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The slope rating of a
golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". T ...
is a measure of its relative difficulty for a bogey golfer compared to a
scratch golfer The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs. 0� ...
. It is used by handicapping systems to equalize the field by accounting for the likelihood that, when playing on more difficult courses, higher handicap players' scores will rise more quickly than their handicaps would otherwise predict. The term was invented by the
United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...
.


History of slope rating

With the aim of developing their handicap system in order to account for variances in golf course playing difficulty for golfers of different abilities, in 1979 the USGA setup the Handicap Research Team (HRT). Two years earlier, in 1977, then Lt. Commander Dean Knuth, a graduate student at the
Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ...
, had devised improvements to the course rating system, including weighted ratings of ten characteristics for each hole, to provide an adjustment to the distance rating for the course. It was to be the basis for the present USGA Course Rating System. Later, while living in
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
, he developed a method for Bogey Rating by analyzing data gathered from average ability volunteers scores played on the local courses. Knuth went on to serve as the USGA's Senior Director of Handicapping for 16 years, beginning in 1981. The result of the Knuth's and HRT's work was a calculation based on the difference between the course rating and bogey rating to give a numerical measure of the difference in difficulty for the scratch and bogey golfer that could be used to adjust golfer's handicaps dependent on the course being played. This remains the basis of what is now called the slope system. In 1982, the Colorado Golf Association rated all of its courses using the new procedure, under the leadership of HRT member Dr. Byron Williamson. In 1983, Colorado tested the Slope System with positive results. Five other states joined Colorado in the test during 1984, before the slope system began being implemented nationally from 1987. Since January 1, 1990, every golf association in the United States that rates golf courses uses the USGA Course Rating System. The USGA Course and Slope Rating System forms the basis for many of the world's foremost handicapping systems, including the World Handicap System, jointly developed by the USGA and
The R&A The R&A is the collective name of a group of companies that together play a significant role within the game of golf. Historically, "the R&A" was a colloquial name for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; in 2004, the club spun of ...
, that was introduced globally in 2020.


USGA Slope Rating

The USGA Slope Rating is a numerical value that indicates the relative difficulty of a set of tees on a golf course for a bogey golfer in comparison to a scratch golfer. It describes the fact that when playing on a more difficult course, the scores of higher-handicapped players will rise more quickly than those of lower handicapped golfers. The slope rating of a set of tees predicts the straight-line rise in anticipated score versus USGA course handicap, as in the mathematical
slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used ...
of a graph. Slope ratings are calculated as a multiple of the difference between the expected good score for a bogey golfer (handicap in the range 20 to 24), called the bogey rating, and the expected good score for a scratch golfer (zero handicap), called the USGA Course Rating. The course and bogey ratings are determined by course raters, who measure and record more than 460 variables on a standard course rating form for each set of tees. Slope ratings are in the range from 55 to 155, with a course of standard playing difficulty having a rating of 113. The higher the slope rating, the more difficult the course will play for a bogey golfer. In order to calculate the slope rating, the difference between the bogey and scratch rating is multiplied by 5.381 for men and 4.240 for women. : \mbox : \mbox \times (\mbox - \mbox) : \mbox : \mbox \times (\mbox - \mbox)


References

{{Reflist Golf terminology