Many players question the reduction of strokes when players are competing from different sets of tees.

This is a difficult concept to understand.

FIRST, we need to define what the Slope Rating does, as many players think the different Slope Ratings automatically take care of the difference in the two sets of tees. This is a myth.

The Slope Rating is used to convert a Handicap Index to a Course Handicap, which allows the player to receive the number of strokes he needs to play to the level of a scratch golfer for that particular set of tees. In other words, it is the number of strokes he needs to play down to the Course Rating for that particular set of tees.

Example

Player A: Handicap Index of 10.4   
                 Plays from the White Tees: Course Rating of 71.1 and a Slope Rating of 130.
                 Course Handicap for player A on the white tees is 12.

That means Player A needs 12 strokes to play down to the level of a scratch golfer on the white tees: 71.1 + 12, or 83.1, rounded to 83. So, if he plays to his Course Handicap by shooting 83, he would tie the scratch golfer who shot 71 on the white set of tees.

Player B: Handicap Index of 10.4
                 Plays from the Blue set of tees: Course Rating of 73.2 and a Slope Rating of 140.
                 Course Handicap for player B on the blue tees is 13.

That means Player B needs 13 strokes to play down to the level of a scratch golfer for this particular blue set of tees: 73.2 + 13 or 86.3, rounded to 86. So, if player B plays to his Course Handicap by shooting 86, he would tie the scratch golfer shooting 73 on the blue set of tees.

Now suppose Player A and Player B decide to compete against one another; Player A plays from the white tees but player B plays from the blue tees. We have determined their Course Handicap when they were going to play someone else from the same set of tees, but that is no longer the case.

However, we determined that player A needs 12 strokes to play down to a scratch for the white tees and player B needs 13 strokes to do that for the blue set of tees.

If both players play exactly to their Course Handicap, player A will shoot 83 for a net 71, and player B will shoot 86 for a net 73.

Player A wins every time if they shoot to their Course Handicap; 71 beats 73. This is because the Course Handicaps were set up allowing each player to score down to the level of the scratch golfer for the specific set of tees they are playing. SLOPE allows one to compete with someone from the same set of tees, but in our example the players are not playing the same set of tees.

SECOND, we have to standardize the Course Ratings in order for the two players to compete equitably. The same thing would apply when two scratch players chose to play from these two different tee boxes.

A scratch golfer would shoot a 71 from the white tees.  A second scratch golfer would shoot a 73 from the blue tees. Because the player playing the blue tees is playing a course with a higher Course Rating (the more difficult set of tees), we must equalize the difference in Course Ratings in order to do any type of comparison or competition of the two players. This applies to every golfer, no matter what their level of skill, as all the Slope Rating has done is given a player enough strokes to play down to the level of a scratch for the specific set of tees.

Back to our net players A and B. Because player B is playing a set of tees with a higher Course Rating, we must add the difference between the two Course Ratings to his Course Handicap if he is going to compete with someone else from a different set of tees. 73.2 (blue) - 71.1 (white) = 2.1, which we round to 2.

So player B will add two strokes to his 13, resulting in a Course Handicap of 15.

Now let's look at the competition if both players score to their Course Handicap:

We have reached our desired goal. Both players have played to their Course Handicap, and their net score results in a tie.

Note:  Nowhere in the above information did we mention the word "par".

Players often try to throw par into the mix when trying to figure if scores are equal. Par is of little relevance in the handicap system and is a terrible indicator of predicting score. For example, one course may be 5,500 yards long and have a par of 72 and another may be 7,200 yards long and have a par of 72. It is highly unlikely that scores on these two courses would be equal for any level of golfer.

In each of the examples, we have used both Course Rating and Slope Rating. The point is that Slope Rating by itself has little meaning within the Handicap System. There must be a Course Rating standard to connect/attach to the Slope Rating in order for there to be any meaning. If there is one thing to remember from all of this, it is that the Slope Rating is used to convert a Handicap Index to a Course Handicap, which allows the player to receive the number of strokes he needs to play to the level of a scratch golfer for that particular set of tees.