Course rating and slope, explained

What Course Rating measures

Two numbers on the card do more work than any other figure on it. Course Rating is the score a scratch golfer (someone who plays to a Course Handicap of 0) is expected to shoot on a course from a given set of tees, under normal conditions. It is expressed as a number close to par: a course rated 74.7 for a par-72 layout is expected to play nearly three strokes harder than par, even for the best golfers.

What Slope Rating measures

Slope Rating shows how much harder that same course plays for a bogey golfer, roughly a Course Handicap of 20 for a man or 24 for a woman, than it does for a scratch golfer. It runs from 55 to 155, with 113 set as the standard, middle difficulty. The higher the number above 113, the more extra strokes a higher-handicap player is likely to need compared with a scratch golfer, on that course, relative to how a scratch golfer finds it.

Both figures are pre-calculated by trained raters against the official WHS Course Rating system, not worked out by the club itself, which is why every club simply prints them on its scorecard or website for golfers to use.

The five North West clubs that publish theirs

All five play to a par of 72 from every tee listed. Notice how the longer white tees carry both a higher Course Rating and a higher Slope Rating than the yellow tees at every club here: more yards generally means a harder course for everyone, but especially for a higher-handicap player.

Wilmslow, the one parkland course in this table, also carries the lowest Slope Ratings of the five, 128 and 130. Formby, Hillside and Southport and Ainsdale are links courses (built on sandy ground by the sea), and their white-tee Slope Ratings all sit higher, from 137 to 143. That is only five courses, not a rule, but it fits the general reputation of exposed, wind-affected links golf as the tougher test for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer.

Why clubs bother rating more than one set of tees

A club rates each set of tees separately because moving the tee markers changes more than the total yardage. Fairway bunkers, water, and doglegs come into range differently from a shorter tee, and a hole that is a straightforward par 4 from the yellows can bring a hazard into play off the tee from the whites. Rating each tee on its own merits, rather than simply scaling one figure by distance, is what lets two golfers on different tees at the same club compete on a fair basis.

Turning the numbers into your Course Handicap

The formula, updated in April 2024, is:

Course Handicap = (Handicap Index x Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − Par)

Take Formby's white tees: Course Rating 74.7, Slope Rating 143, par 72. Say your Handicap Index is 18.0:

1. Slope Rating ÷ 113 = 143 ÷ 113 = 1.265
2. Handicap Index x that figure = 18.0 x 1.265 = 22.78
3. Course Rating − Par = 74.7 − 72 = 2.7
4. Add the two = 22.78 + 2.7 = 25.48, rounded to 25

An 18.0 Handicap Index becomes a Course Handicap of 25 from Formby's white tees. Play the yellow tees instead, and the lower Course Rating and Slope Rating there would bring that number down. You never need to do this by hand: the club's own board or an app such as MyEG will do it once you tell it your Handicap Index and which tees you're on, but it helps to know what the number on the board actually means before you tee off.

Photo to followA printed golf scorecard showing Course Rating and Slope Rating for each tee