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Does Course Rating & Slope really matter?

fuffle master

fuffle master

5150 Lunatic Fringe 22’ GRANDADDY
Albatross 2024 Club
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So, I was looking back at my scores and thinking about my handicap from courses that had much lower ratings versus other courses that were rated much higher/tougher.

I noticed that my scoring didn’t fall in line with how a course was rated in difficulty. No correlation there.

I hit some of my best gross round scores on courses rated with difficult slopes and some of my worse scores where the rating was said to be easy.

Do you find rating to play a bigger part of how you score?
 
Rating - Yeah. 💯

I pay zero attention to slope. It's all about the rating. That's how hard the course is. The baseline. The slope is just how much hard it is for some vs. the rating.

People go nuts over low scores, but it's all relative to rating. My old home course in NE was short, par 71, and rated less than 71, so I put up real low scores quite often. I play a lot bigger course now with ratings more like 74-76, so I don't average those same scores anymore, but the handicap hasn't really changed a lot. The courses where I drench the scorecard in red are all based on rating. One actually has a pretty high slope, but a good player can munch on it.
 
fuffle master said:
So, I was looking back at my scores and thinking about my handicap from courses that had much lower ratings versus other courses that were rated much higher/tougher.

I noticed that my scoring didn’t fall in line with how a course was rated in difficulty. No correlation there.

I hit some of my best gross round scores on courses rated with difficult slopes and some of my worse scores where the rating was said to be easy.

Do you find rating to play a bigger part of how you score?
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I find the same thing. For whatever reason, the courses I play with some of the hardest slopes/ratings I have some good scores vs those with lesser rating. Could just be familiarity because I play them more? I definitely have seen this.
 
Scrap22 said:
I find the same thing. For whatever reason, the courses I play with some of the hardest slopes/ratings I have some good scores vs those with lesser rating. Could just be familiarity because I play them more? I definitely have seen this.
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Familiarity probably does play into things often for golfers. Could be the hardest rating they play all year, but they know the course so well they score better.
 
fuffle master said:
Familiarity probably does play into things often for golfers. Could be the hardest rating they play all year, but they know the course so well they score better.
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I guess it's different like @OldandStiff mentioned rating vs slope. Either way it feels good to play well at harder courses and not so good when you feel like a course is 'easier' and then throw up a big number.
 
I think it's all relative. Certain courses that I play say they should be easy but I struggle and vice versa.
 
Yes and no. I can certainly score better on a course with an easier rating but no matter what the course is rated I can always find a way to screw up something simple.
 
It makes a difference between well maintained courses. However, I'll shoot better on a harder course than one that's easier, but in rough shape 9/10 times
 
Yes it definitely matters.
I also think some of the time when it is at a THP Experience, we forget that format can be conducive to lower scores
 
I am too inconsistent for it to make a day to day difference, but with a larger sample size or playing the same courses, I’m positive there would be a direct correlation.
 
It definitely makes a difference to me. My course is hard and I almost always score better away from home but the differentials usually don’t change that much. We have pretty different course ratings and slopes from our white (72.0/141), combo (73.5/143) and blue (74.4/144) tees and I score much better from the white than the blue and a bit better from the combos than the blues.
 
OldandStiff said:
Rating - Yeah. 💯

I pay zero attention to slope. It's all about the rating. That's how hard the course is. The baseline. The slope is just how much hard it is for some vs. the rating.

People go nuts over low scores, but it's all relative to rating. My old home course in NE was short, par 71, and rated less than 71, so I put up real low scores quite often. I play a lot bigger course now with ratings more like 74-76, so I don't average those same scores anymore, but the handicap hasn't really changed a lot. The courses where I drench the scorecard in red are all based on rating. One actually has a pretty high slope, but a good player can munch on it.
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All about rating because of your handicap right? For the rest of us mortals, the slope matters lol.
 
Overall with large sampling I think you'd see that it matters. In smaller sample sizes, or if someone plays certain courses more often, I think it starts to matter a little less. In smaller sample sizes I think it depends on what makes a course more difficult for a particular player. For me, the greens seem to have the biggest impact on my score.
 
The rating and slope are calculated for an "average" scratch and bogey golfer. The Rating represents the expected score of the "average" scratch player. The Slope measures the increased or decreased difficulty of a course for the "average" bogey golfer. To the extent we vary from the "average" in certain aspects of the game (driving, iron play, putting, sand play, working it left or right intentionally or unintentionally), two courses with the same rating & slope may play vastly different for the individual.
 
Definitely matters in my experience. But certain factors can affect some people more or less. If you are longer/shorter than the target person for the tees you are playing, you may take some of the trouble out of play off the tee.
 
It does matter IMO, but it also is determined by what makes the course more difficult. If it is a high rating due to narrow fairways? I am doomed to a higher score. Is it because the greens are tricky? Then I may post a lower score. It is never this cut and dry but we all have our particular struggles.
 
Slope I don't really pay attention to. I absolutely pay attention to "rating" - I can usually estimate from there what I am going to shoot...
 
drp3434 said:
All about rating because of your handicap right? For the rest of us mortals, the slope matters lol.
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Yeah the slope is just more individual. All that sand and water that makes some courses look great is often reflected in the slope, because it can be an ongoing or progressive problem for a higher cap throughout the round. It matters. For others, almost none of it is even in play. It's mostly decoration. It's still all based off ability to play to the rating or not though.

The CH for a scratch between a 117 and 137 slope won't change. It'll move a few strokes for an 18 at 117 to 137.
 
this was talked during our round yesterday. I don't know. Kinda matters why the rating vs what your miss is. We got into this dialog when I smoked a drive wide right into the next fairway then went on to make Par. On many courses that drive would be deep in the woods. On the course we play, the rough and very difficult multi-tier greens are the defense. Rough is now winter nothing and I putt very well. So Spray the drive and let the putter talk. would not work on many old courses in my area
 
I might see the S/R numbers on the score card, but I don't pay much attention to them. I'm not that player.

What I might take notice of is yardage difference between say, a 6200 yard course vs 6600 yard course. Obviously the different yardage corresponds with S/R numbers, but I just play my normal game.

It just golf regardless.
 
WLG1952 said:
I might see the S/R numbers on the score card, but I don't pay much attention to them. I'm not that player.

What I might take notice of is yardage difference between say, a 6200 yard course vs 6600 yard course. Obviously the different yardage corresponds with S/R numbers, but I just play my normal game.

It just golf regardless.
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Now, distance makes a difference. Hitting into a 140 par 3 versus a 190 par 3 goes a long way on scoring
 
Yes, but I rarely pay attention to it,
 
My home course tees I play are about 6100 / 69.4 129. I played Chechessee Creek Club a couple of weeks ago and it was 6049 / 70.2 / 133. Looks very similar but it was MUCH harder. Greens were 13.5 stimp which is much faster than we normally play. My home course handicap is 10 and the Chechessee Creek Course handicap was 13.
 
I don’t think rating or slope matters as much as just playing a course from a yardage that suits your game.
 
fuctifino....I have never taken the time to understand what that all means and how it impacts my score. I can score just as bad on just about any course. So, I worry more about getting myself better than those numbers.
 
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