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History of Course RatingThe first course rating system was developed by the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) of Great Britain under the leadership of Miss Issette Pearson in about 1900. Robert Browning in "A History of Golf" says of the LGU, "Their biggest achievement was the gradual establishment of a national system of handicapping...No doubt it was uphill work at the start (1893) but within eight or ten years the LGU had done what the men had signally failed to do -- had established a system of handicapping that was reasonably reliable from club to club." The first USGA Course Rating System was established in 1911. Rating courses according to the "expected" score of the national amateur champion became accepted, and course rating was born in America. Changes were made throughout the years until the Slope Rating System was proposed in 1977. Since January 1, 1990, every golf association in the United States that rates golf courses, except one, uses the USGA Course Rating System. The possibility of a common world-wide course rating system using the USGA System is being investigated. |
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