James Mahoney is an entrepreneur who leads Mason James Lighting and Supply, LLC, and Mason James Distribution. After more than a decade in medical device sales, he founded his lighting company in 2018 and now serves clients ranging from municipalities to large enterprises. His organizations have earned recognition for midstream distribution performance and surpassed 13 million in sales in 2024. Outside work, he enjoys playing golf, which informs his interest in objective ways to gauge course difficulty. Drawing on a practical, and results oriented outlook, he values clear rating systems that help players choose appropriate tees, set expectations, and track progress, whether competing or learning the game. He lives and works in Pittsburgh.
Understanding Golf Course Challenge Ratings
According to the National Golf Foundation, more than 47 million Americans aged six and over played golf in 2024, a record participation number in the US. As more Americans take up the sport, they will encounter courses that present varying levels of challenge. Individuals can assess a golf course’s challenge level in a few ways.
To begin, golfers should learn how to interpret golf course ratings and slope. A course rating indicates the score a scratch golfer, or a golfer with a zero handicap, should expect to hit while playing on the course under normal conditions. Courses often have multiple ratings because a course’s challenge rating varies depending on the set of tees a golfer uses.
Golfers can compare the course rating to the course’s par to get a general idea of the overall challenge. Most golf course architects design to par 72, so a course rating of 73 or higher suggests that even the most talented golfers will face a challenge, while a rating below 72 indicates a lesser challenge. Of course, most beginners will spend years developing their games before approaching the level of a scratch golfer, so they need to explore different courses to get a feel for what rating level they enjoy.
Course ratings do not tell the full story. Several factors contribute to a course’s rating, and different factors may impact certain golfers more than others. For instance, powerful golfers may not face as significant a challenge on courses that derive their rating primarily from yardage. However, powerful golfers who lack technical ability may struggle considerably on courses defined by multiple hazards and complex green layouts.
While course ratings generally eschew weather conditions, certain “permanent” conditions factor into the rating. For example, extremely windy courses will have higher ratings than courses built in areas with calmer conditions.
Beginner golfers should also consider a course’s slope rating, which puts the course’s challenge level in the context of an average golfer’s skills. Also known as a bogey golfer, an average golfer plays with a 20-handicap for men and a 24-handicap for women. A course’s slope rating represents a measurement of how much more difficult bogey golfers find a course compared to scratch golfers.
Slope ratings can range from 55 to 155, with an average of 113. A slope rating of 113 means a bogey golfer can expect to finish the course at par, meaning the course has a rating of 72 for scratch golfers. Course designers and owners generally account for the same difficulty factors when calculating slope ratings. However, they consider certain challenges that are more prominent among beginner golfers, such as the width of fairways.
In addition to playing on a diversity of courses and improving one’s game over time, golfers can account for different course and slope ratings in a few ways. As mentioned, courses often provide multiple sets of tees, allowing golfers to adjust the course’s challenge level easily.
The vast majority of US golfers are neither scratch nor bogey golfers, falling somewhere in between. With this in mind, golfers can adjust their handicap when playing on a course that exceeds or falls short of their skill level.
Finally, golfers should learn about different course designs and adjust their strategies accordingly. For example, penal golf courses present golfers with a series of challenges, each with a single solution that golfers must execute to the best of their ability. Avoid searching for alternate routes on penal courses, as strategic golf course design provides golfers with multiple options.
About James Mahoney
James Mahoney is a Pittsburgh based executive who leads Mason James Lighting and Supply, LLC, and Mason James Distribution. He entered entrepreneurship in 2018 after a career in medical device sales with firms such as Spectranetics and Medi USA. His lighting company serves municipalities and major corporations, has earned top midstream distributor recognition, and reached 13 million in sales in 2024. He is active in professional organizations and community initiatives, and he enjoys golf, which informs his interest in performance metrics and course selection.
