are Ottawa courses rated at all??
As I am a bit of a number nut, I have done some serious spreadsheet work on course ratings and slopes of local courses.
First of all, the course ratings...
I calculated scratch yardage ratings for a number of local courses, and to my surprise these numbers were without exception within one point of the course rating. In other words, the so called scratch obstacle stroke value seems to be pretty insignificant for Ottawa courses, as it is less than one, compared to an average rating of about 68 of the white tees for most courses.
To my even greater surprise, often the scratch yardage rating was higher than the course rating, which means a negative value for the obstacles. To me that seems to be impossible according to the rules?
Then the slope ratings...
I used these to calculate bogey course ratings, and compared these with calculated bogey yardage ratings. Now the spread is larger, the difference between the two being between -2 and +4. Again we see negative values, and on average not much difference between the official rating and a rating calculated from yardages.
This begs the question: are courses around Ottawa rated at all, or do they just do a calcution based on yardage?
By the way, based on its length, the new longish Falcon Ridge 9-hole course will have a course rating of 37.3 and a slope of 127, so don't worry if you shoot 5 shots over your average ;)
Re: are Ottawa courses rated at all??
Quote:
I calculated scratch yardage ratings for a number of local courses
It is impossible for you to calculate the scratch yardage ratings for a golf course.
I think you have failed to differentiate between measured yardage and EFFECTIVE playing length.
The effects of obstacles (see earlier post) are converted to yardage and then added or subtracted to the ACTUAL yardage to give EFFECTIVE playing length of the hole.
Your failure to use EFFECTIVE playing length has virtually guaranteed the calculated similarity between the official rating and the rating from calculated yardage.
BTW - Falcon Ridge has not been rated and any associated numbers are purely speculative.