How does course rating and slope work

Another factor could be narrower fairways or more hazards sand traps, water, out of bounds, etc. As with course length in the first example, more hazards on a course present more challenges for a bogey golfer and makes the course harder.

So while the par golfer will still shoot 72 on the second course, the bogey golfer will have a score above Hopefully this explanation will help you better understand the difference between Course Rating and Course Slope. Next time you tee it up with your golf buddies, ask them if they can explain the two course ratings. And remember to tell them that you learned about this on the Louisville Golf blog!

Close menu. Hickory Blades. Hickory Putters Modern Putters. Gift Cards. Our Story. Contact Us. Example In most cases, the challenges a course presents to a scratch golfer are different than those faced by bogey golfers.

Clearly the Bogey golfer is much more susceptible to any of the greenside trouble present on the holes bunkers, difficult chips, etc.

Such a scenario will force the Bogey rating higher, widen the gap between the two ratings, and result in a higher Slope. Now consider a set of tees, even on the same course, where most of the holes are unreachable in regulation for the Bogey golfer. To a certain degree, the tide of proportionate difficulty has turned. Though both ratings will be increasing due to the added length of these tees, the gap between the Scratch and Bogey rating may be staying relatively constant or may widen at a very slow rate.

These upward and downward pressures help explain why a Slope rating may increase sharply at a course from the Gold tees to the White tees Bogey rating rising much faster than Scratch rating as the approach shots become longer , yet hardly change from White to Blue gap increasing slowly due to shorter approach shots of Bogey golfer.

Another factor that can greatly impact the Slope is forced lay-ups. If the Scratch golfer is forced to lay up on a hole due to any one of a number of obstacles water hazard, severe dogleg, etc. It will leave the Bogey rating untouched. This higher Scratch rating narrows the gap with the Bogey rating and decreases the Slope. Conversely, if the forced lay-ups only impact the higher handicapper, the Bogey rating and Slope will increase.

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 This indicates that the course is actually easier than an average course and allows the player to factor this difficulty into their handicap and their ego. Also unlike course rating, slope values can range from 55 to with being the average.

Now, although you might be thinking that slope ratings work similarly to course ratings, you are actually falling for one of the most common misconceptions regarding these ratings.

Slope ratings, absolutely, do not provide the same information as a course rating. So what do they tell us then? While course ratings are a measure of the difficulty of a course, slope ratings are a measure of how much more difficult a course is for a high handicap golfer versus a lower one. For example, if you have two courses that each have a course rating of 72, they should be the same difficulty for a scratch golfer. 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.

This will adjust your handicap to the difficulty of the course. As you may have figured out already, golf is a difficult game and contains a very wide range of golfers, each with very different levels of skill.

While this might not seem like a big deal, having a very narrow spread of scores even on courses that are much easier or harder than average ones creates a rating that underestimates changes in course difficulties for the rest of the golfing population.

However, they also realized that this phenomenon was the exact opposite for mid-high handicap golfers.