Understanding Slope
Compliments of SCGA.
The slope rating system was implemented by the USGA in 1987. This system was designed to allow players to travel with their handicaps and be able to fairly compete at any golf course. Prior to this system, a player’s handicap was not adjusted based on the relative difficulty of the golf course he was playing. Assuming a player carried a 10 handicap from Pine Valley, he would also be a 10 handicap at Open Flats Golf Course. As we all know, this would not be fair. So the slope system was designed to address this portability problem. The slope system now converts a player’s handicap index to a course handicap based on the slope number. This course handicap allows the player to compete on an equal level to a scratch player on the same course. In essence, it levels the playing field and allows players to compete equally against each other at almost any golf course in the world.
To find the slope number, a rating must first be established for a bogey golfer and a scratch golfer. The male bogey golfer is defined as a player with a handicap index of 17.5-22.4. He can hit tee shots on average of 200 yards and can reach a 370 yard hole in two shots. The male scratch golfer is a player who reaches the stroke play portion of the US Amateur Championship. He can hit tee shots an average of 250 yards and can reach a 470 yard hole in two shots. His better half scoring average will equal the course rating.
From the bogey and scratch ratings we can then find what the slope rating is. Slope is simply a mathematical formula used to adjust a player’s handicap index to the relative difficulty of a golf course. The slope rating is derived from the following formula: (Bogey Rating - Scratch Rating) x 5.381 = Slope
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Pavin Sets Record
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — Corey Pavin struggled to find the right description for his record-setting round Thursday.
It was somewhere between magical and downright weird.
Corey Pavin sank birdies in his first six holes on the way to setting the PGA nine-hole record.
Brilliant early and nervous late, the 46-year-old Pavin broke the PGA Tour’s nine-hole record with a front-nine 26 en route to a 9-under 61 and a three-stroke lead in the suspended first round of the rain-soaked U.S. Bank Championship.
He birdied his first six holes and eight of the first nine in his bogey-free round on the Brown Deer Park Golf Course.
“It seemed like it was a misprint up there, maybe,” Pavin said. “It was just one of those nine holes, once in a lifetime for me so far, anyway.”
Arjun Atwal opened with a 64, Skip Kendall and Cameron Beckman shot 65s and David Frost also was 5 under through 17 holes when play was suspended. Defending champion Ben Crane and 105 other players were unable to finish the round.
Pavin said he didn’t feel the start coming at the driving range, but he had his old caddie, Eric Schwarz, back for the second time after a six-month layoff.
“We’ve worked really hard on the flatstick,” Pavin said. “It showed up at Hartford and it showed up here and those are the two tournaments since he came back on the bag.”
Pavin tied for 21st in the Buick Championship in Cromwell, Conn., earlier this month, finishing at 4 under. He bettered that five holes into Thursday’s action.
He started out with a 39-foot birdie putt on the first hole that he felt compelled to apologize for due to his stroke of good luck. On No. 4, he sank a putt from nearly the same distance and he moved to 6 under with a 4-footer two holes later.
“Is Pavin 6 over?” a spectator asked while lounging around the green at No. 7 and unaware of the growing crowd following the group.
No, Pavin was definitely 6 under, and he cooled off briefly when his tee shot flew to the back part of the green on the par-3 seventh, forcing him to putt twice for par.
“I kind of messed up seven, didn’t I?” Pavin said.
That par was his only one on the front nine, but he began thinking about shooting the PGA Tour’s lowest round, a 59, after he birdied No. 8.
“I tried to keep it out of my mind, but it was hard,” he said. “I knew 59 was a possibility, and I tried to keep those voices away.”
Pavin, who won the U.S. Open in 1995 and the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1986 among 14 tour victories, managed just one birdie on the back nine — at the 16th — and said he was too aggressive on the par-5 final hole because he couldn’t fend off the desire to try for an eagle and a 59.
Instead, Pavin found the bunker and settled for par.
But players were impressed with Pavin’s sizzling start.
“To shoot 26 on the front side, it’s like playing putt-putt. That’s truly amazing,” Kendall said. “I need to grab his shirttails and hang on.”
Pavin hit only three of 13 fairways in regulation, and just 3 minutes after he got off the course, thunderstorms moved through and delayed play the rest of the afternoon.
Could Pavin have hit a few more fairways and gone even lower?
“I was fortunate that I drew some good lies in the rough,” Pavin said. “Who knows if I would have been in the fairway more if that would have helped or hurt my score? The golf gods do what they do.”
Notes
Pavin broke the nine-hole mark of 27 set by Mike Souchak in the 1955 Texas Open and matched by Andy North (1975 B.C. Open), Billy Mayfair (2001 Buick Open) and Robert Gamez (2004 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic). North and Gamez were 9 under for their nine holes. … Pavin’s 61 tied Ken Green (1988), Gamez (1991) and Steve Lowery (1999) for the lowest round in tournament history. … Kendall is being inducted into the Wisconsin Golf Association Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
Golf Trivia
In 1980, the inaugural Senior Open was conducted for golfers 55 and older, with a handicap limit of eight strokes for amateurs.
Roberto De Vicenzo, a national hero in his native Argentina, won with a score of 285, one over par. He was four strokes ahead of Campbell, the runner-up.
In 1981, the USGA lowered the age minimum to 50 to make the championship more competitive. The USGA also believed that lowering the minimum age would place the Senior Open in the mainstream of other senior competitions.
The second Senior Open was won by another national hero, Arnold Palmer, 51, at Oakland Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Mich. www.ussenioropen.com
Did Arnold Palmer’s age have anything to do with lowering the minimum age?
Golf Tips
Build Your Accuracy First, Then Your Distance
By Tom Ward, PGA Tour Instructor
What is the easiest shot in golf that all beginners can properly execute? It’s the “gimme” putt. As the distance between the cup and the ball becomes greater, the tougher it is to make a shot.
Start Small.
Beginning with this idea in mind, you will see that when honing your golf skills it makes sense to start with smaller swings, then build up to the full swing. This is the reason why a person just learning the sport will learn and teach the body the correct motions iin developing an accurate and powerful swing by starting with the short swing. Trying to learn the full swing first makes it much more difficult to learn the correct muscle coordination that the full swing requires.
Learning to hit for distance and then accuracy is putting the cart before the horse. It works the other way around. Ultimately, accuracy will create distance.