Understanding The Golf Course And Golf Slope Ratings
Author: Hireko Golf
In the article Understanding the Golf Handicap System, it becomes apparent that the Course and Slope Rating of each course is the backbone of the USGA Handicap System. However, to make the golfer?s handicap index transferable from one course, golf green
, to another it is imperative that the ratings, golf green
, not only reflects the difficulty of a course under normal conditions, but done consistently from one course to the next.
You are probably wondering not only who rates the courses but how they do, golf green
, it too. First, the golf club facility is not allowed to rate its own course, rather the USGA authorizes and trains local or regional golf associations with the exact same procedures that are meticulously followed by all golf associations throughout the world. The association is made up of volunteers representing multiple vocations who attend annual rating seminars for none other than the love of the game.
Once the course it rated, it will need to be re-rated at a minimum of every 10 years to keep track of any changes the course might have made. For new courses, they will be re-rated every three years for the first nine to reflect to the continual changes as the course matures, golf green
, .
The course has actually two sets of ratings, although three are used in the calculations. The one normally not mentioned is the Bogey Rating which represents the difficult, golf green
, of a course for a bogey golfer under normal playing and weather conditions.
The USGA Course Rating represents the difficult of a course for a scratch golfer under normal playing and weather conditions and is a numerical expression of the number of strokes taken to one decimal place (e.g.73.1). The Slope Rating is the difference between the Bogey Rating and the USGA Course Rating that is multiplied by a mathematical constant. The Slope Rating ranges from a low of 55 to a high of 155 with 113 being the standard (not necessarily the average though).
The greater the gap between the expected scores of the bogey and scratch golfer, the higher the slope rating will be.
It is important to understand the difference between the two because distance is one of the factors involved with rating a particular course. For the purpose of rating the golf course, the male scratch golfer is defined as someone who can hit their tee shots an average of 250, golf green
, yards (including carry and roll) and can reach a 470-yard hole in two shots at sea level.
The female scratch golfer can hit her average drive a total of 210 yards and reach a 400-yard hole, golf green
, in two shots.
A male bogey golfer has, golf green
, a course handicap of approximately 20 and can hit his average drive a total of 200 yards and reach a 370-yard hole in two shots at sea level, while the female bogey golfer has a course handicap of approximately 24, hits her average tee shot 150 yards with roll and can reach a 280-yard hole in two shots.
The effective playing length of a course is different from the actual playing length on the scorecard. There are five factors that create the difference. The first is roll. Are, golf green
, the fairways firm and hard, have downhill landing areas or are the fairways lush and the ball will land on an uphill slope? Elevation of the tee to green makes a difference as holes running downhill will play shorter than those running uphill.
The magnitude and direction of the prevailing wind is yet another factor. Does the hole have a dogleg or forced lay-up creating a situation where less than a full tee shot is required to stay in the fairway or away from a hazard? Lastly, higher altitudes above 2000 feet above sea level with greater distances, therefore the yardage needs reduced to compensate.
Not only is the effective playing a factor but the rating team needs to evaluate ten different obstacles (nine of which are physical) and how they affect both the scratch golfer and bogey golfer.
Theses factors are:
*
Topography, golf green
, – includes stance and elevation *
Fairways – width, doglegs, trees and levelness *
Green Target – size, firmness, shape and slope *
Recoverability and Rough – penalizing factors and proximity to greens and landing areas *
Bunkers – proximity to greens and landing areas *
Out of bounds / Extreme Rough – existence and proximity to greens and landing areas *
Water Hazards – existence and proximity to greens and landing areas *
Trees – size, location and density *
Green Surface – contour and speed *
Psychological – mental effect on play with all these obstacles
By standing on the tee or in the fairway in the probable landing area based on the yardages above, each obstacle is awarded a value on a scale of 0 to 10 by members of the rating team.
This process goes on for each hole on the course. At the end, each factor is tallied and multiplied by a relative weight factor to be combined with the yardage ratings to produce the Golf Course and Slope Rating.
Source: articledashboard.com
Related posts: