Golf Club, coming
up just short of winning his second straight Delta Dental State Open of Virginia
championship. We know Lanto well, and we know what kind of person he is. And
truth be told, since the days of Curtis Strange and the Wadkins brothers, Virginians
haven’t found a ton of success on the PGA Tour.
Billy Hurley III—a two-time VSGA Amateur champ—won at Congressional in
2016. John Rollins, another two-time VSGA Amateur champ, won three times on
Tour. Steve Marino spent time on Tour but never won. Getting to the biggest stage in
professional golf is incredibly difficult, and staying there is even harder, considering
the depth not only on the PGA Tour but on the Korn Ferry Tour as well.
Griffin’s victory and his story of perseverance resonated with the Virginia golf com-
munity, which is why he graces the cover of Virginia Golfer for the second time in three
years. Longtime contributor and Griffin chronicler Randy King caught up with Griffin
to ask him why his second stint on Tour has been so much different than his first.
Also inside, we celebrate the VSGA’s Golfers of the Year in 2019, and we catch up
with a couple of VSGA members who are behind the
popular Sugarloaf Social Club.
Some quick housekeeping items, namely three
corrections from the September-October issue.
In the cover story (“Back to Nature”) we made
a mistake in the cutline of the photo featuring
Springfield Golf & Country Club’s superintendents
and their dogs. Assistant Josh Peters is on the left
in the photo, head super Lentz Wheeler is on the
right, and the two dogs are named Jack and Gill.
Also, we misidentified a butterfly on Page 27—the
pictured butterfly is a swallowtail, not a monarch.
And finally, readers reached out to tell me that there
are no Canadian geese, just Canada geese, a point hammered home to me when I trav-
eled to Montreal earlier this fall and saw a store named Canada Goose. We appreciate
readers’ input on these errors.
Chris Lang, Editor
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V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 19
One System
2 Your Course Handicap will reflect the
number of strokes needed to play to par. Ask
anyone involved in handicapping and they
will tell you that Section 3-5 is the rule that
garners the most feedback from golfers.
In our current system, a Course Handicap
represents the strokes a golfer needs to play
to the Course Rating. To make the game
fair, however, an adjustment is required
when players compete from different tees
since each set of tees has a different Course
Rating. In the World Handicap System,
your Course Handicap will be the number
of strokes needed to play to par. Simply put,
playing to your handicap means a score of
par plus your Course Handicap. Even bet-
ter, since the Course Handicap factors in
both Course Rating and par, an adjustment
will only be needed when par is different.
Golfers can expect a greater spread in their
Course Handicaps from tee to tee in the
new system.
3 Your Handicap Index will update daily.
In the current system, a Handicap Index is
updated on the 1st and 15th of each month.
In the WHS, a golfer’s Handicap Index will
be updated daily, provided they submitted
a score the day before, to provide a more
responsive indication of their ability. On
days the golfer does not submit a score, no
update will take place.
4 The conditions on the day of play could
impact your score differential. A Course
Rating and Slope Rating indicate the diffi-
culty of a golf course during normal course
and weather conditions. However, golf is a
game played outdoors and rounds are not
always played under normal conditions.
The Playing Conditions Calculation (PCC)
is an automatic procedure that takes place
daily and is based on scores submitted for
that day. When abnormal course or weath-
er conditions cause scores to be unusually
high or low on a given day, the PCC adjust-
ment will adjust a golfer’s score differential
to better reflect their actual performance.
5 The maximum score you can take on
any hole is Net Double Bogey. It’s easy to
remember. Net double bogey equals par
vsga.org
Opening Drive