I recently played a round of golf at a course (Red Reef Executive - Boca Raton, FL) that did not have a rating / slope listed on the scorecard. I tried to get in touch with the course a couple of days later but all I got is automated messages.

Why wouldn't a course have a rating / slope?

I have entered close to 200 scores on this site and I have never encountered that before. My assumption is its because it is a 9-hole executive. But I am just guessing.

From what I have been told, the USGA does not rate executive courses. Those in my area are not rated either.

mschad wrote:

From what I have been told, the USGA does not rate executive courses. Those in my area are not rated either.

Maybe that pertains to 9-hole courses only. I play an 18 hole executive course (Colony West Glades Course - Tamarac, FL) and they have a rating / slope. There are probably some sort of cut-offs when the USGA rates courses (i.e. length and / or how many holes there are).

I will have to do some research on that.

I believe a course has to actually pay the USGA to rate it.

After looking at the scorecard, it's pretty clear why the course doesn't have a rating/slope. For one thing, all of the holes should be par 3's. I also believe that the lowest possible rating a course can have is 55. In this case, I believe that if all of the holes are flat (like most of Florida is), the rating would be below that.

Bryan K wrote:

After looking at the scorecard, it's pretty clear why the course doesn't have a rating/slope. For one thing, all of the holes should be par 3's. I also believe that the lowest possible rating a course can have is 55. In this case, I believe that if all of the holes are flat (like most of Florida is), the rating would be below that.

You are correct about the lowest rating being a 55. The course actually has some elevation to it (for a FL course that is). But as you said, all of the holes should be par 3's.

Oh well, either way its a nice little course and set-up.

According to the USGA, a course under 1,500 yards (9) or 3,000 yards [18] is not eligible for course rating. Bryan K is correct that there is typically a fee to get a rating and any number of courses choose to save money and not maintain a rating. During the most recent (or ongoing) recession, many public courses in Michigan decided to not maintain their GAM/USGA course rating.

Which drive my nuts about the executive course I play. It is 1489 and doesn't have a rating. Push one tee box back 12 yards and presto it qualifies and I can avoid the warning that I get every time I enter a score from that corse in OOBGOLF.