Tee to Green Series, Part 2: Effective Playing Length Corrections

The Effective Playing Length (EPL) Corrections: While most of the Course Rating value is derived directly from the officially measured yardage, there are certain features of the course that can effectively change the length of a course. These include Elevation, Roll, Dogleg/Forced Lay-up, Wind and Altitude.

Elevation considers the-tee-to green elevation changes of each individual hole on the course. Think about the flat course where you can see from the front all the way to the back corner vs. a course with tons of up and down where you might not even be able to see from one hole to the next.

Roll is the evaluation of how far full shots for scratch and bogey players will roll, more or less than normal, and the effect that roll has on the playing length of the course. The Course Rating team will adjust for uphill and downhill individual shots.

Any golfer who has played at The Oregon Golf Club in West Linn would agree that it has some pretty fierce up and downhill shots. The first hole alone has an elevation change of over 100 feet uphill. For the Bogey Female golfer playing the green tee at 429 yards, that turns into losing at least 15-20 yards on each shot of the long par 5. Mathematically if the hole were flat, she would be hitting her approach shot from just off the front of the green. Instead, she’s hitting almost 100 yards to a blind green surface that is tucked behind two approximately 8-foot-deep bunkers, still with about 20 feet of rise to go. This might cause a further lay-up to in front of the green for an open view at the surface.

That one hole on OGC has more elevation than quite a few entire golf courses!

For Course Rating, we must consider how much each shot is affected by slope of the fairway and adjust the shot lengths to the appropriate Landing Zones. If we didn’t adjust the Landing Zones, we would be measuring the Obstacles from the incorrect areas.

Dogleg/Forced Lay-ups happen when an obstacle or combination of obstacles force the player to play a different club and reduce their shot length. By shortening a drive or other shot, it makes the approach shot longer or can cause an additional approach shot to the green.

Forced Lay-ups always make a hole play longer. Doglegs can occasionally make a course play shorter. Think about a hole that curves around pond or tall grass where the shot can carry the obstacle to land closer to the green.

Wind is measured using historical data averaged from March to December (during OGA’s posting season). It can be assessed differently per nine, for instance, if one nine is open and the other goes into the trees. It is usually applied for courses at the coast or along the gorge, but there are a few others that are open and susceptible to wind. This calculation is added to the course, not individual tees and shot lengths are not adjusted.

Altitude kicks in once we get to Central and Eastern Oregon. For every 500 yards after 2000 feet of elevation the Scratch Male and Female and the Bogey Male hit a few extra yards. Bogey Female doesn’t quite hit it far enough in the air to get the benefit of the altitude. All shot lengths are adjusted for the assorted shots moving the landing zones to the appropriate place.