Is there objectiveness in course rating and slope?

[Bullitt5339]

Just trying to figure this out, because I play 4 different courses on a regular basis, and now that I'm tracking my handicap closely, I think I'm getting screwed because of the courses I play. The courses that are rated as more difficult, I have no problems with. There's less hazards on the courses that come into play, less elevation changes, but somehow they are rated harder, but I score better at them than I do at my home course, which is rated fairly easy, but I find it much tougher than the other 3 courses.

My Home Course, the one I find the toughest:

Scothurst Golf Club
7001 yards, par 72, rating 72.9, slope 118

My 2nd most played course, the one I find easiest:

Ryder Golf Course
6402 yards, par 72, rating 71.3, slope 133

3rd is the 2nd easiest course I play:

Stryker Golf Course
6625 yards, par 72, rating 71.2, slope 119

4th is the another course I find pretty easy, but a nice course:

Bayonet at Puppy Creek
7036 yards, par 72, rating 74, slope 134

Now I play at Scothurst the majority of the time, since I'm a member, but I find it the most difficult out of the 4. But since my handicap is adjusted based on the slope, doesn't it skew my actual handicap, since the toughest course has the easiest rating, but I score 6-8 shots better on Ryder, which is supposed to be a tougher course.

I'm fairly new at tracking my handicap, so take it easy on me. I may be totally mistaken on how all this works although I've tried to read up on it.

[iacas]

I help to rate courses for the West Penn Golf Association (WPGA).

Is there objectiveness? Yes.

Is there a little bit of subjectiveness? A little, though virtually everything is pretty well defined, often with hard measurements (2/3 of the green must be surrounded by a five-foot or more rise or fall for one thing to count, for example).

Some people's games just fit conditions better than others. You could have two courses, both rated 72.0 and 125, that suit vastly different players best, but on the average, the ratings will hold up.

(Example: Course A is 6000 yards and fairly well tree-lined with small greens, some water hazards, etc. Course B is 7000 yards but wide open with big greens. Easily could have the same slope/rating but favor vastly different types of players.)

[Bullitt5339]

So how does it effect my handicap, seeing that I score better on the 2 courses that have the highest slope? Doesn't that skew my handicap, since I score poorly on the low slope courses, but score much better on the high slope courses, or will it all balance out in the end?

Like I said, I've just started tracking my handicap this year, but I use an online program to figure it out. Although my handicap isn't very good, I've been asked to play on my company's best ball team because I'm actually a pretty decent ball-striker, my short game is just horrendous. The majority make us register player's handicaps, so I had to start tracking it.

[Shanks A Million]

So how does it effect my handicap, seeing that I score better on the 2 courses that have the highest slope? Doesn't that skew my handicap, since I score poorly on the low slope courses, but score much better on the high slope courses, or will it all balance out in the end?

The rating is the number that the average scratch golfer will shoot on that course. The slope is the number the average bogey golfer will shoot. These reflect the logarithmic change in average score for a bogey golfer as a course gets harder. The "average" slope is something like 116, so the average course would be like a 72/116. This means if a bogey golfer and a scratch golfer both went out and played any number of rounds, their scores would average out to 116, and 72 respectively.

So, a higher slope will drop your handicap faster. I never shoot scores as low as my handicap would show, but the courses I play are all sloped at about 135+.

[iacas]

The slope is the number the average bogey golfer will shoot.

Wrong... the average bogey golfer will not shoot 113 on a course with an average slope (it's not 116). They'll shoot about 92 - 24 or so strokes lower than you said - and possibly in the 80s if the course rating isn't all that high (as not most 113-sloped courses are).

Do the math: (92-72) * (113/113) * .96 = 19.2.

[Shanks A Million]

Wrong... the average bogey golfer will not shoot 113 on a course with an average slope (it's not 116). They'll shoot about 92 - 24 or so strokes lower than you said - and possibly in the 80s if the course rating isn't all that high (as not most 113-sloped courses are).

My mistake, this is how it's defined:

USGA Slope Rating is a number ranging from 55 to 155 that represents the difficulty of a course for bogey golfers relative to the USGA Course Rating (which represents the difficulty for scratch golfers).

[Gioguy21]

Love the thread...so how does slope get determined exactly and what does the math mean and how does it relate to score? (always a mystery to me)

[RemyM]

Love the thread...so how does slope get determined exactly and what does the math mean and how does it relate to score? (always a mystery to me)

The higher the slope the more difficult the course is for a "Bogey Golfer".

Read this: http://www.usga.org/handicapping/cou...Rating-Primer/

[allin]

Just trying to figure this out, because I play 4 different courses on a regular basis, and now that I'm tracking my handicap closely, I think I'm getting screwed because of the courses I play. The courses that are rated as more difficult, I have no problems with. There's less hazards on the courses that come into play, less elevation changes, but somehow they are rated harder, but I score better at them than I do at my home course, which is rated fairly easy, but I find it much tougher than the other 3 courses.

The Ryder course slope is interesting? 133 for that length course is fairly high I believe. Is it hilly, very tight, small greens, lots of water. Things of that nature would seem to be necessary for it to have that high a slope. My home course is similar to Erics Course A somewhat hilly version. There are courses in my area that rate a higher slope that I find much easier. If you figure out why the other courses are easier than you probably have identified a strength or weakness in your game. Courses for horses I guess.

[Bullitt5339]

Ryder has a few hills, but nothing major. There are quite a few blind shots on the course though, if that counts towards the slope being so high. It's a fairly tight course, there's not a whole lot of room to make mistakes and still have a decent shot, but I still don't find it very hard.

The only thing that's harder about Ryder than Scothurst is the fact that there's a few holes at Scothurst where if you shank a drive into the other fairway, you can recover. On Ryder, there are no side-by-side fairways without 50ft of dense woods between them at least.