Proceedings of the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference S. J.….pdfVIP

Proceedings of the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference S. J. Mason, R. R. Hill, L. Mönch, O. Rose, T. Jefferson, J. W. Fowler eds. A SIMULATION MODEL TO ANALYZE THE IMPACT OF HOLE SIZE ON PUTTING IN GOLF Matulya Bansal Mark Broadie Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA ABSTRACT In this paper, we use simulation to analyze the effect of increasing the radius of the hole. Simulation is ideally We develop a model of golfer putting skill and combine suited for this analysis for several reasons. First, there is it with physics-based putt trajectory and holeout models to little available putting data for an enlarged hole. Collecting study the impact of doubling the radius of the hole on the such data would be time-consuming and expensive, because putting performance of professional and amateur golfers. thousands of putts by golfers of different and known putting The putting skill model reflects golfer execution errors, i.e., abilities would be necessary for reliable results. It would that golfers cannot hit the ball at exactly their intended take time for golfers to identify how their optimal putting velocity and direction. A green reading skill model re- strategy would be affected by the increased hole size. And flects a golfer’s inability to perfectly estimate the slope or finally, it would be nearly impossible to obtain such data contour of the putting