UNDERSTANDING COURSE & SLOPE RATINGS

The Course Rating system is the foundation of the Rules of Handicapping. It has three key features; Course rating, Bogey rating and Slope rating.

The Course Rating system enables handicaps to be portable by adjusting a player’s handicap according to the relative difficulty of the golf course being played.

A Slope Rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of the course for the scratch player compared to the bogey player under normal playing conditions. A bogey player is a golfer with a Handicap Index of approximately 20.0 for men and approximately 24.0 for women.

It is the combination of the Course rating and the Bogey rating that allows a Slope rating to be calculated for a set of tees.

Details of Course and Slope ratings for Scottish courses will be available on the Scottish Golf Website & App from 2nd November 2020.