The Minnesota Golf Association has two course rating teams. One team is assigned to the Northern half of the state, and one team rates courses in the Southern portion of the state. The teams consist of three to four individuals (including a team Captain). Team members have attended USGA calibration seminars and training sessions to qualify for their positions.

Due to the rapid growth changes a golf course makes in the first few years after being constructed, newly constructed courses are rated approximately three times in their first seven years of operation. After the maturity of the course stabilizes, the course is rated approximately once every five years. If significant changes are made to the course that may affect the assigned ratings (i.e. addition or removal of several bunkers, water hazards, trees, etc.) these changes will be reviewed by the course rating team to determine whether it is necessary to re-rate the course. The USGA requires courses to be rated every 10 years to maintain the validity of those ratings.

Yes.  The course rating teams assign a course and slope rating value to the golf course based on the hole-by-hole obstacle values during the rating process. The MGA has the ability to provide allocaiton recommendations based on the course rating data for the tee sets most commonly played. Appendix E of the Rules of Handicapping Manual  provides detailed information regarding allocation of handicap strokes. Please  contact the MGA if your club is interested in the allocation recommendations for your course.

The MGA is one of the few associations that offers this service free to all of its Member Clubs. Other state associations charge upwards of $500.00. Click here if you are interested in becoming an MGA Member Club.

No. The Slope Rating tells you the relative difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers compared to the Course Rating. If the Slope was the leading factor in defining course difficulty some would think Course A (71.5/125) and Course B (69.6/125 would be of equal difficulty. This is false because we must also consider the Course Ratings when evaluating the difficulty of courses. In this case, Course A is about 2 strokes more difficult than Course B at every handicap level.