Course rating: the scratch golfer's score
Course rating is the score a scratch golfer (a 0.0 handicap) should shoot from a set of tees in normal conditions. It's written with one decimal, like 71.5, and it's often different from par. A par 72 rated 74.1 plays hard; a par 72 rated 69.4 plays easy.
Trained teams from the local golf association rate each set of tees. They measure how long the holes play, allowing for roll, elevation and forced lay-ups, and score the obstacles: bunkers, water, trees, rough, out of bounds, and how hard the greens are to hit and putt.
Slope: how much harder for everyone else
The same team also works out a bogey rating: what a bogey golfer (about a 20 handicap for men, 24 for women) should shoot from those tees. Slope comes from the gap between the two:
Slope = (bogey rating − course rating) × 5.381 (4.240 for women)
Tees with a course rating of 71.5 and a bogey rating of 95.3: (95.3 − 71.5) × 5.381 = 128.
Slope runs from 55 to 155, and 113 is standard. A high slope doesn't mean a course is hard for a scratch player. It means the gap between good and average golfers is bigger there: long carries, thick rough and water punish a 20 handicap far more than a 2.
What they do to your strokes
Both numbers go into your strokes for the day: handicap × slope ÷ 113 + (course rating − par). A 14.2 gets 12 strokes on tees with a slope of 113 and a rating of 70.0, par 72, and 20 on tees with a slope of 140 and a rating of 74.8. The full worked example.
They also go into every score you post: your differential is (score − course rating) × 113 ÷ slope, so a 90 on hard tees can be a better (lower) differential than an 85 on easy ones. How a handicap is calculated.
Where to find them
- On the scorecard, next to each set of tees, usually written as rating / slope, like 71.5 / 128.
- On the sign at the first tee or in the pro shop.
- In your golf association's course rating lookup.
Every set of tees has its own pair, and men and women get separate ratings even from the same tees. Front and back nines often have their own ratings too, which matter when you play nine. How nine-hole rounds count.
Want your own numbers? The Strokes Calculator works them out for any course and tees.
Updated November 13, 2026 by the Greens team.