The nine holes of the Handley golf course are 210, 240, 180, 120, 360, 330, 300, 270, and 420 yards in length. Handley's star golfer/calculus student, Joshua Brandon, always strikes the ball in a perfectly straight line and sends it exactly one of three distances. It always goes straight towards the hole, passes over the hole, or drops in the cup. If Joshua Brandon always hits the ball 60, 90, or 150 yards, what is the lowest score he could have on the nine holes to complete his score card?
| Score Card | ||
|---|---|---|
| HOLE | YARDS | SCORE |
| 1 | 210 | |
| 2 | 240 | |
| 3 | 180 | |
| 4 | 120 | |
| 5 | 360 | |
| 6 | 330 | |
| 7 | 300 | |
| 8 | 270 | |
| 9 | 420 | |
| TOTAL | ||
Solution:
The answer is 23.
| Score Card | ||
|---|---|---|
| HOLE | YARDS | SCORE |
| 1 | 210 | 2 |
| 2 | 240 | 2 |
| 3 | 180 | 2 |
| 4 | 120 | 2 |
| 5 | 360 | 3 |
| 6 | 330 | 3 |
| 7 | 300 | 2 |
| 8 | 270 | 3 |
| 9 | 420 | 4 |
| TOTAL | 23 | |
Correctly solved by:
| 1. Richard Johnson | La Jolla, California |
| 2. Walt Arrison | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 3. Renata Sommerville | Austin, Texas |
| 4. Charity Calhoun | Columbus, Georgia |
| 5. Joe Heintz | Manchester, Tennessee |
| 6. Brice Tarleton | Columbus, Georgia |
| 7. Izzy Kushner | Closter, New Jersey |
| 8. Janine Oliver | Winchester, Virginia |
| 9. Amanda Robertson | Winchester, Virginia |
| 10. Jerry Putt | Loudoun Valley, Virginia |
| 11. ---------- | United Kingdom |
| 12. George Gaither | Winchester, Virginia |
| 13. Tony Wu | Fort Collins, Colorado |
| 14. John Funk | Ventura, California |
| 15. Shanna Harbuck | Columbus, Georgia |
| 16. Geoff Keith | Santa Monica, California |
| 17. Blake Smith | Columbus, Georgia |
| 18. Ellen Sankovich | Winchester, Virginia |
| 19. Elizabeth Emmart | Winchester, Virginia |
| 20. Matt Crandell | Winchester, Virginia |