Golf Glossary
Definition: Course Rating
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Course Rating
The course rating is one of the factors used to compute a handicap index. It is a number that describes the average "good score" for a scratch golfer who plays the course. It usually turns out to be a number between 67 and 77.
As you can see, the course rating is an indicator of the difficulty of a particular course. Other things being equal, the course with the higher course rating is the more difficult course.
Actually, each course has several different course ratings, depending on the tees that a golfer plays from. Thus, the course rating might be 71 from the gold tees, 69 from the blue tees, 67 from the white tees, 64 from the green tees, and 68 from the red tees.
The course ratings from each tee are usually stated on the course scorecard.