Course Rating/Slope discrepancies

[No Mulligans]

Tecolote Canyon Golf Course

The course scorecard:  58.6/101

DiabloGolf.com (Official USGA HI's from this site): 55.6/91

USGA course database:  55.2/99

I find these kind of differences on many of the courses I play.  I've assumed that the USGA site is the 'bible' when it comes to the rating/slope and I override diablogolf.com rating/slope with the USGA numbers.

Anyone else notice this?

Which is the correct and most current?

[DaveP043]

I just ran into the same issue at Mid Pines in North Carolina, the Ghin numbers didn't match the scorecard.  I checked with the USGA website, and it matched the Ghin, so that's what I used.

If none of the three agree, I'd check with the course.  Its possible that its been re-rated, and they haven't printed new scorecards, or ran out and are using old cards.  You might also email Diablo Golf and ask them to check, especially if these are courses you play regularly.

[saevel25]

I just ran into the same issue at Mid Pines in North Carolina, the Ghin numbers didn't match the scorecard.  I checked with the USGA website, and it matched the Ghin, so that's what I used.

I just plug the information into the GHIN. It's up to them to keep the database up to date.

[David in FL]

The USGA numbers are what you should use. Courses will sometimes not reprint scorecards when they're re-rated, simply to save the cost/waste.

[Missouri Swede]

I found the same situation with a course I played out of town (a one time thing). I emailed the course PGA pro, and he confirmed the numbers on their scorecard and website are correct and not the usga numbers. So I emailed the usga about it; they forwarded my inquiry to the state golf association. They said the usga numbers were correct and didn't want to verify or find out the reason for the discrepancy, even with the course pro stating he had he correct numbers. I gave it one more follow up email (trying to be polite but feeling like a nuisance). No reply.

[No Mulligans]

I found the same situation with a course I played out of town (a one time thing). I emailed the course PGA pro, and he confirmed the numbers on their scorecard and website are correct and not the usga numbers. So I emailed the usga about it; they forwarded my inquiry to the state golf association. They said the usga numbers were correct and didn't want to verify or find out the reason for the discrepancy, even with the course pro stating he had he correct numbers.

I gave it one more follow up email (trying to be polite but feeling like a nuisance). No reply.

Yeah, I just went to the local association as you did (I went via the internet though).

Did a bit of google research and found that local association does the ratings.  In the case of Southern California it's the SCGA.org rating teams which do the ratings.  I check three courses where I had discrepancies and was happy to see that the SCGA.org data agreed with the USGA data.  That's good enough for me and those are the ratings I'll use.

[Rulesman]

I check three courses where I had discrepancies and was happy to see that the SCGA.org data agreed with the USGA data.

I should hope so. The local authority do the rating legwork (measurements etc) on behalf of the USGA, who then take the figures and produce the actual ratings.