Course Conditions

The course I play is a "handicap hazard". It has always been rated: slope: 115 and course rate 70.1. But this rate was when it was in great shape years back. Now, you're lucky if you land on a 10" patch of grass instead of dirt and weeds on the fairway. The sand bunkers are hard and deceiving since the sun will dry the top sand but the club will bounce up as soon as you pass 1/4" of sand. Shouldn't courses be rated on a yearly basis?

They are rated on a yearly basis, I know I used to play on a new course and last year it was rated 73/146, this year it is 71.7/126 <-- that hurt the handicap, with the 146 I could shoot a 77/78 and have it be a scratch round of golf. Ask the club when it was last rated and I bet they say it was close to the beginning of the year. I'm pretty sure when a course is rated only one or two holes are actually played to determine the slope and rating, but I could be wrong, so maybe the ****py holes with patchy spots weren't used. Also I know a lot of clubs are just cheap and don't get new scorecards made with the new ratings on them. To find the real ratings go to the GHIN computer and find the sheet with the most uptodate ratings.

BTW...How do I get a job, traveling the country/state just rating golf courses? I saw a few months ago this guy at the age of 78 or something had just rated his 19000th course last year or something like that. What a great job!

a lot of things go into rating a slope. Some of which are the relation to the course to sea level, distance of course, hazzards, sand traps, fairway width, green size, and price of a six pack of beer ( i have found with great certainty that any beer averaging under $2.50 is a goat track and should be avoide...unless you are there for the beer......the things like these that most determine the slope and do not change on a consistent basis......I couldbe wrong but general course conditions are not a huge factor

Thanks for the input. I didn't know rating a course was so complicated. I just thought someone would go out with a yard stick and a level. Little did I know...