Course Rankings by Slope Rating

01-10-2020 3:18pm #1

With the new Slope Ratings released for each course I thought it would be a good idea to compile a table with the slope rating of each course. Will enable us to see how each course rates against the others and whether we agree with it or not.

Please update the table with the slope rating of your club off the back tees and we will see how many we can get.

Club|Slope Rating|Par|Course Rating
The Heritage|147|74|76.7
Mount Juliet|142|72|75.6
Faithlegg|137|72|73.2
Fermoy|136|70|70.8
Castleknock|135|72|73.9
Co. Meath|135|73|73.4
Tramore|135|72|73
Birr|134|70|72.3
Portmarnock Links|132|71|75.2
Douglas|132|72|72.9
Fota Island|131|71|73.5
Youghal|131|71|72.1
Craddockstown|128|72|72.4
Stackstown Gate|128|72|71.8
Balbriggan|127|72|72.4
Royal Curragh|127|72|71.7
Castlebar|126|72|71.4
Stackstown Cottage|125|71|70
Elmgreen|122|70|69.5
Corballis|112|66|65.5

OEP · 01-10-2020 3:21pm

Where does one go to get the rating?

xgronkjabv6pcl · 01-10-2020 3:26pm

OEP wrote: »

Where does one go to get the rating?

https://ncrdb.usga.org/

mike12 · 01-10-2020 4:05pm

Hadlee Pitiful Mind wrote: »

https://ncrdb.usga.org/

I'm not sure that's the official ranking, my club was in there before they did the rating.

xgronkjabv6pcl · 01-10-2020 4:11pm

mike12 wrote: »

I'm not sure that's the official ranking, my club was in there before they did the rating.

Unsure, I asked another poster on a different thread whether the above was different to that which the club was given.

They said no but obviously that doesn't mean it won't differ.

prawnsambo · 01-10-2020 4:15pm

mike12 wrote: »

I'm not sure that's the official ranking, my club was in there before they did the rating.

Before the rating was done or before it was issued? Because mine was in there before it was issued and it's exactly the same.

Seve OB · 01-10-2020 4:17pm

Exactly wrote: »

With the new Slope Ratings released for each course I thought it would be a good idea to compile a table with the slope rating of each course. Will enable us to see how each course rates against the others and whether we agree with it or not.

Please update the table with the slope rating of your club off the back tees and we will see how many we can get.

Club|Slope Rating|Par|Course Rating
Balbriggan|127|72|72.4

it there only one set of tees at balbriggan?

CalamariFritti · 01-10-2020 4:23pm

Club|Slope Rating|Par|Course Rating
Tramore|135|72|73

Sounds quite tough, not sure what to make of it.

But when comparing to nearby courses it seems to fit. Easier than Mt Juliet, a tad tougher than Kilkenny & Gowran. Tougher than other Waterford courses except Faithlegg which is a tad tougher off the blues and a tad easier off the whites.

Sounds about right.

A bit tougher than Fota, that I don't know about. Maybe with back tees in Fota they don have the actual Irish Open tees. Cant see it being easier from back there than Tramore.

Edit Didn't notice the back tees thing first

PARlance · 01-10-2020 4:24pm

Seve OB wrote: »

it there only one set of tees at balbriggan?

Only one set of back tees, and that's what he clearly asked for.

PARlance · 01-10-2020 4:27pm

Castlebar, Blues, Par 72, Slope Rating 126, Course Rating 71.4

On the phone OP so can't update table.

Skyfloater · 01-10-2020 4:47pm

I don't know anything about how slope ratings are done, but what relevance would knowing the rating off the back tees be to most people who play off the whites/greens?

CalamariFritti · 01-10-2020 4:49pm

True, we play off the back tees maybe 3 or 4 times a year except for matches. Opens always whites.

eoghan104 · 01-10-2020 5:01pm

Castleknock 135 72 73.9

Higher than I expected, I suppose this means my handicap will be lower for most other courses?

xgronkjabv6pcl · 01-10-2020 5:26pm

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Club|Slope Rating|Par|Course Rating
Tramore|135|72|73

Sounds quite tough, not sure what to make of it.

But when comparing to nearby courses it seems to fit. Easier than Mt Juliet, a tad tougher than Kilkenny & Gowran. Tougher than other Waterford courses except Faithlegg which is a tad tougher off the blues and a tad easier off the whites.

Sounds about right.

A bit tougher than Fota, that I don't know about. Maybe with back tees in Fota they don have the actual Irish Open tees. Cant see it being easier from back there than Tramore.

Edit Didn't notice the back tees thing first

This rating is interesting. I had a discussion a few weeks ago regarding Faithlegg vs Tramore in terms of difficulty.

My own opinion as a higher handicapper was that Faithlegg was more difficult for me.

I felt I put myself in more difficult spots in Faithlegg. They were in total disagreement that Tramore was much more difficult.

No reference to tees at all.

mike12 · 01-10-2020 5:58pm

The harder the course is it the bigger the difference between par and the course rating?
So par 72 course rating 76 Is harder than par 72 rating 71.

paulos53 · 01-10-2020 6:07pm

mike12 wrote: »

The harder the course is it the bigger the difference between par and the course rating?
So par 72 course rating 76 Is harder than par 72 rating 71.

This seems to be the best way to compare the difficulty of courses. Course rating is based off the expected scores of scratch players so it certainly a good indicator of difficulty for low handicap players

prawnsambo · 01-10-2020 6:33pm

mike12 wrote: »

The harder the course is it the bigger the difference between par and the course rating?
So par 72 course rating 76 Is harder than par 72 rating 71.

But course rating doesn't come into the equation when calculating a course handicap for a player playing that course. It only comes into effect when calculating their handicap index after they've played it.

Golfgraffix · 01-10-2020 7:40pm

eoghan104 wrote: »

Castleknock 135 72 73.9

Higher than I expected, I suppose this means my handicap will be lower for most other courses?

Very surprised at that, I would have thought that of the really good Dublin courses that Castleknock was one of the easier. I really like the course but would never Have thought it was a tough course at all.

My own home course (Portmarnock Links) is 129 off the whites

J

01-10-2020 7:50pm

Seve OB wrote: »

it there only one set of tees at balbriggan?

No. I said medal tees in the post to compare off the back tees.

Macker1 · 01-10-2020 7:54pm

My Club is as follows

County Meath 135 73 73.4

How does the ratings work ?

hurleronditch · 01-10-2020 8:19pm

Skyfloater wrote: »

I don't know anything about how slope ratings are done, but what relevance would knowing the rating off the back tees be to most people who play off the whites/greens?

Well I guess to find what is the “hardest” round of golf that could be played in Ireland? You’d imagine BallyB, Portrush, RCD or somewhere like that off the tips would be the hardest

Be interesting to find the easiest as well. Royal Shlievenamon off the ladies must be fairly low, but there’s loads of 18 flags in a field courses around the country too

gypsy79 · 01-10-2020 8:28pm

Macker1 wrote: »

My Club is as follows

County Meath 135 73 73.4

How does the ratings work ?

The rating is used to convert your handicap index to a playing handicap

So lets say your handicap is 12 then your playing handicap on your home course will be 14.33 [12*135/113] rounded to 14

Strawberry HillBilly · 01-10-2020 8:33pm

Birr GC 134, 70, 72.3

thewobbler · 01-10-2020 8:38pm

That seems exceptionally high for Castleknock. Is there a medal set of tees that are only reachable by helicopter?

gypsy79 · 01-10-2020 8:40pm

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Very surprised at that, I would have thought that of the really good Dublin courses that Castleknock was one of the easier. I really like the course but would never Have thought it was a tough course at all.

My own home course (Portmarnock Links) is 129 off the whites

J

I would strongly agree with you. I was shocked

My scores in castleknock (average 94.7)

Date Score
Jul 20, 2019 98 (29)
Jul 29, 2018 90 (36)
Jul 08, 2017 89 (35)
Oct 15, 2016 94 (35)
Apr 30, 2016 96 (38)
Oct 25, 2014 102 (30)
Jul 27, 2014 94 (37)

Versus

Portmarnock Links (Average 101)

Date Score
Feb 22, 2020 105 (21)
Dec 07, 2019 100 (26)
Feb 23, 2019 95 (32)
Nov 25, 2018 104 (23)

Thats 7 shots plus another 1 for par been lower

There are some massive anomalies. Enniscrone below. Yellows does not make it that much easier

Tee Name Gender Par Course Rating Bogey Rating Slope Rating
Blue M 73 73.5 96.5 124
White M 73 72.8 95.4 122
Yellow M 73 71.1 92.2 114

prawnsambo · 01-10-2020 8:45pm

The highest slope rating available under WHS is 155 afaik, the lowest is 55.

Highest I've come across so far is Mount Juliet at 142 on the back tees.

paulos53 · 01-10-2020 8:49pm

The reason some courses have higher slope ratings than expected for their difficulty is because slope rating is not a very good indicator of course difficulty

From the FAQs on golfnet

Does a higher Slope Rating indicate a difficult course?

No - It is the Course Rating which indicates course difficulty. The Slope rating indicates the relative difficulty of the course between the scratch player and the bogey player

gypsy79 · 01-10-2020 8:55pm

paulos53 wrote: »

The reason some courses have higher slope ratings than expected for their difficulty is because slope rating is not a very good indicator of course difficulty

From the FAQs on golfnet

But it is a kind of difficulty rating. They both need to be looked at together

Course rating versus par tells us difficulty for a par golfer

Rating tells us how much more difficult the course is for a bogie golfer relative to a par golfer

hammerdub · 01-10-2020 8:59pm

gypsy79 wrote:

The rating is used to convert your handicap index to a playing handicap

gypsy79 wrote:

So lets say your handicap is 12 then your playing handicap on your home course will be 14.33 [12*135/113] rounded to 14

I'm also in county Meath handicap 23 . How does your last best 8 cards work out. Also what's the 113 in the above example.

CalamariFritti · 01-10-2020 9:00pm

mike12 wrote: »

The harder the course is it the bigger the difference between par and the course rating?
So par 72 course rating 76 Is harder than par 72 rating 71.

Course rating is how the course is expected to play for a scratch golfer. Then there is the bogey rating which is what the course is expected to play for a bogey golfer. The definition has a bogey golfer at +21. You would think its +18 but they set it at +21.

Slope is a function of those 2 values.
Say course A is a par 72 and has a CR of 72 and a BR of 93 and you call that average. Then you have course B with a par 72 and CR of 72 and a BR of 96. Both courses play the same for a scratch golfer but course B is harder for a bogey golfer. In this case course B has a higher slope.

You could say Slope is an expression of how much harder (or softer) a course plays for a bogey golfer over a scratch golfer. A neutral slope rate is 113 by definition.

The exact formula is (BR - CR) * 5.381 = Slope. So for Tramore (blues) it would be (98.1 - 73) *5.381 = 135

gypsy79 · 01-10-2020 9:02pm

113 is considered the golf course of average rating

Your handicap might come down but your playing handicap might be the same. The rest is complicated

Course Rankings by Slope Rating

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