1. Royal Belgian Golf Federation Info - Meeting Course Rating1

2. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Course Rating
Indicates the evaluation of the Playing difficulty of a course for scratch golfers under normal course and weather conditions.
It is expressed as strokes taken to one decimal place, and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring difficulty of the scratch golfer. 2

3. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Slope Rating
Indicates the measurement of the relative difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers compared to the difficulty of a course for scratch golfers.
Slope Rating is computed from the difference between the Bogey Rating and the (scratch) Course Rating. 3

4. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Playing Handicap
An EGA Playing Handicap is calculated with the Course & Slope Rating of a Golfcourse.
Pl Hcp = (Ex.Hcp x slope )+ (CR –PAR) 113 4

5. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Course Rating
Distance is Key Factor :
Effective Playing Length :
Roll Elevation - Dogleg/ Forced Lay Up – Prevailing Wind
Basic Formula Course Rating :
Scratch : (Eff Pl Length / 220) = Sc Yardage Rating (180)
Bogey : (Eff Pl Length / 160) = B Yardage Rating (120)
Obstacle Values 5

6. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Course Rating
Obstacle Factors :
Topography
Fairway
Green Target
Recoverability & Rough
Bunkers
Out of Bounds & Extreme Rough
Water Hazards
Trees
Green Surface 6

7. Royal Belgian Golf Federation Effective Playing Length
Roll
Is an evaluation of how far the tee shots for scratch and bogey golfers ROLL, and the effect that has on the playing length of the Course
Elevation is a measure of how changes in elevation from tee to green affect the playing length of the Course
Dogleg/Forced Lay Up is a measure of how much longer or shorter a hole plays because it has a bend (allowing players to cut the corner or to force them to lay up), or because is has obstacles such as water or deep bunkers, crossing the fairway in the player’s landing zones and forces the players to hit less than a full shot.
Prevailing Wind is a measure of the effect of wind on seaside and plains courses and/other courses unprotected from wind.
Altitude : not for use in Belgium 7

8. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Topography
Fairway
Green Target
Recoverability and Rough
Bunkers
Out of Bounds/Extreme Rough
Water Hazards
Trees
Green Surface
Psychological 8

9. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Topography
Is a actor if the stance or lie in the landing zone is affected by slopes or mounds, or the shot to the green is uphill or downhill, making the club selection more difficult. 9

10. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Fairway is an evaluation of the difficulty of keeping the ball in play from tee to green. Fairway ratings are based ont fairway width in all landing zones, hole length, and nearby trees, hazards and punitive rough. 10

11. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Green Target The Green Target factor is an evaluation ot the difficulty of hitting the green with the approach shot. Primary considerations are target size, length of shot, how well the green holds and the difficulty of normal hole locations. 11

12. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Recoverability and Rough is the evaluation of the probability of missing the tee shot landing zone and the green, and the difficulty of recovering if either, or both, is missed. The consequence of missing the green is considered about twice as significant as missing the fairway. 12

13. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Bunkers Consider the size of the bunkers and their proximity to target ares rather than simply the number of bunkers. 13

14. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Out of Bounds / Extreme Rough The Rating for OOB depends on the proximity of the boundary to the center of the landing zone or green.
Extreme Rough, where a ball is likely to be lost, or virtually unplayable is also rated under this category 14

15. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Water Hazards The rating for a water hazard depends on its distance from the landing zone or green and, in the case of a hazard crossing a hole, the problem involved in playing over the hazard. 15

16. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Trees The rating for trees depends on their size and density, their distance from the center of the landing zone or green, the length of the shot to that target, and the difficulty in recovering.
a few large and strategically placed trees may deserve a higher rating than a large number of trees which have less effect on play. 16

17. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Green surface is an evaluation of the difficulty of a green from a putting standpoint. Green speed and surface contouring are the main factors. The size of the green should be considered irrelevant in evaluating putting difficulty.
A Stimpmeter is used to measure the speed of greens 17

18. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
Obstacle Factors
Psychological is an evaluation of the cumulative effect of the other obstacles on a player’s score. 18

19. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Course Rating 19

20. Royal Belgian Golf Federation20

21. Royal Belgian Golf Federation
USGA Course Rating
Course Rating Formula:
Yardage Rating + Obstacle Values (+- 5)
SOSV : *.11 – 4.9
BOSV : *.26 – 11.5 21