About Course Rating
Course Rating
When a golf course is rated, the rating team
will evaluate the overall difficulty of the golf course for both a scratch golfer and a bogey golfer. The
rating established for the scratch golfer is known as the Course Rating. There is also a rating for the bogey
player known as the Bogey Rating. This Bogey Rating is not normally published but is used to determine a
Slope Rating. The Slope Rating is an evaluation of the relative difficulty of a course for players other than
scratch.
During the Course Rating procedure the rating team will evaluate the ten obstacles and effective length
corrections
on every hole. We recommend that each rating team play
the golf course either before or after the rating procedure in order to gain further insight into the overall
difficulty of the golf course.
The RCGA Course and Slope Ratings are then calculated and certified by the provincial/regional/golf
associations before they are issued to the club.
Definitions
In order to help understand the
course rating process, below are some of the basic definitions used in the course rating process:
Bogey Golfer - A player with a RCGA Handicap Factor of 17.5 to 22.4 strokes for men and 21.5
to 26.4 for women. Under
normal situations the
male bogey golfer can hit his tee shot 200 yards and can reach a 370-yard hole in two shots. Likewise, the
female bogey golfer can hit her tee shot 150 yards and can reach a 280-yard hole in two shots. Players
who have a Handicap Factor between the parameters above but are unusually long or short off the tee are not
considered to be a bogey golfer for
course rating purposes.
Scratch
Golfer - An amateur player who
plays to the standard of the stroke play qualifiers competing in the United States Amateur
Championship/Canadian Amateur. The male scratch golfer hits his tee shots an average of 250 yards and can
reach a 470-yard hole in two shots. The female scratch golfer can hit her tee shots an average of 210 yards
and can reach a 400-yard hole in two shots.
RCGA Course Rating - An evaluation of the overall difficulty of the golf course under normal
course and weather conditions for the scratch golfer. This figure is equal to the average of the better half
of a scratch golfers scores.
Bogey Course Rating - An evaluation of the overall difficulty of the golf course under
normal course and weather conditions for the bogey golfer. The bogey rating is equal to the average of the
better half of a bogey golfers scores.
Slope Rating - The RCGA's mark that indicates the measurement of the relative difficulty of
a course for players who are not scratch golfers compared to the Course Rating. The lowest Slope rating is 55 and the
highest is 155. A golf course of standard playing difficulty has a RCGA Slope Rating of 113.
RCGA Slope Rating -(Bogey Course Rating-RCGA Course Rating) x 5.381 for men or
4.24 for women.
The Course Rating for either golfer is determined by adding the yardage rating to the obstacle stroke value
for that golfer.
Scratch Yardage Rating (Male) = (Scratch male effective playing length/220) + 40.9
Scratch Yardage Rating (Female) = (Scratch female effective playing length/180) + 40.1
Bogey Yardage Rating (Male) = (Bogey male effective playing length/160) + 50.7
Bogey Yardage Rating (Female) = (Bogey female effective playing length/120) + 51.3"
The effective playing length for each
golfer is derived by adding the measured yardage of the course to any adjustments made for elevation, roll,
forced lay-ups, wind, and altitude.
Adjustments are made to the measured yardage if there is any elevation change from tee to green (elevation),
if there is a prevailing wind and is it a factor (wind), if the fairway landing areas are hard or soft or if
the tee shots land into an up-slope or on a downslope (roll), if an obstacle or combination of obstacles
prevent a golfer from playing a full length shot (forced lay-up), and if the course is located more than 2000
feet above sea level (altitude).
The obstacle stroke value is a numerical evaluation of all obstacles (topography, fairway,
green target, recovery and rough, bunkers, out of bounds, water, trees, green surface, and psychology) on the
golf course. It is also highly probable that the Obstacle stroke value of the two golfers will be different.
Generally, the nearer the obstacles are to the landing zones the higher the rating values.
