Linda Brown, the WLCGA Standard Scratch Score Assessor,
throws some light on this very complicated subject
In 2001, the Ladies' Golf Union took the decision to adopt the USGA Course Rating System to provide a more equitable method of determining the Standard Scratch Score of golf courses.
The USGA Course Rating (SSS) is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for scratch golfers under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as the number of strokes taken and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the scratch golfer. A female scratch golfer, for rating purposes, is able to hit tee shots an average of 210 yards and fairway shots of 190 yards.
A Bogey Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for bogey golfers under normal course and weather conditions. It is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the bogey golfer. A female bogey golfer is a player who has a handicap of approximately 24. She can hit tee shots an average of 150 yards and fairway shots 130 yards.
This Bogey Rating evaluation is not used in the calculation of the scratch score and will only be used when Slope Rating is introduced in this country. (‘Slope’, put simply, is how much harder a course plays for the bogey golfer than the scratch golfer)
The rating process requires a study of each hole, including detailed data obtained at all landing zones for both the scratch and the bogey golfer. The rating teams use the average shot lengths for both scratch and bogey golfers to determine the landing zones. Length corrections and obstacle values are considered at each landing zone.
Length correction factors are: roll, elevation, dogleg/forced lay-up and prevailing wind.
Obstacle factors are: topography, fairway, green target, recoverability and rough, bunkers, out-of-bounds/extreme rough, water hazards, trees, green surface, psychological.
Each obstacle is assigned a value of 0 to 10, depending on its relation to how a scratch or bogey golfer would play the hole. When the evaluation is complete, the numbers for each hole’s obstacles are totalled and multiplied by a relative weighting factor. The weighted obstacle stroke values are applied to scratch and bogey formulas and then converted to strokes. Those strokes are added or subtracted from the Yardage Rating to produce a Bogey Rating and USGA Course Rating.
(The above is an abridged version of ‘Rating Information for Clubs’ produced by EWGA)