What exactly does slope rating in golf mean?

Question

What exactly does slope rating in golf mean?

Answer 1

Bogey Rating™:   A Bogey Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for bogey golfers under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as the number of strokes taken to one decimal place (92.1), and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the bogey golfer.

Slope Rating®: A Slope Rating is the USGA® mark that indicates the measurement of the relative playing difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers, compared to scratch golfers.  It is computed from the difference between the Bogey Rating and the USGA Course Rating times a constant factor and is expressed as a whole number from 55 to 155.

The Rating Process

The rating process requires a study of each hole, including detailed data obtained at all landing zones for both the scratch and the bogey golfer. The rating teams use the average shot lengths for both scratch and bogey golfers to determine the landing zones. Length corrections and obstacle values are considered at each landing zone.

Effective Playing Length Factors

The following correction factors are evaluated to determine if the hole is effectively longer or shorter than the actual measured length:  

Roll: Roll is an evaluation of how far the tee shots for scratch and bogey golfers roll, and the effect that has on the playing length of the course.

Elevation:  Elevation is a measure of how changes in elevation from tee to green affect the playing length of a hole.

Dogleg/ Forced Lay-Up: Dogleg/forced lay-up is a measure of how much longer or shorter a hole is played because it has a bend (allowing players to cut the corner or forcing them to lay up), or because it has obstacles, such as water or deep bunkers, crossing the fairway in the players’ landing zones (which force the scratch or bogey golfer to hit less than a full shot).

Prevailing Wind:   Prevailing wind is a measure of the effect of constant wind on seaside courses, plains courses, or other courses unprotected from the wind.

Altitude: Altitude is an evaluation for courses at 2,000 feet or more altitude that will play shorter than their measured length because shots fly farther in the thin air.

Obstacle Factors

The following obstacle factors are determined for each landing zone for both the scratch and the bogey golfer:

Topography:  Topography is a factor if the stance or lie in the landing zone is affected by slopes or mounds, or the shot to the green is uphill or downhill, making club selection more difficult.

Fairway: Fairway is an evaluation of the difficulty of keeping the ball in play from tee to green. Fairway ratings are based on fairway width in all landing zones, hole length, and nearby trees, hazards, and punitive rough.

Green Target: Green Target is an evaluation of the difficulty of hitting the green with the approach shot. Primary considerations are target size, length of shot, how well the green holds, and the difficulty of normal hole locations.

Recoverability and Rough: Recoverability and Rough is the evaluation of the probability of missing the tee shot landing zone and the green, and the difficulty of recovering if either, or both, is missed. The Green Target rating drives the Recoverability and Rough rating value.

Bunkers: Bunkers is the evaluation of their proximity to target areas and the difficulty of recovery from them. The Green Target rating also drives the Bunkers rating value.  

Out of Bounds/ExtremeRough: OB/Extreme Rough is the evaluation of the distance from the center of the landing zone to the OB/Extreme Rough. High grass, heavy underbrush in trees, and other extreme conditions are rated in this category because a ball in such “extreme rough” is likely to be lost or virtually unplayable. Such areas may also be rated under Recoverability and Rough.

Water Hazards: Water Hazards is the evaluation of a water hazard and its distance from the landing zone or green and, in the case of a hazard crossing a hole, the problem involved in playing over the hazard. The Water Hazards rating is applied on any hole where there is a water hazard or lateral water hazard.

Trees:  Trees is the evaluation of the size and density of the trees, their distance from the center of the landing zone or green, the length of the shot to that target, and the difficulty of recovery.

Green Surface: Green Surface is the evaluation of a green’s difficulty from a putting standpoint.  Green speed and surface contouring are the main factors. The size of the green is considered irrelevant in evaluating putting difficulty. A Stimpmeter is utilized to measure the speed of the greens based on midseason conditions.

Psychological: Psychological is the evaluation of the cumulative effect of the other obstacles. The location of many punitive obstacles close to a target area creates uneasiness in the mind of the player and thus affects his or her score. This value is purely mathematical and is added after the on-course rating is complete.

Each obstacle is assigned a value of 0 to 10, depending on its relation to how a scratch or bogey golfer would play the hole. When the evaluation is complete, the numbers for each hole’s obstacles are totaled and multiplied by a relative weighting factor. The weighted obstacle stroke values are applied to scratch and bogey formulas and then converted to strokes. Those strokes are added or subtracted from the Yardage Rating to produce a Bogey Rating and USGA Course Rating.

Courses must be re-rated at least every 10 years, or if it is a new golf course, every 3 years for the first 10 years. A course must also be re-rated if significant changes have been made to the course. To schedule a course rating, the club representative needs to contact its authorized golf association.

Answer 2

ITS A GOOD WAY OF MEASURING THE DIFFICULTY OF A GOLF COURSE

Answer 3

It measures the level of difficulty of a golf course.  It's also used to calculate your handicap after you play at that course.

Answer 4

"Slope Rating"

Definition: 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).

Slope rating is not expressed in strokes, but, rather, is a ratio. The higher the slope, the more difficult the course plays for bogey golfers. A slope rating of 113 is considered average.

Slope rating plays an important role in figuring handicap indexes and also is used to figure course handicaps.

How are Course Rating and Slope Rating Determined?

Course rating and slope rating are calculated for a course on the basis of a visit to the course by a USGA rating team.

The rating team will spend time with the course's staff going over the course and will spend a lot of time on the course taking measurements of various things. The USGA recommends that the rating team play the course either before or after the rating visit, too.

Based on the information gleaned during the visit(s), the course rating and course slope will be calculated, certified by the appropriate overseeing golf associations and given to the club, which then posts the ratings on its scorecard and elsewhere.

Course rating used to be based almost solely on length. The longer the course, the higher the rating. Distance and obstacles now come into play.

The rating team will go over the course with an eye to how both scratch golfers and bogey golfers will play it.

A scratch golfer, in this use, is defined by the USGA as a male golfer who hits his drive 250 yards and can reach a 470-yard hole in two; or a female golfer who hits her drives 210 yards and can reach a 400-yard hole in two (and, of course, plays to scratch).

A bogey golfer, in this use, is defined by the USGA as a male golfer with a handicap index of 17.5 to 22.4, who hits his drives 200 yards and can reach a 370-yard hole in two; and a female golfer with a handicap index of 21.5 to 26.4, who hits her drives 150 yards and can reach a 280-yard hole in two.

So, for instance, on a 400-yard hole, the team will go 200 yards down the fairway to analyze the landing area for a bogey golfer; and 250 yards down the fairway to analyze the landing area for a scratch golfer.

What obstacles were encountered along the way? What is the state of the fairway at each spot for each golfer? What angle is left to the green? What obstacles still away? How far is the approach shot for each? What is the height and reach of trees? And so on.

Taking into account length and obstacles, and experience gleaned from playing the course, the rating team will evaluate the overall difficulty of the course under normal playing conditions and issue the course rating for scratch golfers.

Likewise, they will issue the bogey rating for bogey golfers.

The bogey rating is then used to calculate slope, which, remember, is a number representing the relative difficulty of a course for bogey golfers compared to scratch golfers. The calculation that determines slope is this: bogey course rating minus USGA course rating x 5.381 for men or 4.24 for women.

The "effective playing length" and "obstacle stroke value" are the determining factors in course rating and bogey rating.

Effective playing length is exactly that - not the actual yardage on a hole or a shot, but how it actually plays. Is there a downslope that will add yards? An upslope? Is the course at altitude, which will produce more length? What's the height of the fairway grass, which will affect roll? Are there forced lay-ups?

Obstacle stroke value is a numerical rating of the difficulty presented by obstacles on the course. The course is rated in 10 categories: topography; easy or difficulty of hitting the fairway; propability of hitting the green from the fairway landing area; difficulty of bunkers and probability of hitting into them; probability of hitting out of bounds; how much water will come into play; how trees affect play; speed and contouring of the greens; and the psychological effect of all these things.

The rating team will look at all these things for both scratch golfers and bogey golfers, and from every set of tees. And then follow the USGA's four formulas (male scratch golfer, female scratch golfer, male bogey golfer, female bogey golfer), some adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, and produce its numbers.

And you thought rating a course was easy!

Golf FAQ: What is Slope Rating?

Slope rating (a term trademarked by the USGA) is a measurement of the difficulty of a course for bogey golfers relative to the course rating.

Course rating tells scratch golfers how difficult the course will be; slope rating tells bogey golfers how difficult it will be.

The minimum slope is 55 and the maximum is 155 (slope does not relate specifically to strokes played as course rating does). The slope rating for a course of average difficulty is 113.

Like course rating, slope rating is done for each set of tees on a course, and a course may have a separate slope rating for certain tees for women.

Slope rating is a factor in the calculation of handicap index, and is also used to determine the course handicap.

The most important role of slope is leveling the playing field for players of different skill levels. For example, let's say Player A and Player B average a score of 85 for 18 holes. But Player A's average is established on a very difficult course (say, a slope rating of 145), while Player B's average is established on a very easy course (say, a slope rating of 95). If handicaps were simply estimates of golfers' average scores, then these two players would have the same handicap index. But Player A is clearly the better golfer, and in a match between the two Player B would clearly need some strokes.

Slope rating allows the handicap index to reflect these factors. Because he plays on a course with a higher slope rating, Player A's handicap index will be lower than Player B's (when it is calculated using the slope ratings), despite the fact that they both average scores of 85. So when A and B get together to play, B will get those extra strokes he needs.

Slope is primarily used in the U.S., but golf associations in other countries are beginning to adopt slope or similar systems.

Golf FAQ: Why is Slope Rating Called "Slope"?

Slope. It doesn't make much sense, given what it means, does it? Why did the USGA choose the term "slope" to represent the relative difficulty of courses for bogey golfers?

When the USGA added slope rating to the pre-existing course rating, in the early 1980s, it did so because of something that had always been obvious. The more difficult a course is, the greater the descrepancy is between the scores of stronger and weaker players.

The course rating system did not account for that factor; slope does.

Imagine two players, Player A and Player B. Player A is a six handicapper, Player B is a 16 handicapper. On a course of average difficulty (slope of 113), both players are likely to play close to their handicaps.

But as course difficulty increases, Player B's scores will rise faster than Player A's. On a course with a slope of 135, Player B might need an additional 10 strokes, while Player A might only need an additional 3.

Now, imagine that descrepancy plotted on a graph. The graph lines of both players A and B would rise as the course difficulty increased - but the line of Player B would rise at a much steeper angle than that of Player A.

The slope of a weaker player's scoring graph is steeper than that of a stronger player's. And there you go. The term "slope" - referring to relative steepness of the graph line of a weaker player's scores - was chosen to represent the USGA's new method of rating course difficulty for bogey golfers.

Hey, they had to call it something.

    k?

Answer 5

The slope rating  indicates the difficulty of the course. This is usually indicated on the score card and you will note the slope differs from each set of tees. It is also a factor in determining a player's handicap. if your handicap is based on scores at an easier course than the one you are playing, the handicap strokes may be increased over what you show.

Answer 6

measures the dificulty of a course