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Course Rating

Course Rating is a vital part of the Scottish Golf Union’s role, providing an important service to affiliated clubs and their members. Our organisation relies on many volunteers up and down the country who have been trained to undertake this role, entailing thousands of man hours to ensure consistency throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Golf Union took the decision in 1990 to adopt the USGA Course Rating System to provide a more equitable method of determining the Standard Scratch Scores of our Scottish golf courses, which were previously based primarily on length. Course Rating also takes into account playing difficulty as well as overall length.

Since this decision was taken, all courses have been rated in accordance with the USGA Course Rating System Regulations and Guidelines. The rolling programme for re-rating will continue to be operational as courses must be rated, irrespective of alterations, every 7-10 years to ensure Standard Scratch Scores are accurate.

Clubs must notify the SGU if they have altered their course in respect of construction of new holes, new greens, new tees or any other alterations that could affect the playing difficulty of the hole or golf course. This should be made on an “Notification of Course Change” form and submitted to the Golf Services Department, Scottish Golf Union, The Duke’s, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8NX.

For a copy of this application form please see the Related Documents - two versions are available one as a word document for returning online and a pdf format for printing.

Clubs should note that the Scottish Golf Union should be made aware of any alterations to the length of golf courses as and when these occur to ensure that accurate records are held for administration purposes.

For further information or to obtain the above forms please contact:

SGU Golf Services Department
Tel: - 01334-466489/490