Course Rating – Part 1

Course ratings – what do they mean and how can we use them?

Understanding how a golf course is rated and the meaning of that rating may very well help you to understand what makes a golf course easy  or difficult and how your game might match up to a given course.  Briefly, a course is rated on its length and the obstacles it has which create added difficulty.  Course ratings are comprised of two parts, the USGA course rating and the slope rating, when they appear on a score card: 72.5/128 for example.  The course rating is basically a yardage rating, and the slope rating is generally an obstacle rating.

The yardage rating reflects how many strokes a scratch (0 handicap) player will take to play a given course.  The USGA states that a scratch player will hit her driver 210 yards and can hit the green on a 400 yard hole in two shots.  Thus, a scratch player plays a course rated at 72.5 in 72.5 strokes regardless of par.  A higher handicap golfer does not have the luxury of that kind of shot length.  The USGA estimates a bogey player to be about a 24 handicap.  She hits her drives 150 yards, and she can hit the green on a 280 yard hole in two shots.  Obviously, she will take many more shots than a scratch player.  She also will encounter more obstacles; consequently, the slope (or obstacle) rating is more applicable to her game.

Your handicap calculation is derived from both yardage and slope.  If you are lucky enough to be able to choose which tee you will play on a course, ask yourself these questions:

• Which yardage rating is closest to par?
• Which slope reflects the difficulty that suits my game?
• Can I reach the par 3’s from this tee?

Perhaps using the rating to choose a tee that suits your abilities will make your round more enjoyable.