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What you should know about Standard Scratch
New Standard Scratch Score For SCLGC Red Tees
The ILGU have been visiting all ILGU courses over the past year, to rate them according to the USGA Rating System. The South County Ladies Course (red tees) was rated at the end of 2009 and as a result, we have received a new Standard Scratch Score of 73, to replace our existing Standard Scratch Score of 72....
What does Standard Scratch Score (SSS) mean?
The SSS is the score that a scratch player is expected to return in normal weather conditions - it is a measure of the playing difficulty of the course. Simply put, the higher the SSS (vs PAR), the more difficult the course.
What is the USGA rating system?
The USGA (United States Golf Association) Rating System takes account of the measured length of a golf course, together with factors that affect both the playing length and the playing difficulty. Factors that affect playing length include dogleg, wind, elevation, forced lay-up, roll. Factors that affect playing difficulty include water hazards, trees, fairway bunkers, rough, out of bounds.
Why a change of SSS for South County Ladies now in 2010?
The ILGU and GUI adopted the USGA Rating System over a year ago and have had a team of trained raters visiting ILGU courses all around the country since then, to review the SSS of each course and re-rate if necessary. Rating of all ILGU courses (or almost all) is now complete. The GUI courses will be visited in time and re-rated as required.
What does the change to our Ladies' SSS mean?
The increase on the Red Tees from SSS 72 to SSS 73 essentially means that our course is playing 1 shot more than PAR (which has not changed) i.e. it takes a scratch lady golfer 73 shots to get around the Red Tees; so our course has been rated a little harder, and the change in SSS now reflects that.
What you need to know, is that :
- playing to handicap off the red tees at South County now equals 35 stableford points (rather than 36 like we were used to)
- Red Tee Reduction Only* competitions could occur if CSS is 76 i.e. SSS+3 (rather than 75 like we were used to i.e. 72+3). Hopefully this change will mean that we will have less reduction only competitions! Reduction Only competitions are those where handicaps may reduce but not increase, as a result of the calculated results of the competition.
The computer will handle everything for us.....we will adjust the computer to ensure it calculates results and handicap changes against a baseline SSS of 73 rather than 72.
We will also manually change the South County score cards to show SSS of 73 for the red tees.
Your help is sought :
- to understand the above
- to ensure all your female playing partners especially visitors, know the SSS is 73 (especially in case unchanged scorecards are handed out, as this will be a manual change on the cards until new cards are printed).
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Hon. Handicap Secretary Mary Renaghan.
