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What do you look at when rating a course?

A golf course rating is conducted by a team of 10–12 trained Course Rating™ Volunteers led by the AZ GOLF Course Rating™ Director. (Verify the current director's name at azgolf.org, as personnel may change.)

Key factors considered include:

1. Yardage and Effective Playing Length (EPL) adjustments

  • Tee to green yardage
  • Roll
  • Elevation changes
  • Doglegs and forced lay-ups
  • Wind
  • Altitude

2. Obstacle Rating Factors (assessed separately for each tee by gender)

  • Topography
  • Fairway width and condition
  • Green target size and difficulty
  • Recoverability and rough
  • Bunkers
  • Crossing hazards (e.g., streams, canal, wash)
  • Lateral hazards (e.g., ponds, lakes, desert)
  • Trees
  • Green surface (size, contour, speed)
  • Psychological impact

Each obstacle factor is rated on a scale of 0 (does not exist) to 10 (extreme significance). The collected data is entered into a rating application, which uses standardized formulas to calculate the Course Rating™ and Slope Rating™. Once the ratings are approved, they are published to GHIN and go live on the course's scoring record.