The Golf Course > Scorecard

A bird's eye view of Southers Marsh (click to enlarge):


Hole
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Out
Black
370
146
190
363
153
357
151
316
170
2216
Blue
300
139
175
353
138
285
129
263
158
1940
Gold
290
136
109
344
130
275
121
258
148
1811
Green
215
80
95
271
117
227
110
226
145
1486
Par
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
4
3
31
HCP (back)
5
17
3
9
13
7
15
1
11
HCP (front)
7
17
9
1
15
13
11
5
3
Hole
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
In
Total
Black
141
131
114
354
129
323
171
173
359
1895
4111
Blue
123
121
97
304
121
314
157
165
352
1754
3694
Gold
117
116
90
297
116
298
152
88
345
1619
3430
Green
98
78
80
257
91
291
103
85
338
1421
2907
Par
3
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
30
61
HCP (back)
12
14
10
6
18
16
4
2
8
HCP (front)
16
12
14
2
18
6
8
10
4

Course distances and ratings as measured by the Mass Golf Association.

- Course Slope and Rating -

 
Men
Women
Tees
Yardage
Rating
Slope
Rating
Slope
Black
4,111
61.8
112
 
 
Blue
3,694
60.4
109
61.3
110
Gold
3,430
58.6
105
60.4
104
Green
2,907
 
 
58.2
93

 

What these numbers mean, in general: Course Rating and slope are two numbers that are used by the USGA to compare the difficulty of different courses for the purpose of handicapping. For example, shooting an 85 at Pinehurst #2 from the back tees is very different from shooting an 85 at a short, wide-open course. Very generally, a course's rating is what a scratch golfer would be expected to shoot on the course. The slope is an indicator of how difficult the course is for everyone else, relative to the scratch golfer. The higher the slope number, the more strokes a higher handicap golfer will get.

What these numbers mean at SMGC: For example, consider a match between a scratch golfer playing the black tees and a 20 handicap playing the blue tees. The scratch is expected to shoot a 62, or 1 over par, giving him a course handicap of 1. By checking the list of handicaps in the Pro Shop we see that the 20 handicapper will have a course handicap of 19 at SMGC. Therefore, the scratch golfer should give 18 strokes in this match. Of course, there is no Gambling at Southers Marsh, but if there were, at least it would be fair.