What Slope and Rating?

[Patch]

I saw this in another post. I play different courses through out the year. Some are even brand new to me.

I can't remember the last time I thought about the slope and rating of the course. I don't even think that much about the total yardage of the course. I do pay attention to the where the 150 marker might be on longer holes, but that's about it. 

I just show up and play the course. Long, short, hard, or easy, I just go with what I see in front of me. 

[BuckeyeNut]

What are you asking? 

[Hategolf]

I think he is asking what is the dealio with the slope and rating. 

I had not clue either until I got my ass kicked on a very difficult course. I went home and started to read about how they rate the difficulty of the course. 

Now I absolutely pay attention before I make a tee time..It reminds me that not all courses give you a second chance if you hit them off line. 

A 120 slope for my handicap is fun, 117 is easier, 127 more difficult. 

Edited May 13, 2017 by Hategolf
forgot to mention

[sirsteveo55]

19 hours ago, Patch said:

 

I just show up and play the course. Long, short, hard, or easy, I just go with what I see in front of me. 

Yea I normally just show up and play don't pay much attention to slope either. 

If the place has multipule courses I will always play the easier one. I just ask when making the tee time which one is easier. For example when I play up at Penn State I always play the white course because the blue course is harder. 

[Jack Watson]

In my area the white tees suit my ability best.  6200 yards or so 127 slope or so.

Tee choice is very important and I always make sure not to bite off more than I can chew when playing different courses.

The tips on these courses are best suited to the real serious golfers.  

When I see a few guys tee off from the tips they are almost always bombers.

Edited May 13, 2017 by Jack Watson

[dennyjones]

Our Michigan delegation of TST is playing College Fields in East Lansing Friday May 19th.   From the looks of the score card, the course is difficult for mere mortals; 69.9 / 130 from the white tees.  The blue tees are 72.6 / 134.     This is out of my ball park.    My home course is 67.4 / 118.    

The higher the slope number, the harder the course is for the bogey golfer relative to the difficulty of the course for the scratch golfer.

[Patch]

On 5/12/2017 at 4:38 PM, BuckeyeNut said:

What are you asking? 

I'm not asking anything. I just don't pay attention to the "S & R" info. I just show up and play the course. 

Now if a hdcp  is involved, I will use the info, but these days, it's not a big deal. 

Edited May 14, 2017 by Patch

[NJpatbee]

I pay more attention to the distance if playing a course other than my own.  My home course from the middle tees is a par 71 with a 67.6/130 rating and slope, and only 5611 yards.  I can handle the difficulty but I could not come close to scoring well (mid-high 80's for me) on a 6700+ yard course.  I have selected tee boxes using distance but not the rating and slope.  

[Fairway_CY]

My home course from the white tees (middle) is 69.8 / 129 and just about 6200 yards.  I'll typically score 82 - 86 there.  

This past Saturday, we played a course from a set of mixed tees that was 71.1 / 141 and played about just shy of 6500 yards.  In the middle part of my round, I completely lost my driver swing.  For 6 holes (not including a par 3)... I was in the woods or in trouble and punching out after my tee shot.  

This is the 4th time I've played this course from varying sets of tees (69.6 / 135 or 71.1 / 141).  I've shot 102, 94, 93 and 95 there.  

I don't typically pay too much attention to the rating and slope of a course until after I've struggled, but I can tell you that once the slope gets above about 132... I really begin to struggle and my scores will go from the 82 - 86 range to the 92 - 97 range.  

CY

[bkuehn1952]

On 5/12/2017 at 7:31 PM, Patch said:

 

I can't remember the last time I thought about the slope and rating of the course. I don't even think that much about the total yardage of the course. ...

I just show up and play the course....

You just arrive at a course, walk to the back tees and go. It works for you, how about the rest of your group?  

If I ignored the yardage, slope and rating of each course I play, I am afraid I would be in for some long days.

[Jack Watson]

19 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

You just arrive at a course, walk to the back tees and go. It works for you, how about the rest of your group?  

If I ignored the yardage, slope and rating of each course I play, I am afraid I would be in for some long days.

Same here.  I only drive about 260 max anymore on fairways that are soft.  I need to pay attention.  240-245 is about what I can expect anymore with some control.  200 plus yard approaches for me I need to think about playing two wedges versus attacking the trouble near the green.  I'm not what I used to be on swinging fast.  I need to think what that means for my strategy.

If the fairways are hard and rolling out I can be a little more aggressive but the courses I play are not like that.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Jack Watson

[Buckeyebowman]

Back in the day, here in NE Ohio there used to be a course called Thunder Hill. From the tips it was 7,504 yards with a course rating of 78.5 and a slope of 152! Even when I could play a little bit, to go from there would have been suicide.

Unfortunately, the course no longer exists. That's a shame. It's the single most difficult and spectacular course I have ever played.

These days any course over 6,300 with a slope of 125-130 will be a test for me.

[Patch]

6 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

You just arrive at a course, walk to the back tees and go. It works for you, how about the rest of your group?  

If I ignored the yardage, slope and rating of each course I play, I am afraid I would be in for some long days.

 When I show up as a single, I will play from which ever set of tees the group I am with that day wants to play. Most of the time the different tee boxes are not that far apart as it is. Usually maybe only a half of club........or even less.

If I am with my golfing buddies that I have spent the last 30+ years with, we usually play from the middle tees.

When we go out, we are out there to have a good time. We just want to hit some good shots, and make a few putts. Talk a little smack to each other. Drink a few beverages. Maybe smoke a gawd awful cigar, or two. Slope & Rating usually never enters into our thoughts when playing. We just play what's in front of us. 

[dennyjones]

4 hours ago, Patch said:

 When I show up as a single, I will play from which ever set of tees the group I am with that day wants to play. Most of the time the different tee boxes are not that far apart as it is. Usually maybe only a half of club........or even less.

If I am with my golfing buddies that I have spent the last 30+ years with, we usually play from the middle tees.

When we go out, we are out there to have a good time. We just want to hit some good shots, and make a few putts. Talk a little smack to each other. Drink a few beverages. Maybe smoke a gawd awful cigar, or two. Slope & Rating usually never enters into our thoughts when playing. We just play what's in front of us. 

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