SSS Assessment

Coming off the back of the CSS thread, I thought this was worth a thread of it's own.

We all bemoan the CSS of our courses being too low from time to time. As, CSS is obviously very dependant on SSS in the first place, how often is the SSS assessed? Is it accurate to your current course?

Interesting document here, where I think they are trying to make something that can be very subjective, measurable and applicable everywhere.

http://www.englishgolfunion.org/documents/Guide_to_SSS.pdf

I have asked the last 4 clubs where I have played when the last time their course was rated for SSS, only one knew the answer (Woburn).

My home club's course has been altered heavily in the past 5 years or so, fairways are narrower as rough has been allowed to grow, more water, but no-one knows when it was last assessed.

So, when CSS is so reliant on SSS, why don't clubs pay more attention to it's accuracy?

Does your club know when it was last assessed?

Ours was assessed earlier this year, with no alteration.

Different system out here , slope rating.

Re rated 3 months go from 118 to 122 so deemed a harder course

I think the SSS at our place could be wrong.

It's one less than par but the course, which was very tight to begin with, gets tougher and tougher each year because of the extra growth of the trees.

This topic has prompted me to send an e-mail to our committee asking when the last time it was assessed so

My course SSS is -1 also, and has been for as long as I can remember. We (the members) have asked for a re-assessment as no-one can exactly remember the last time it was done. Utterly bizarre considering, as has been said, the SSS is the single most important factor in the CSS forumla!

Mercurio wrote:I think the SSS at our place could be wrong.

It's one less than par but the course, which was very tight to begin with, gets tougher and tougher each year because of the extra growth of the trees.

This topic has prompted me to send an e-mail to our committee asking when the last time it was assessed so

Let us know what the reply is.

I find it more than a little surprising that clubs don't have a tigher hold of this. I was also surprised that with all the conditions of determining a SSS, and how much effort they've gone to to make it consistent, that there isn't a timeframe between assessments such as 2, 3 or 5 years.

My course is due for an inspection by the county union shortly. They have been requested to attend because we are trying to get a couple of holes made longer, and as the course is used for county matches, the CSS needs assesing again

Our course had been par 69, sss 67 for as long as anyone could remember. Over the past year or so we made a few alterations:
3rd hole - new back tee taking length from 154 yards to 175 yards
5th hole - 283 yard par 4, put a bunker in front of the green
11th hole - redesigned & rebuilt green, added 5 yards to the length of the hole as the middle of the green is now 5 yards further (484 yard par 5 now)
12th hole - 274 yard par 4, put a bunker in front of the green
17th hole - new back tee, hole lengthened from 251 yards to 284 yards (still a par 4).
The total length of the course increased from 5588 yards to 5647 and that, coupled with the other changes, got our sss up to 68.
Think we had to apply to the Scottish Golf Union to look at this but it shows that changes to toughen up your course can be worth it. It also means that when the weather's good and conditions are "easier" the css can't go down to 66, which was always a pain in the erse!!

Mercurio wrote:This topic has prompted me to send an e-mail to our committee asking when the last time it was assessed so

An e-mail from Surrey Golf Union (the writer is a former captain of our club). Plus an interesting snippet in bold/underline which I was not previously aware of:

Hi Mercurio,

Referring to your e-mail to [Committee Member] on the subject of your club’s SSS.

It is some years since our course was assessed. We are at present reassessing all the courses in Surrey due to a change in the procedure by the English Golf Union. I will be arranging for your club to be assessed in the near future.

For further information, Stroke Index refers to match play only not for Medal or Stableford competitions. In the distant past, one played Stableford off scratch and added 3/4 of you handicap to the points scored. Clubs can if the wish have a separate card for Stableford competitions based on the hole difficulty over a period of time.

Regards

Surrey Golf Union