Understanding Slope Can Be An Uphill Battle.

How many people understand the slope rating system of golf courses?  Ask a couple people who should know – your golf professional, your handicap chairperson, etc.  Ask them to explain the difference between slope rating and course rating.  Ask them if slope rating affects your course handicap.

Chances are, no two of them will give the same answer.  Few people outside the USGA and State Golf Associations really understand it, and for most, the USGA Handicap Manual is little help.  In fact, some may find it to be a math student’s nightmare.

According to the manual, Course Ratings are set for the mythical male scratch player “who plays to the standard of the U.S. Amateur, who can hit tee shots and average of 250 yards and reach a 470-yard hole in two shots.”  The manual next gives a formula for bogey rating.  For men, the bogey rating is the length of the course divided by 160 plus 50.7.

Then there is Slope.  The book says slope for men is 5.381 times the difference between the scratch course rating and the bogey rating.  In actuality then, it is the course rating that determines the overall difficulty of a golf course.

So Slope really isn’t a measure of overall difficulty.  Rather, it’s a measure of the difference between difficulty for the scratch and bogey player.  And the number it comes up with is a hundred something…a meaningless number other than providing a reference point.

The average course has a 113 slope.  Anything above that is considered tougher than average – anything less is easier.

So what is the purpose of slope?  Slope was principally introduced to make handicaps portable from golf course to golf course.  Every USGA club is issued a table for each set of tees.  If a player consults the table and adjusts his/her handicap accordingly, he/she should theoretically have the same net score at the toughest or easiest course.

Slope is also a factor in computing handicaps.  The formula is (adjusted score minus the course rating) X (113 divided by the slope rating).  Slope is too detailed to be practical for individual golfers or clubs to try to apply themselves.

That is just one more reason why it’s the responsibility of the OGA to provide clubs with Course and Slope Ratings as well as provide a handicap service that applies the rules to create a uniform standard among golfers.

Only a State Golf Association’s regulated, uniform handicap service can truly provide a level playing field for all golfers.

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