WSGA RELEASES WINE VALLEY RATINGS

Federal Way, Wash. (April 8, 2009) - The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) has calculated the USGA Course and Slope Ratings for Wine Valley Golf Club, the new course that is located just outside of Walla Walla, Wash.

Designed by Northwest native Dan Hixson, Wine Valley GC is co-owned by longtime Northwest PGA Professional John Thorsnes and Jim Pliska (who also owns Emerald Valley GC in Creswell, Ore.). The full 18-hole championship layout is scheduled to open by May 1, 2009.  It will be open to the public.

Wine Valley GC, a par-72 course, will play 7,360 yards from the Gold tees, with a USGA Course Rating of 75.5 and a USGA Slope Rating of 130. The Black tees will play to 6,760 yards and a rating/slope of 72.5/126. The Blue tees will play to 6,335 yards and a rating/slope of 70.6/123. The White tees will play to 5,845 yards and a rating/slope of 73.7/124 (women), and the Red tees will play to 5,105 yards and a rating/slope of 69.6/114 (women). The ratings team was led by John Saegner, Jr., who is the Sr. Director of Membership Services for the WSGA, and is one of the few in the nation who carry the “Master Course Rater” title with the USGA.

As the governing body of golf in Washington and in Northern Idaho, the WSGA is the only entity in these two regions licensed by the USGA to rate golf courses and issue their USGA Course and Slope Ratings, which ensures that the portability (the ability to adjust your USGA Handicap Index to the difficulty of the course you are playing) of your handicap is possible – enabling golfers of different abilities to compete equally and fairly on any golf course.

The WSGA provides this rating service free of charge to its member clubs throughout Washington and Northern Idaho.

A USGA Course Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer under normal course and weather conditions for the purpose of providing a uniform basis on which to issue USGA Handicap Indexes. 

A USGA Slope Rating measures the relative playing difficulty of each set of tees for non-scratch golfers compared to the USGA Course Rating (e.g. compared to the difficulty of a course for scratch golfers).

The WSGA is also responsible for maintaining the integrity of the USGA Handicap System and is authorized to issue handicaps to members of its member clubs.  The purpose of a handicap index is to measure the potential ability of a golfer on a course of standard playing difficulty (A golf course of standard playing difficulty has a USGA Slope Rating of 113). A handicap index is expressed as a number taken to one decimal place (10.4) and can be converted to a Course Handicap specific to the course and set of tee being played that day.

The course rating system is designed to ensure that the rating of a course is in proper relation to the ratings of other courses so that players regularly playing different courses can be equitably compared.  

Course ratings are objective evaluations of a course's difficulty based on a number of factors including roll, elevation, forced lay-ups, prevailing winds, altitude, topography, fairway width, green targets, recoverability and rough, bunkers, hazards, trees, and effective playing length. 

The WSGA rates established golf courses on a six to seven-year cycle and upon request if major renovations have been made.  Courses that have been open for less than ten years are re-rated every three years to accommodate natural changes made to a course as it matures.

Visit www.winevalleygolfclub.com or www.thewsga.org for more information.

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