Golfer Education
How Does a Golf Course Get its Course Rating and Slope Rating?
by Nelson Searcy, contributing writer
Every spring and fall, you may see a group of people in matching golf shirts making their way through a golf course near you in Kansas City; however, this group doesn’ t have golf clubs on their golf carts. Instead, you’ ll see them with rangefinders, clipboards, paperwork, Stimpmeters, and a variety of other equipment. This team of volunteers is there to rate the golf course for its“ Course Rating and Slope Rating” for the USGA Course Rating System. The system was developed to allow a player to take their Handicap Index to almost any course in the world and compete on an equal level with other golfers.
Central Links Golf( CLG), the Allied Golf Association serving the state of Kansas and the Greater Kansas City Area, is responsible for providing Course Rating services on behalf of the USGA. Central Links Golf’ s Course Rating team is led by Nelson Searcy, an experienced staff member trained in the USGA’ s Course Rating System. Nearly every golf association throughout the world has been trained to use the exact same rating system.
Approximately 60 volunteer team members throughout the CLG territory assist the staff representative in evaluating a course. All individuals on the CLG Course Rating teams have been trained in Course Rating procedures and have attended annual Course Rating seminars and training sessions.
Central Links Golf is responsible for rating more than 250 facilities throughout the state of Kansas and in Kansas City, MO.
The USGA requires all authorized golf associations to review the ratings of their courses periodically and to revise them if necessary. The USGA has licensed CLG to rate courses in accordance with the guidelines within the USGA Course Rating System.
Central Links Golf is required to re-rate a golf course within 10 years and will also re-rate a course sooner than that if any significant changes have occurred( e. g., green dimensions, bunker renovations, tee / yardage changes). CLG, on average, rate 30 courses each year.
The Course Rating process includes a Pre-Rating, an On-Course Rating, and a Post-Rating.
Before the On-Course Rating, CLG reaches out to the facility to notify the course that it is due for a re-rating. At that time, CLG will confirm things like rough height, grass types, average green speeds, and will confirm course measurements from each tee( yardage, altitude, and elevation from tee to green).
Once those pieces have been confirmed, a rating team will schedule a date for an On-Course Rating.
All courses rated under the USGA Course Rating System are rated using the same parameters established by the USGA— it is a very objective process!
Each tee is rated for men and women, with a scratch player and a bogey player represented for each. A scratch player has a 0.0 Handicap Index. The bogey player is defined as having a USGA Handicap Index of around 20.0.
Fun Fact: Did you know that, according to the USGA, as of yearend 2025, that an average of 22 % of all the golfers in the world have achieved a handicap of less than 19.9? Yet, the average handicap for male golfers is 14.9, and women the average is 28.8.
14 September 2026 TEE TIMES GOLF GUIDE