i've read that the average slope of the courses in the US is 113. my home course is very short, but has a slope of 125/127 (middle/back tees). the fairways are very narrow, there is not much rough and a lot of out of bounds and hazards. the greens are very tricky, fast and hard. when i go to another course the fairways seems a mile wide, the greens less undulating and more receptive and i always play better.

since i play 95% of golf at my home course, would this be a true indication of my HI?

Well local knowledge always helps but the slope and course rating on other courses should correspond pretty closely with the HI of your home course and make the adjustment.

113? Maybe its an average for the front tee boxes. Around here in NY we see a 117 --> 132 for the 2nd to back tee boxes (generally white tee box). The lowest I've seen around here is a 115.

When you go to another course your index is converted to a course handicap. So a 10 on a course with a slope of 100 would have to have a lower average score than a 10 on your course, but put them on the same course and they will both get the same # of strokes.

and I believe that 113 is the average slope when an 18 handicap would shoot 18 over par, or something like that, I think the math works out that way.

While I agree that your index becomes your course handicap on a course with a 113 slope, I don't believe that the 113 is actually the "average" slope, but rather a number which was selected by some other odd criteria to be a "standard" against which other courses are mathmatically compared in determining differentials. (In any case, as new courses are built, any "average" slope would likely change.) I've never seen or played on a course that was actually that easy. If I find one, I'm firing up the old "personal best" hunger and I'll see where that gets me.

Playing in northern NJ, I would say the average on the courses I play is about 125. However, there is a muni by me that is 67.9/109, par 70 that tips out at a cool 5500. However, I never score well because as you put it, I try to attack and score well, leading to bad shots.

113 is not the average of course ratings, rather, a number that is supposed to represent a course of average difficulty. From my experience, it is a rare course that plays to a 113.

Back to the OP's question, remember that the INDEX is only part of the equation, it is used with the slope to determine the COURSE HANDICAP. Your course handicap rises as the slope increases.

It is typical that golfers who most often play more difficult courses have handicaps that "travel well."

i've always been confused by that "average" 113 slope as well but just ignored because it never seemed true. what you're saying makes a lot more sense. i also rarely (if ever?) see a 113 slope. i'd say average "blue" (short of the tips) tees is closer to mid/high 120's.

what i find, however, is that i score better because other courses seem more forgiving even if the slope is similar.


our middle tees are about 5500 yards and the slope is 125. you MUST keep the ball in the fairway if you are going to score.


yes, this is true.

Course rating (or maybe course rating vs. par) is actually a much better indicator of course difficulty than is raw slope.

In principle an 10 index at 'Home Course A' is the same as on 'Home Course B'. My experience is that my index would move around a couple of strokes from course to course.

dave

113 slope is not the average, it's the slope of a course in which a scratch golfer has no additional advantage over a bogey golfer.