Rating and Slope

Rating and slope are two metrics that represent the difficulty of a particular golf course. Furthermore, at one golf course, there are several rating and slope values, one for each tee marker and then for men and women. Ocean Acres Country Club is USGA rated so each tee marker has a rating and slope.

The rating shows the relative difficulty of a golf course for scratch golfers. In other words, it is the expected score for a scratch golfer to shoot from the associated tee markers.

Unlike course rating, a course's slope is not a representation of a golf score. Instead, slope is a number on the range from 55 to 155. 113 is the neutral or "average" slope. The higher the slope, the more difficult the course. The lower the slope, the easier the course. Slope is used to represent the difficulty for a bogey golfer. A slope of 113 indicates a standard course difficulty for a bogey golfer.

Lastly, rating and slope are necessary to calculate a score differential, which is a measurement of the performance of a specific round taking into account the golfer's score as well as the golf course's level of difficulty. If you have a GHIN account, this calculation is performed for you when you post a score.