[georgshult]

Has anyone encountered this issue?

The purpose of the Course rating/slope/handicap system is to provide you with a handicap that adjusts to the difficulty of various courses. Here in CA I noticed something odd about the relative course ratings between Woodley Lakes and Tierra Rejada.

Woodley is flat, open with few serious hazards, no water really in play, shallow traps and flat greens. TR is uneven, with lots of water, blind shots, multi-level greens and deep traps. Does anyone have any thoughts on why the course ratings for them are virtually identical?

Woodley from the white tees is about 6500 yards and has a course rating of 70.5. TR is the same yardage from the blue tees and is rated 70.6.

My handicap at Woodley would be an 8 and at TR only a 9.

Images of Woodley Lakes (the photog had to go away from the fairways to get any shots over water)…
http://tinyurl.com/m3onrz


These are some images of Tierra Rejada.
http://tinyurl.com/mwxgtz


You can see from the layout one is far more challenging than the other.

The reason this is an issue is when someone who posts many scores on a harder course plays in a tournament on an easier course they blow away the players who don't play the harder courses. But the handicap system is supposed to adjust for the difficulty.

Iron in sand