How are course ratings calculated?

[SpacklersEdge]

I was wondering how to treat 9 holes in handicap calculations. Say I play nine holes (front 9) on a course with a rating = 69 and slope = 119. USGA website states the course should have a 9 hole rating, but I have never seen a course that does have this. Anyone know how this works?

[Dent]

You would have to go to the front desk at the pro shop and ask them what it is. I have a handicap tracker that automatically determines it when I choose to enter 9 holes, it Gives me an accurate reading..

Also to be a little less accurate, can't you just divide it in half?

[DJYoshi]

I was wondering how to treat 9 holes in handicap calculations. Say I play nine holes (front 9) on a course with a rating = 69 and slope = 119. USGA website states the course should have a 9 hole rating, but I have never seen a course that does have this. Anyone know how this works?

doesn't your ghin provider have a tool for courses they have on file? i know mine does. what course did you play? i'll look for you

email me: dbdjyoshi703@aol.com

[iacas]

I was wondering how to treat 9 holes in handicap calculations. Say I play nine holes (front 9) on a course with a rating = 69 and slope = 119. USGA website states the course should have a 9 hole rating, but I have never seen a course that does have this. Anyone know how this works?

Exactly as you said: the course should have a nine-hole rating. It's usually near half of the course rating (assuming equal distribution of par 3s, 4s, and 5s), but sometimes can be quite different.

The slope can also vary, but is obviously not cut in half for each nine. It's usually about the same.

[SpacklersEdge]

doesn't your ghin provider have a tool for courses they have on file? i know mine does. what course did you play? i'll look for you

I calculate my HDCP myself using an Excel file I made. So I don't have a place to look it up. Check your PM, I sent you the course I played.

My main question though, is how are ratings derived for courses in general, anyone know?

[Dent]

The Course rating is the difficulty rating on the course, or.. What a scratch golfer what should on that course on average.

Definitions The course rating is the average score the upper half of scratch golfers are expected to achieve. If your course rates a 73.1, and you put 100 scratch golfers and said "play," the top 50 should average 73.1. Slope rating represents the difficulty for bogey golfers, and can range from 55 to 155. 113 is about average. Bogey golfers face different challenges than scratch golfers, so these numbers may not always be proportional from course to course.

Taken from:

http://thesandtrap.com/extras/rules/whats_your_handicap

[SpacklersEdge]

The Course rating is the difficulty rating on the course, or.. What a scratch golfer what should on that course on average.

We all know WHAT it is, but how is it determined. Surely they don't gather 100 scrath golfers and say "play". There must be some type of formula, or an "appraiser" of sorts.

[MunkeyGolfer]

I calculate my HDCP myself using an Excel file I made. So I don't have a place to look it up. Check your PM, I sent you the course I played.

Here is an article on course ratings

http://golf.about.com/cs/rulesofgolf..._determine.htm

We all know WHAT it is, but how is it determined. Surely they don't gather 100 scrath golfers and say "play". There must be some type of formula, or an "appraiser" of sorts.

No, basically the USGA has a "rating team" that visits the course, and plays it. The link I posted above this quote has more info on it.

[BCEagles722]

Here is the USGA Course Rating and Slope Database:

http://63.240.106.223/natcrsrating/ncrlisting.aspx

Just look up the course on there and it will give you the front and back 9 ratings.

[SpacklersEdge]

Here is the USGA Course Rating and Slope Database:

BOOKMARKED! Thank a lot.

[DJYoshi]

it was Cary Country Club in Cary, IL - Front 9

rating - slope

whites: front 9 - 34.5 - 118 back 9 - 34.5 - 121 total - 69 - 119 6135 tot yard format.

[SpacklersEdge]

Here is an article on course ratings

Very nice article, makes sense now that I read it. Thank You.

[SpacklersEdge]

rating - slope

Where did you find that? The official USGA link posted above only gave me the womens ratings.

[DJYoshi]

Where did you find that? The official USGA link posted above only gave me the womens ratings.

my handicap service provides course details...so all i did was search your course and then i pulled the info for the men's white tees...i tried to pull blue tee info, but there wasn't any.

[MunkeyGolfer]

Not sure what the difference is but here is another URL that the USGA has for a database.

http://www.usga.org/playing/handicap...ing_lookup.asp

[DaveLeeNC]

We all know WHAT it is, but how is it determined. Surely they don't gather 100 scrath golfers and say "play". There must be some type of formula, or an "appraiser" of sorts.

The USGA has ratings teams that have a "rating process". This process yields a rating number by hole. So pretty much by definition the process will yield a 9 hole rating.

Distance is the strongest determinant in the rating of a hole. Then this is altered slightly for the myriad of other considerations like rough, bunkers, water, greens difficulty, etc. IMHO, tight holes with tons of trouble play harder against their rating than simple/straight-forward holes. dave

[RemyM]

Actually it's not the USGA that does the course ratings. Your regional or state golf association has a ratings team that does the course ratings for the courses in their area.