What is a good slope rating on a golf course?
Every hole on every course will have a Slope Rating and those numbers will vary between 55 and 155; you’ll want to take the average of all 18 holes to get the courses Slope Rating. For reference, a standard difficulty course has a slope rating of 113. What is considered an easy and hard slope rating?
What does course rating mean in golf?
The simple answer is, a course rating is a number that indicates what a scratch golfer (a golfer that averages par for a round) should shoot on this particular course. So, while the par for a particular course might be 72, a course rating of 70.1 would indicate that a scratch golfer should be almost two under par on average.
What is the average slope of an 18 hole golf course?
The minimum slope rating is 55 and the maximum is 155 (slope does not relate specifically to strokes played as course rating does). When the slope rating system was first put into effect, the USGA set the slope for an "average" golf course at 113; however, not many 18-hole golf courses have slope ratings that low.
How often do golf courses change slope ratings?
While the course and slope ratings of a golf course are unlikely to change dramatically, they are usually re-evaluated every 4-5 years. This is mostly due to the fact that courses change slowly over time.
What is considered a difficult course rating?
Course Rating and Slope Rating The Slope Rating can range from 55 (very easy for a bogey golfer) to 155 (very difficult), with 113 being the average slope.
Is a 130 slope rating hard?
If you see a slope rating that falls anywhere in the double digits, you can expect that course to play rather easy, even for a bogey golfer. On the other hand, taking on a course with a slope rating in the 130's or 140's is going to present a serious challenge to a player with a mid or high handicap.
Does higher slope rating mean harder course?
The higher the slope number, the harder the course is for the bogey golfer relative to the difficulty of the course for the scratch golfer. Slope numbers can range anywhere between 55 and 155 with the average slope in the United States being 120.
What is the most difficult slope rating?
The slope rating value always lies between 55 and 155, with 113 being the average or 'standard' value. A slope rating of 155 means this is the most difficult course (for a specific tee) you can imagine. The higher the course and slope rating, the more strokes will be added to your handicap.
What does a slope rating of 113 mean?
Slope Ratings range from 55 to 155, with the average being 113. When you play a course with a Slope Rating higher than 113, your Course Handicap will be higher than your USGA Handicap Index. When you play a course with a Slope Rating lower than 113, your Course Handicap will be lower than your Handicap Index.
What is the slope rating of Augusta National?
137Augusta National Golf ClubClub informationLength7,510 yards (6,870 m)Course rating78.1 (unofficial)Slope rating137 (unofficial)Course record63 - Nick Price (1986), Greg Norman (1996)17 more rows
What is the average Course Rating?
113The Course Slope predicts the difficulty of a course for a “bogey” golfer, someone who shoots 18 over par or 90. Course Slope is a number between 55 and 155, with 113 being the average. The higher the number the more difficult the course. As with course rating each set of tees will have a slope rating.
What is a scratch golfer?
A scratch player essentially is one who can manage every aspect of their game, consistently, and can plot their way around the golf course hitting the right shots at the right time. A Scratch golfer will very rarely hit two bad shots in a row and has the mindset to recover rapidly from setbacks in a positive way.
How good is a bogey golfer?
A bogey is typically considered to be a fairly bad score on a golf hole, as it is a single stroke above par. However, less experienced golfers may view a bogey as an average score since shooting par is not always an easy task. Bogeys are better than double bogeys, triple bogeys, quadruple bogeys.
What is the hardest golf club to join?
Oakmont is one of the oldest golf clubs in the country since its inception in 1903. The club is located in Allegheny River Valley and has no water and few trees. With over two hundred bunkers, it is known as one of the most difficult in the United States. Memberships are by invitation only and start at $75,000.
What golf courses have 155 slope rating?
KIAWAH ISLAND / S.C. / 7,356 YARDS / PAR 72 (Eight of our top 50 were created by the man they call the "Marquis de Sod.") The Ocean has the highest combination of Slope Rating (155) and Course Rating (79.6) in America, according to the U.S. Golf Association.
What is the most difficult golf course?
The Hardest Golf Courses In The World—RankedThe Black Course At Bethpage State Park — Farmingdale, New York.Pine Valley Golf Club — Pine Valley, New Jersey. ... The South Course At Torrey Pines Golf Course — San Diego, California. ... The Dubsdread Course At Cog Hill Golf & Country Club — Lemont, Illinois. ... More items...•
What Exactly is a Golf Course Rating in Golf?
A golf course rating is a score that is established by a USGA official in order to ascertain the difficulty of a particular golf course. In America, golf courses are rated in regard to their difficulty for scratch and bogey golfers, and a slope rating is then expressed.
How is a Golf Course Rating Calculated?
The rating of a golf course is calculated by taking into consideration the various aspects, hazards, and layout of the course in question. Once the various factors are calculated, a numerical value is attributed to the course based on the overall difficulty of the golf course.
What is Considered a Good Golf Course Rating?
Describing a golf course rating as ‘good’ is a bit of a misnomer, as the measure is concerned with determining the difficulty of a particular course, not necessarily the quality. As such, you should treat golf course rating as a measure of how easy or difficult the course will be for you to play.
What is Considered a Difficult Golf Course Rating?
The higher the golf course rating, the harder it will be but anything over a slope rating of 120 is considered difficult. To explain further about difficulties on courses, if you play two golf courses that are both Par 72, the course that is rated 71.8 will be more difficult than the course rated 71.2.
Is a Higher Course Rating Harder?
Yes, the higher a course is rated, the harder it is. The responsibility for rating a golf course falls with a team from the golf association within a particular area. This is important, as the team follows the stringent monitoring format expressed by the USGA.
Is Course Rating the Same as SSS?
Course rating has replaced SSS as the official metric and is now the primary measure of what a scratch golfer is expected to score on a golf course. In the handicapping system, SSS (Standard Scratch Score) was used as the expected score of scratch golfers under normal weather conditions.
What is the Difference Between a Course Rating and Slope Rating?
The main difference between a course rating a slope rating is the calculations used in the overall formula of deciding how difficult a golf course is rated at.
What is slope rating in golf?
Slope rating (a term trademarked by the United States Golf Association) is a measurement of the difficulty of a golf course for bogey golfers relative to the course rating.
What is the minimum slope rating for 18 holes?
The minimum slope rating is 55 and the maximum is 155 (slope does not relate specifically to strokes played as course rating does). When the slope rating system was first put into effect, the USGA set the slope for an "average" golf course at 113; however, not many 18-hole golf courses have slope ratings that low.
What does USGA course rating mean?
To put it another way: USGA Course Rating tells the best golfers how hard a golf course actually plays; USGA Slope Rating indicates how much harder the course plays for "regular" (meaning not among the best) golfers.
What is the role of slope in golf?
The most important role of a slope is leveling the playing field for players of different skill levels. For example, let's say Player A and Player B average 85 strokes each for 18 holes. But Player A's average is established on a very difficult course (say, a slope rating of 150), while Player B's average is established on a much easier course (say, a slope rating of 105). If handicaps were simply estimates of golfers' average scores, then these two players would have the same handicap index. But Player A is clearly the better golfer, and in a match between the two Player B would clearly need some strokes.
Why is the handicap index lower for A and B?
Because he plays on a course with a higher slope rating, Player A's handicap index will be lower than Player B's (when it is calculated using the slope ratings), despite the fact that they both average scores of 85. So when A and B get together to play, B will get those extra strokes he needs.
Course Rating
Course rating is one of the foundations of the golfing handicap system. Without course rating, players wouldn't be able to post scores or maintain a handicap index.
Many Many Features
The features of a golf course that the course rating team have to measure include:
Thousands of Figures
There are generally a set of 26 evaluations applied to each set of tees on each individual hole.
Taking Stimps
In order to work out the speed of a putting green, a simple tool called a Stimpmeter is used.
Now for Some Algebra
If you cast your mind back to your High School algebra classes (sorry...but this bit is important!) you will remember that the slope of a line is a function of its length and its height.
What is the minimum slope rating for a golf course?
The minimum slope rating is 55 and the maximum is 155 (slope does not relate specifically to strokes played as course rating does).
What is the average slope rating for 18 holes of golf?
Some do, but the real-world average is higher than 113 .
What is slope rating?
Slope rating (a term trademarked by the United States Golf Association) is a measurement of the difficulty of a golf course for bogey golfers relative to the course rating. Course rating tells scratch golfers how difficult the golf course will be; slope rating tells bogey golfers how difficult it will be. To put it another way: USGA Course Rating ...
What is USGA course rating?
USGA Course Rating is an evaluation of the difficulty of a golf course for scratch golfers. (More specifically, the number is an estimate of the average scores of the best 50-percent of rounds played by scratch golfers at the course being rated.) Course rating is very easy to understand because it is expressed in strokes.
What is the average stroke rating of a par 72?
Course rating is very easy to understand because it is expressed in strokes. A par-72 course that is easy might have a course rating of 68.9; one that is difficult might have a course rating of 74.5. That means that a scratch golfer should be expected to average 68.9 strokes in his better rounds at the easier course;
What is the average slope rating for golf courses?
The United States Golf Association established the average slope rating to 113, but it has later increased to about 120 as there aren’t many 18-hole golf courses with slope ratings set that low. As has been observed, most golf courses worldwide have average slope ratings of about 120.
What does slope number mean in golf?
Thus, the slope number converts a golfer’s handicap into a course handicap. In this way, it is made sure that a bogey golfer is allowed to play at an equal level to a scratch golfer, and it helps them obtain enough strokes from the same set of tees. This is the mathematical formula of how it is derived:
What is USGA rating?
What is USGA Golf Course Rating and Who Rates It? USGA Golf Course Rating is an assessment of the difficulty of a given golf course for scratch golfers. The course rating estimates the scratch golfers’ average scores who played on the golf course under the rating procedure.
How many strokes does a par 72 golf course have?
It is expressed in strokes, so an easy par-72 golf course could have a 68.9 course rating, while the more difficult one is likely to have a rating of 74.5. In other words, an average golfer should expect to play 68.9 strokes when the course playing difficulty is rated ‘easy,’ while on a challenging course, the same golfer is expected ...
When did the slope rating start?
USGA introduced the slope rating measurement in the 1980s as a system of fairness directed to bogey players. Namely, they observed that a bogey golfer is likely to increase the number of strokes considerably more when playing on a course with a higher level of difficulty than a scratch golfer. This led to creating a slope handicap system ...
Do golf courses affect the slope number?
Yes, they do. However, the course rating impacts the golfer’s index considerably more than the slope number. It often happens that players become too focused on the slope number while ignoring the golf course number.
What are the slope and course rating in golf?
While frequently unused by new or casual golfers, slope and course rating are two of golf’s most important, and most commonly confused numbers. These two numbers might be a seemingly random arrangement of numbers on your scorecard, but in reality , they are two of the great equalizers in the game of golf.
How often are golf course slope ratings re-evaluated?
While the course and slope ratings of a golf course are unlikely to change dramatically, they are usually re-evaluated every 4-5 years.
What is the slope rating of a bogey golfer on a course?
However, if bogey-golfers on course A averages a score of 90 while bogey-golfers on course B average a score of 95 the slope rating for course B would be higher than for course A; indicating a higher level of difficulty for higher handicap players.
What is a course rating?
The simple answer is, a course rating is a number that indicates what a scratch golfer (a golfer that averages par for a round) should shoot on this particular course. So, while the par for a particular course might be 72, a course rating of 70.1 would indicate that a scratch golfer should be almost two under par on average.
tadpole87
what is a considered a hard golf course rating? The course I normally play is on a rating 72.8/149 and course yardage is 6711. I struggle to break 90 and only manage to do it twice 89 and a 87. I am not a long hitter and average between 230-240 drives. My average scores are in the mid 90s and its been my mission to break 90 consistently.
dagolfer18
I would say any course that, from the tips, has a rating of par or higher and a slope in the high 130s or higher. A few examples from some of my local courses:
dennyjones
A rating/slope of 72.8/149 is very difficult for mid/high handicap players. It's beyond my scope to enjoy a round from those tees. Does the course have shorter tees? My home course from the tips plays 76.0/146 but I play either 72/135 or 69.0/123 or the hybrids between those.
tadpole87
A rating/slope of 72.8/149 is very difficult for mid/high handicap players. It's beyond my scope to enjoy a round from those tees. Does the course have shorter tees? My home course from the tips plays 76.0/146 but I play either 72/135 or 69.0/123 or the hybrids between those.
imsys0042
The last two places that I've been a member at play very similar. Here's the ratings, from the normal men's tees:
tadpole87
The last two places that I've been a member at play very similar. Here's the ratings, from the normal men's tees:
mohearn
what is a considered a hard golf course rating? The course I normally play is on a rating 72.8/149 and course yardage is 6711. I struggle to break 90 and only manage to do it twice 89 and a 87. I am not a long hitter and average between 230-240 drives. My average scores are in the mid 90s and its been my mission to break 90 consistently.
