Slope

Slope is a way to compare the difficulty of one golf course to another.  The higher the number, the more challenging that course is to play for average golfers.  The Slope rating for a course is set by the USGA - it has no bearing on scratch or pro golfers - its sole purpose is to help golfers like me, and probably you, who have more bogeys and pars.  The rating varies for tee boxes and even for men and women.  It can range between 55 and 155.  In The Villages, the highest rated executive course is Pelican with a 97 from the black tees.  The lowest is 60 at El Santiago from the green tees.

The Golf Management Team here at The Villages has given every exec course their own level rating - 1 (easy) through 4 (hard). But I think the slope rating is a more precise way to compare courses.  Here’s an example.  Bacall and Red Fox both have a “3” Level Rating.  But Bacall has a slope rating of 93 from the gold tee box while Red Fox has an 83.  So, shooting 6 over par at Bacall is more impressive the same score At Red Fox.   

Click this link to see the slope for every course from every tee box.

Here are the slopes for men playing from the black and then gold tees:

From Black Tees:
Pelican 97
Grey Fox 96
Bacall 95
Bogart 95
Longleaf 95
Yankee Clipper 94
Amberwood 91
Churchill Greens 91
Loblolly 89
Mira Mesa 89
Laurel Oak 88
Redfish Run 88
Roosevelt 88
Oakleigh 87
Red Fox 87
Southern Star 87
Heron 86
Sandhill 86
Belmont 85
Tarpon Boil 85
De La Vista 84
Lowlands 84
Pimlico 84
Bonita Pass 83
Escambia 83
Mangrove 83
Palmetto 83
Sweetgum 83
Truman 83
Briarwood 82
Okeechobee 82
Walnut Grove 80
Saddlebrook 79
Volusia 79
Hawkes Bay 77
El Diablo 76
Turtle Mound 76
Sarasota 73
El Santiago 69

(Chula Vista, Hill Top and Silver Lake have no black tees)

From Gold Tees:

Bacall 93
Grey Fox 93
Longleaf 91
Bogart 90
Yankee Clipper 89
Amberwood 86
Pelican 86
Churchill Greens 85
Laurel Oak 84
Loblolly 84
Redfish Run 84
Roosevelt 84
Southern Star 84
Tarpon Boil 84
Red Fox 83
Sandhill 83
Lowlands 82
Mira Mesa 82
Oakleigh 82
Palmetto 82
Belmont 81
Heron 81
Chula Vista 80
Hill Top 80
Truman 80
Briarwood 79
Bonita Pass 79
De La Vista 79
Escambia 79
Silver Lake 79
Pimlico 77
Mangrove 76
Okeechobee 75
Saddlebrook 75
Sweetgum 75
Volusia 75
Turtle Mound 74
Walnut Grove 74
El Diablo 73
Hawkes Bay 71
Sarasota 71
El Santiago 67

Now I know why I get more bogies at Bogart than any other level 2 course! 

 

Next time you're scheduling your week, try playing courses with a wide range of slope ratings and see if you can feel the difference. 

Gold is Hard Enough

Interesting to see the top 10 rated courses from Gold have a higher slope rating than the lowest rated courses from Black.

Why Nots

Two courses have slope ratings that vary by only 1 point from Black to Gold: Palmetto (83/82) and Tarpon Boil (85/84) so why not play from the black tees?

Equals?

Play two courses that have the same slope but from different tee boxes and see if you think they're equal.  There's lots of options, here are three:

  • 76 slope - El Diablo from black equals Mangrove from gold
  • 84 slope - Lowlands from black equals Roosevelt from gold
  • 91 slope - Churchill from black equals Longleaf from gold