Help understanding player ratings

[SilentExodus04]

I'm curious how player ratings work in general. Everything I read just tells me you have to use an app or something to figure out your rating, etc, and nothing is very clearly defined.

Is there a general basis for how the player rating works when compared to getting par on a course? Like for example if I end up shooting a +5 on average, what do you think my rating would be? What if I shot a 0 on average? What about a -5? Is it easy to say like average +5 rating = 800, 0 = 850, -5 = 900, -10 = 950? I mean is there just some general guideline I can use when trying to figure out what my rating would be if i decided to get serious for a year or so?

I've only been playing a year or so, and haven't kept track of my scores at my course, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what it takes to be at each of those types of rating levels on average. I know there's a lot of other secret formula stuff to use to figure it out, but can someone just give me a basic guideline to understand where I may be at if I decide to start playing at some point in a rated league, etc?

 

[JC17393]

I'm curious how player ratings work in general. Everything I read just tells me you have to use an app or something to figure out your rating, etc, and nothing is very clearly defined.

Is there a general basis for how the player rating works when compared to getting par on a course? Like for example if I end up shooting a +5 on average, what do you think my rating would be? What if I shot a 0 on average? What about a -5? Is it easy to say like average +5 rating = 800, 0 = 850, -5 = 900, -10 = 950? I mean is there just some general guideline I can use when trying to figure out what my rating would be if i decided to get serious for a year or so?

I've only been playing a year or so, and haven't kept track of my scores at my course, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what it takes to be at each of those types of rating levels on average. I know there's a lot of other secret formula stuff to use to figure it out, but can someone just give me a basic guideline to understand where I may be at if I decide to start playing at some point in a rated league, etc?

Par is irrelevant to ratings, so there is no easy formula to equate a score to a rating.

If you're looking to get an idea of where you fit before you play a PDGA league or tournament, find tournament results for a course you're familiar with and see how the scores were rated. That should give you a fair idea of where to start.

Good place to start with learning about ratings is the PDGA site. https://www.pdga.com/ratings

 

[jeffmonty]

If any of the courses you play have held PDGA sanctioned events, you could go to the PDGA site and look up past tournaments and compare the scores to the ratings they received for that day. If even par was a 920 rated round, and you shot even par, 920 is your rating. It's not perfect, as there are outside forces that a rating can depend on, especially weather, but it will give you an idea. It also will only (roughly) apply if you play the same lay-out as they played in the tournament.

*JC beat me to it!

 

[DiscFifty]

I've asked this question a variety for ways, and the reply (from a very smart person who's name I forget..lol..) was if you shoot par all the time, eventually your rating should average out to be right at or near 900.

 

[DiscFifty]

btw...as a follow up question.. "If both a male & female have the same rating, does that mean they are equally skilled players?"

 

[Cgkdisc]

btw...as a follow up question.. "If both a male & female have the same rating, does that mean they are equally skilled players?"

Their net skills are equal on a balanced course but their specific skills are likely a bit different.

 

[TimSyl]

Here's what I've found. If you're at a tournament with some 1000 rated players in the field, and you shoot, say 54 and they shoot 50, you're rating will be about 960. However, if you play the same course and the highest rated players are 950 and they shoot 50 and you shoot 54, your rating will be about 900-910. Point is, it makes minimal sense and is driven by the higher rated players and what they shoot.

 

[Bgso]

Here's what I've found. If you're at a tournament with some 1000 rated players in the field, and you shoot, say 54 and they shoot 50, you're rating will be about 960. However, if you play the same course and the highest rated players are 950 and they shoot 50 and you shoot 54, your rating will be about 900-910. Point is, it makes minimal sense and is driven by the higher rated players and what they shoot.

You're correct, but your argument fails to acknowledge that the odds of the 1000 rated players shooting the same score as the 950 players is very low. On average the 1000 rated players will shoot 5 strokes less per round than the 950 player. So if the 1000 rated players shoot the same score as the 950 rated players do a week later it would suggest the course was playing harder/easier than when the 950 rated players play. This will be worked into the ratings as well.

 

[DavidSauls]

I've asked this question a variety for ways, and the reply (from a very smart person who's name I forget..lol..) was if you shoot par all the time, eventually your rating should average out to be right at or near 900.

If you average par on my home course, your rating will be somewhere around 960.

 

[Shamis]

I've asked this question a variety for ways, and the reply (from a very smart person who's name I forget..lol..) was if you shoot par all the time, eventually your rating should average out to be right at or near 900.

Depends on the course. There are courses where par is 1000 rated, and courses where par is like 890.

 

[TimSyl]

You're correct, but your argument fails to acknowledge that the odds of the 1000 rated players shooting the same score as the 950 players is very low. On average the 1000 rated players will shoot 5 strokes less per round than the 950 player. So if the 1000 rated players shoot the same score as the 950 rated players do a week later it would suggest the course was playing harder/easier than when the 950 rated players play. This will be worked into the ratings as well.

Understood, but I have seen pretty much what I described happen more than a few times.

 

[IHearChains]

When you set expectations for yourself in that first rated league or tournament, it's worthwhile to keep in mind that the tournament experience is just very different from casual rounds. Often the pace is much slower, with a lot of waiting around. When the competitive juices start flowing, it feels different too -- sometimes performance anxiety and stress and adrenaline come into play. It takes some getting used to. So, people who are new to tournaments usually don't score as well as they expect to, based on their casual round scores on the same course.

I'd say go for it, play a rated league or tournament! It'll be a blast, as long as you accept it for what it is, and don't expect it to be like casual rounds.

 

[JC17393]

I've asked this question a variety for ways, and the reply (from a very smart person who's name I forget..lol..) was if you shoot par all the time, eventually your rating should average out to be right at or near 900.

I'll repeat:
Par is irrelevant to ratings

Without a standard for par (don't need to get into that here, there are plenty of other threads), one can't just say "averaging par means you are rated X". If one wants to talk about average scores and what they rate, it should be in reference to a specific course that has hosted PDGA tournaments from which a baseline can be determined. But even then, rating can vary from event to event since the course itself isn't part of the equation. Ratings are derived from the group of players throwing the round, not the course.

 

[tonyroberts]

SilentExodus04, use the scorebook feature on this site to record some of your rounds. After you've recorded 5 rounds, the site will give you a DGCR player rating. I've found that the DGCR rating can be 20-30 points higher than my rating from actual PDGA tournament rounds. Still, it's a useful feature can give you a sense of whether you're improving or not.

For more on this see https://www.dgcoursereview.com/faq.php?mode=show&id=45

 

[DiscFifty]

I'll repeat:
Par is irrelevant to ratings

This was an interesting response from Steve West:

Just curious what everyone thinks your overall rating would be if you played par golf and ending up par'ing at every tournament. I think "900" would be a fair guess. opcorn:

Put your popcorn away. I actually calculated this for the Open division. I looked at a one-week sample of tournaments, using the pars reported by the TDs (not all par 3). The precise answer is you would average 6.6 throws worse per round than the highest score that would earn at least a 1000 rating.

So, I guess that's about a 940 rating.

 

[JC17393]

This was an interesting response from Steve West:

That's great that he did the math for one random weekend of tournaments, isolated to the best players at the event rather than the whole field. If his outcome remained consistent for every weekend for a year, I'd be more impressed. I'm guessing it wouldn't since it assumes that the pars listed by the TD are determined in a standard way, which they aren't.

So again, par has nothing to do with the calculation of ratings and there is no direct correlation between par and rating.

 

[takman]

I'm curious how player ratings work in general. Everything I read just tells me you have to use an app or something to figure out your rating, etc, and nothing is very clearly defined.

Is there a general basis for how the player rating works when compared to getting par on a course? Like for example if I end up shooting a +5 on average, what do you think my rating would be? What if I shot a 0 on average? What about a -5? Is it easy to say like average +5 rating = 800, 0 = 850, -5 = 900, -10 = 950? I mean is there just some general guideline I can use when trying to figure out what my rating would be if i decided to get serious for a year or so?

I've only been playing a year or so, and haven't kept track of my scores at my course, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what it takes to be at each of those types of rating levels on average. I know there's a lot of other secret formula stuff to use to figure it out, but can someone just give me a basic guideline to understand where I may be at if I decide to start playing at some point in a rated league, etc?

Just let it go.....you're new, you're inquisitive, I get it but....just let it go.....ratings are updated every 4-6 weeks...just let it go....they have nothing to do with par....just let it go....it's math and statistics and you don't have a test.....just let it go...the less you know the fewer questions you will have....just let it go.....it's not general or simple so....just let it go.

 

[Barefoot744]

If you want to see quickly what your rounds rate as just go to your local course page here on DGCR, scroll down through the "Course Details" to the "+Rounds Recorded / Average Score:" and click on the two numbers at the end of that line "50/54" or some configuration. This will open up the score book and you can scroll through the recorded rounds that have been submitted. If you average about 54 on your course from reds then there should be some rounds at, or close to that, to judge from. These ratings are based on SSE numbers (I believe) and are often ~20 points high compared to a PDGA tournament rating, but they give you a pretty good idea.

 

[Grayson]

Just a small twist on the question, but would there be a formula available to determine ratings WITHOUT the use of a course rating/difficulties? Kind of based on performance within competitions? Certainly, it would not be as accurate but asking as not all courses may get sufficient play to get a trusted or valid difficulty rating, but may get regular play from non-PDGA locals, etc.

 

[Major Tomahawk]

I'm curious how player ratings work in general. Everything I read just tells me you have to use an app or something to figure out your rating, etc, and nothing is very clearly defined.

Is there a general basis for how the player rating works when compared to getting par on a course? Like for example if I end up shooting a +5 on average, what do you think my rating would be? What if I shot a 0 on average? What about a -5? Is it easy to say like average +5 rating = 800, 0 = 850, -5 = 900, -10 = 950? I mean is there just some general guideline I can use when trying to figure out what my rating would be if i decided to get serious for a year or so?

I've only been playing a year or so, and haven't kept track of my scores at my course, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what it takes to be at each of those types of rating levels on average. I know there's a lot of other secret formula stuff to use to figure it out, but can someone just give me a basic guideline to understand where I may be at if I decide to start playing at some point in a rated league, etc?

You can get a DG scoring app that computes player ratings. There are a few to choose from. I don't know how accurate they are, but they can give you some kind of rating without playing in any tourneys.