Handicapping Senior Tees

[xrayvizhen]

I'm sure this topic must have been discussed somewhere but I couldn't find specifically what I was looking for when I did a search.

How does one go about handicapping those who play from senior tees? The USGA doesn't list Index and Slope numbers for Senior (or Gold) tees on its website. I'm in a league and a couple of old guys have requested they be allowed to play from the gold tees. What's used to handicap them? Use the Red Tee Index/Slope numbers? Make them play from the Red instead of the Gold tees? Deny their request and make them play from the Whites which is what everyone else plays from?

We do the handicapping ourselves using a slightly different method than the USGA/GHIN/WHS although we still calculate differentials using the standard formula. But what numbers would we use for the slope and index?

[DeadMan]

Just to double check, are you looking at the scorecard or the USGA rating database? Sometimes the course has been rated for more tees than are printed on the scorecard. I think it would be odd if the senior tees are unrated.

If they are unrated, you might be able to come up with an estimated rating using Appendix G of the handicap manual: https://www.usga.org/handicapping/roh/2020-rules-of-handicapping.html. It's not official, but it might be good enough for your purposes.

[xrayvizhen]

2 hours ago, DeadMan said:

Just to double check, are you looking at the scorecard or the USGA rating database? Sometimes the course has been rated for more tees than are printed on the scorecard. I think it would be odd if the senior tees are unrated.

If they are unrated, you might be able to come up with an estimated rating using Appendix G of the handicap manual: https://www.usga.org/handicapping/roh/2020-rules-of-handicapping.html. It's not official, but it might be good enough for your purposes.

I checked both. We play five different golf courses in more or less of a rotation. Of the five only one has gold tees listed in the USGA rating database, yet all five of them have gold tees.

I'll take a look at that Appendix you referenced but my inclination is to declare "White Tees Only." We don't want to turn the league into one for geriatrics and we don't want to chase the younger players away either.

[iacas]

What courses? All in New Jersey?

[Club Rat]

@xrayvizhen have you looked at the National Data Base - Course Rating and Slope Database?

To begin a new lookup please fill in one or more fields below. Scroll down to see your results.
*Note: You may enter a partial Club Name to get more results.

*Example: Typing ' peb ' (no quotes) for the Club Name would return both"Pebble Beach Golf Links" in CA AND "Pebble Brook CC" in TX.

https://ncrdb.usga.org/

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by Club Rat

[xrayvizhen]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

What courses? All in New Jersey?

Yes - the five that are part of the Crystal Springs resort.

[iacas]

I feel like something is amiss here, as some of the courses only list tees/ratings for women, too.

National Course Rating Database

National Course Rating Database

National Course Rating Database

 

[xrayvizhen]

Only one of the golf courses that's part of the resort, Ballyowen, shows the index and slope numbers for the gold tees. Our league has not played all the golf courses yet this season so when when we play there I will need to actually verify if the gold tees are still there. I know they were there last year but for all I know, maybe they were removed for some reason.

 

[RickK]

Are these executive courses?  Have you asked the pro(s) there about the course ratings?  

I answered my own question about the course by going to the Crystal Springs website.  

The one course that has Gold tees and ratings is Ballyowen (maybe spelled wrong).  On that course, Gold is definitely not intended for Seniors at 6508yds.  It is longer than the blues (6060yds) and white (5531).  

So, looking at all the scorecards for the 6 courses...it appears to me that the yardages and slope ratings for the White tees would seem to indicate that is really for Seniors.  At least the yardages list on those scorecards are close to many Senior tees in my area.  

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by RickK

[xrayvizhen]

8 hours ago, RickK said:

Are these executive courses?  Have you asked the pro(s) there about the course ratings?  

I answered my own question about the course by going to the Crystal Springs website.  

The one course that has Gold tees and ratings is Ballyowen (maybe spelled wrong).  On that course, Gold is definitely not intended for Seniors at 6508yds.  It is longer than the blues (6060yds) and white (5531).  

So, looking at all the scorecards for the 6 courses...it appears to me that the yardages and slope ratings for the White tees would seem to indicate that is really for Seniors.  At least the yardages list on those scorecards are close to many Senior tees in my area.  

 

I was there yesterday and answered my own question as well. Ballyowen's gold tees are one step below the championship (black) tees. Our league plays from the blues when we're there so yes, the white tees would be considered senior tees, but only at that course because the senior tees at the other four golf courses, which were there last year as I recall, have been removed.

The end result of all this is what I said on my first post. We are trying to attract a younger membership so we will leave things as they are. If the old guys don't want to play a certain course because it's too long for them they can stay home that week. Problem solved.

[RickK]

On 6/30/2020 at 7:12 AM, xrayvizhen said:

I was there yesterday and answered my own question as well. Ballyowen's gold tees are one step below the championship (black) tees. Our league plays from the blues when we're there so yes, the white tees would be considered senior tees, but only at that course because the senior tees at the other four golf courses, which were there last year as I recall, have been removed.

The end result of all this is what I said on my first post. We are trying to attract a younger membership so we will leave things as they are. If the old guys don't want to play a certain course because it's too long for them they can stay home that week. Problem solved.

I play in a league which has people who play from the "regular" tees and then some who are over 60 who play from the "senior" tees.  

With the way the World Handicap System is today, you just use whatever handicap they have from whichever set of tees they are playing.

That way we don't discourage anyone who wants to play from playing.