The Blathering Duffer 24.5
The Score Card
THE Score Card can help save you strokes! Yup, just by taking a minute to read the score card to familiarize yourself with the “Local Rules” may save you from taking unnecessary penalties or attempting to hit a hero shot when blocked by a part of the course. The Score Card also tells you everything you need to know about the course. Take a look at it before starting your round!
(Note: HCP = Handicap)
USGA, Local Rules and Playing Guidelines
The rules and useful information are usually on the back of the card. Guidelines may include location of bathrooms on the course, distance marker descriptions, restrictions on carts, drop areas, tips for ready play golf etc.
Rules will indicate USGA rule applications for their course e.g. a canyon may be unmarked but is a lateral hazard or a fence may be Out of Bounds (OB) or a pond is a lateral hazard. “Local Rules” are a selection of approved USGA rules the course has selected to use. Think of them as approved exceptions to the regular USGA rules. For example, if your ball lands next to a tree ordinarily there is no relief without penalty, but the local rule may allow free relief from staked trees. Or if your ball is in a flower bed, take a free drop or if its OB, you don’t have to walk back to the tee to re-hit with penalty, but take a 2 shot penalty and hit it from the fairway (for faster play). Barrier Fences may also get a free drop, or a part of the course is unmarked ground under repair, take a free drop… You see how you might take a penalty drop if you didn’t read the card or if you didn’t know better you might try to take a ridiculous unnecessary shot out of a flower bed.
Tee Selection
We’re all familiar with the scoring side of the card to record score. But let’s take a look at it more closely. Yes, it has holes 1-18, Par for the hole is usually highlighted and tee colors and distances per hole as well as total course distance indicated. Let’s start there. Usually there are at least 3 Tee boxes, but there may be as many as 5 Tee boxes to choose from. The same colors are used by most courses, but not necessarily. So generally speaking, Black = Championship Tees or The Tips (Professionals), Blue = Back Tees (Big hitting amateur men and Professional women), White = Middle Tees (Average amateur men and long hitting, Low HCP women), Green = Mid Forward Tees (Senior men, some juniors and long hitting, Mid HCP women), Red = Forward Tees (most women, senior men and juniors). Sometimes there is a tee even further forward used for younger juniors. Who these tees is intended for as noted is a generalization. What determines which tee you should use is the total length of the course you are most comfortable with and how long you hit your driver. Tees do not have a gender only a distance. There are no men’s or women’s tees. (Tees are Non-Binary in todays parlance! Hahahaha.)
Follow the tee color across the card and you will see a total distance for holes 1-9 and again for 10-18, then the total distance. The shorter full courses forward tees may be about 4700yds. I’m comfortable with 5000-5400 yards and drive the ball on average 175yds. So I might move back a tee on a short course. If you hit your driver 150yds or less, you will be most comfortable with less than 5000yds. If you are a low HCP player and drive 225yds or more, you may want to hit from the white tees. Unless you are playing a tournament that dictates what tee everyone plays from, go to your comfort tee.
Course Difficulty: Rating and Slope
The Score Card tells you the course Rating and Slope, sometimes on the front, but may be on the back. The rating and slope changes depending on the Tees and whether you are a man or a woman. Rating = what a scratch golfer could be expected to score on the course on a good day. Slope = Difficulty of the course. Average Slope is 113. Slope takes into account hundreds of metrics e.g. hazards, length, contours, greens and bunkers, bogey ratings etc. All this is put into an algorithm that comes up with a numerical value of 55-155. These numbers tell you if its an easy or hard course. For example, A rating of 72.4 and slope of 110 is slightly easy and a rating of 76.5 and slope of 128 is a difficult course. As a new player or high HCP, you may not want to play the hard course quite yet, or you may love the challenge. If you have a HCP, the slope is used to determine your “Course Handicap” which tells you how many strokes you get on the course over Par. Slope/113 x HCP = Course HCP. For instance, my HCP is currently around 24. I just played a course with a slope of 120. My course HCP is 120/113 x 24 = 25.48. So on this par 72 course + 25 strokes = 97 Course HCP. I scored a 102 or was 5 strokes over my Course HCP. Not bad as hitting the HCP would be a very good day. We’ll save Handicap discussions for another day.
Up to this year, many executive courses did not have a slope. Last year the USGA pushed for executive courses to get Slopes. Many executive courses now have a slope rating, but there may still be a few that have not been rated yet. This is a long involved process as so many metrics have to be used.
Hole Difficulty: Stroke Index or Handicap
Stroke Index (SI) is listed below each hole. SI runs from 1-18 with 1 being the hardest hole and 18 the easiest hole. SI is also sometimes called Handicap on the score card. This is used to determine if someone gets a stroke on a hole based on their HCP vs another player. A 5 HCP gets a stroke on SI 1-5, but a 16 HCP gets a stroke on 1-16. The rest of us high HCPers get a stroke on every hole! Even if you don’t really pay attention to SI when playing, it at least tells you the difficulty of the hole. When reading the card, be careful not to confuse SI line with the Hole line or Par line. Some people like to highlight the hardest holes on the score card for extra attention and planning.
Course Map
Not every course puts a map on the score card, but it sure is nice to have. The map shows the layout of holes in relation to each other, location of sand traps, shape of the green, tree lines, water on course etc. Some may have the hole diagram above the hole number on the front. But this doesn’t show you where one hole is in relation to another.
Phone Number
If you encounter any problems on the course, medical emergency or harassment, call the pro shop. The number is listed on the card. I’ve seen enough of the old man fight videos on Youtube. If a group behind you starts hitting into you and you’ve tried to ask them nicely to stop, call the pro shop and ask for the Marshall to come out. Let him deal with the rude golfer. If a group in front of you is moving slowly and you can clearly see there is not another group in front of them, you can ask to play through them or call and ask for a Marshall. This is more likely to happen if they are a group of 4 and you are two. But you might just take the opportunity to hit extra golf balls while you wait….Patience is needed for all aspects of golf!
The Score Card
THE Score Card can help save you strokes! Yup, just by taking a minute to read the score card to familiarize yourself with the “Local Rules” may save you from taking unnecessary penalties or attempting to hit a hero shot when blocked by a part of the course. The Score Card also tells you everything you need to know about the course. Take a look at it before starting your round!
(Note: HCP = Handicap)
USGA, Local Rules and Playing Guidelines
The rules and useful information are usually on the back of the card. Guidelines may include location of bathrooms on the course, distance marker descriptions, restrictions on carts, drop areas, tips for ready play golf etc.
Rules will indicate USGA rule applications for their course e.g. a canyon may be unmarked but is a lateral hazard or a fence may be Out of Bounds (OB) or a pond is a lateral hazard. “Local Rules” are a selection of approved USGA rules the course has selected to use. Think of them as approved exceptions to the regular USGA rules. For example, if your ball lands next to a tree ordinarily there is no relief without penalty, but the local rule may allow free relief from staked trees. Or if your ball is in a flower bed, take a free drop or if its OB, you don’t have to walk back to the tee to re-hit with penalty, but take a 2 shot penalty and hit it from the fairway (for faster play). Barrier Fences may also get a free drop, or a part of the course is unmarked ground under repair, take a free drop… You see how you might take a penalty drop if you didn’t read the card or if you didn’t know better you might try to take a ridiculous unnecessary shot out of a flower bed.
Tee Selection
We’re all familiar with the scoring side of the card to record score. But let’s take a look at it more closely. Yes, it has holes 1-18, Par for the hole is usually highlighted and tee colors and distances per hole as well as total course distance indicated. Let’s start there. Usually there are at least 3 Tee boxes, but there may be as many as 5 Tee boxes to choose from. The same colors are used by most courses, but not necessarily. So generally speaking, Black = Championship Tees or The Tips (Professionals), Blue = Back Tees (Big hitting amateur men and Professional women), White = Middle Tees (Average amateur men and long hitting, Low HCP women), Green = Mid Forward Tees (Senior men, some juniors and long hitting, Mid HCP women), Red = Forward Tees (most women, senior men and juniors). Sometimes there is a tee even further forward used for younger juniors. Who these tees is intended for as noted is a generalization. What determines which tee you should use is the total length of the course you are most comfortable with and how long you hit your driver. Tees do not have a gender only a distance. There are no men’s or women’s tees. (Tees are Non-Binary in todays parlance! Hahahaha.)
Follow the tee color across the card and you will see a total distance for holes 1-9 and again for 10-18, then the total distance. The shorter full courses forward tees may be about 4700yds. I’m comfortable with 5000-5400 yards and drive the ball on average 175yds. So I might move back a tee on a short course. If you hit your driver 150yds or less, you will be most comfortable with less than 5000yds. If you are a low HCP player and drive 225yds or more, you may want to hit from the white tees. Unless you are playing a tournament that dictates what tee everyone plays from, go to your comfort tee.
Course Difficulty: Rating and Slope
The Score Card tells you the course Rating and Slope, sometimes on the front, but may be on the back. The rating and slope changes depending on the Tees and whether you are a man or a woman. Rating = what a scratch golfer could be expected to score on the course on a good day. Slope = Difficulty of the course. Average Slope is 113. Slope takes into account hundreds of metrics e.g. hazards, length, contours, greens and bunkers, bogey ratings etc. All this is put into an algorithm that comes up with a numerical value of 55-155. These numbers tell you if its an easy or hard course. For example, A rating of 72.4 and slope of 110 is slightly easy and a rating of 76.5 and slope of 128 is a difficult course. As a new player or high HCP, you may not want to play the hard course quite yet, or you may love the challenge. If you have a HCP, the slope is used to determine your “Course Handicap” which tells you how many strokes you get on the course over Par. Slope/113 x HCP = Course HCP. For instance, my HCP is currently around 24. I just played a course with a slope of 120. My course HCP is 120/113 x 24 = 25.48. So on this par 72 course + 25 strokes = 97 Course HCP. I scored a 102 or was 5 strokes over my Course HCP. Not bad as hitting the HCP would be a very good day. We’ll save Handicap discussions for another day.
Up to this year, many executive courses did not have a slope. Last year the USGA pushed for executive courses to get Slopes. Many executive courses now have a slope rating, but there may still be a few that have not been rated yet. This is a long involved process as so many metrics have to be used.
Hole Difficulty: Stroke Index or Handicap
Stroke Index (SI) is listed below each hole. SI runs from 1-18 with 1 being the hardest hole and 18 the easiest hole. SI is also sometimes called Handicap on the score card. This is used to determine if someone gets a stroke on a hole based on their HCP vs another player. A 5 HCP gets a stroke on SI 1-5, but a 16 HCP gets a stroke on 1-16. The rest of us high HCPers get a stroke on every hole! Even if you don’t really pay attention to SI when playing, it at least tells you the difficulty of the hole. When reading the card, be careful not to confuse SI line with the Hole line or Par line. Some people like to highlight the hardest holes on the score card for extra attention and planning.
Course Map
Not every course puts a map on the score card, but it sure is nice to have. The map shows the layout of holes in relation to each other, location of sand traps, shape of the green, tree lines, water on course etc. Some may have the hole diagram above the hole number on the front. But this doesn’t show you where one hole is in relation to another.
Phone Number
If you encounter any problems on the course, medical emergency or harassment, call the pro shop. The number is listed on the card. I’ve seen enough of the old man fight videos on Youtube. If a group behind you starts hitting into you and you’ve tried to ask them nicely to stop, call the pro shop and ask for the Marshall to come out. Let him deal with the rude golfer. If a group in front of you is moving slowly and you can clearly see there is not another group in front of them, you can ask to play through them or call and ask for a Marshall. This is more likely to happen if they are a group of 4 and you are two. But you might just take the opportunity to hit extra golf balls while you wait….Patience is needed for all aspects of golf!
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