If you have ever examined a scorecard or posted a score for handicap purposes, you have probably seen the terms Course Rating and Slope Rating. While most golfers know they pertain to course difficulty, there are misconceptions about how they are determined, what they represent and how they impact players of different skill levels.
To set the record straight, here’s everything you need to know about these two key terms within the Rules of Handicapping:
How are they are determined?
When a golf course is rated by Golf Ontario, the rating team determines the effective playing length for each set of tees – which is the measured length adjusted for things like roll, forced lay-ups, and elevation changes that make the course play longer or shorter. The rating team also evaluates how obstacles such as bunkers, penalty areas, fairway widths, rough heights, green speed/contours impact two model players: the scratch player (with a Handicap Index of 0.0), and the bogey player (with a Handicap Index of 20.0 for men and 24.0 for women).
From the data collected during the rating procedure, a Course Rating, Bogey Rating and Slope Rating are all calculated based on weightings and formulas that reflect the impact of each item evaluated.
What do they represent?
Let’s start with Course Rating – which is an indication of the difficulty of a golf course for the scratch player under normal course and weather conditions. In other words, a Course Rating of 71.2 means that a scratch player can expect to shoot around 71 when they play well.
An additional term that isn’t well known is Bogey Rating – which is an indication of the difficulty of a golf course for the bogey player. In other words, a Bogey Rating of 95.5 means that a bogey player can expect to shoot around 95 or 96 when they play well. Although Bogey Ratings are generally not printed on scorecards or displayed within score-posting apps, they can be found for each course on the Course Rating and Slope Database™.
Once the Course Rating and Bogey Rating are established, they are compared to determine the Slope Rating – which represents the relative difficulty of a course for non-scratch players compared to those who are scratch players. To put it simply, the larger the difference is between the Course Rating and the Bogey Rating, the higher the Slope Rating will be.
For example:
- With a Course Rating of 71.0 and a Bogey Rating of 92.5, Course A has a Slope Rating of 116.
- With a Course Rating of 71.0 and a Bogey Rating of 95.5, Course B has a Slope Rating of 132.
What does this mean for you?
It depends on your ability – i.e., your Handicap Index. Since low-handicap players tend to find the fairways and hit greens wherever they play, their scores do not increase much when faced with obstacles that can impact wayward shots.
On the other hand, for higher-handicap players, increasing length or the presence of severe obstacles, such as forced carries, long rough, and deep bunkers, can lead to much higher scores – and that’s where Slope Rating comes into play.
For example, if we go back to Course A, with a Course Rating of 71.0, Slope Rating of 116 and par of 71:
- A 1.0 Handicap Index player would have a Course Handicap of 1 and an 18.0 Handicap Index player would have a Course Handicap of 18.
However, if we go back to Course B, with a Course Rating of 71.0, Slope Rating of 132, and par of 71:
- The 1.0 Handicap Index player would still have a Course Handicap of 1, but the 18.0 Handicap Index player’s Course Handicap would increase from 18 to 21.
In summary
The Course Rating and Slope Rating allows you, and any other player with a Handicap Index, to get the strokes you need to have a fair game wherever you decide to tee it up.
For more information about the World Handicap System, visit www.usga.org/whs.
