While the terms golf slope and rating have been around for several years, it is only since 2020 that UK golfers have been required to understand their true meaning.
The official USGA definition of the two different measures of the difficulty of a golf course is as follows…
“Playing length and obstacles impact higher-handicap players more than lower-handicap players, and Slope Rating measures the relative difficulty of a golf course for players who are not scratch players compared to those who are scratch players”
“A Course Rating represents the score a scratch player, with a Handicap Index® of 0.0, should achieve on a golf course under normal course and weather conditions. For example, a Course Rating of 71.8 would equate to a scratch player’s expected score of 72 on a good round.”
Or to put it another way, the Course rating is a measure of how difficult a course is for a scratch golfer (a golfer with a handicap of zero), while the Slope rating is a measure of how difficult a course is for a bogey golfer (a golfer with a handicap of 20 to 24).
The Course rating is calculated by taking the average score of a group of scratch golfers playing the course under normal conditions.
The Slope rating is calculated by taking the difference between the course rating and the average score of a group of bogey golfers playing the course under normal conditions, and then dividing that difference by 113.
A course with a slope rating of 113 is the average difficulty for a bogey golfer. A course with a slope rating of 100 is easier than average, while a course with a slope rating of 125 is more difficult than average.
The golfer’s handicap is adjusted for the difficulty of the course they are playing, and the slope rating is used to determine how much the handicap should be adjusted.
But the real benefit of this advance in the way handicaps are calculated is that it allows you to compete against players of different playing abilities.
It can help golfers choose courses that are challenging but fair, and it can also help golfers track their progress and improvement over time.
The history of slope dates to the early 1990s, when the United States Golf Association (USGA) began developing a new system for handicapping golfers.
The old system, which had been in place since the early 1900s, was based on a golfer’s scratch score, or the number of strokes they would be expected to make on a par-72 course.
However, the USGA concluded the incumbent system was not fair to golfers of different skill levels.
A scratch golfer would have a significant advantage over a bogey golfer, even if they were both playing the same course.
To address this issue, the USGA developed the slope rating system.
The Slope rating is a measure of how difficult a course is for a bogey golfer.
It is calculated by taking the difference between the course rating and the average score of a group of bogey golfers playing the course under normal conditions, and then dividing that difference by 113.
Key dates in the history of slope in golf:
So now you know!
