Today Stan Nunn told us everything we needed to know about rating systems for golf courses.
Why rate golf courses? The goal is to have a uniform basis to evaluate the difficulty of a golf course. There are raters in every state, and five different rating regions in Michigan. Rating is a two-day process, with rating the first day and playing the course on the second day. Teams look at a number of specific criteria in measuring the effective playing length on each set of tees for scratch and bogey men and women golfers.
Following a standard form, rating teams establish a rating and slope for each set of tees. Among the raters' concerns are the obstacles on a hole such as topography, fairway width, green target, rough, bunkers, and out-of-bounds.
Courses are rated after construction and then again after five years. Golf courses like to have higher ratings. As was apparent from the Q & A, golf is clearly a subject of interest to our members!