Frequently Asked Questions - Ratings

You can get the most up-to-date information about the ratings system in the PDGA Ratings System guide.

Your PDGA Player Rating is a number that shows how well you have played in PDGA competitions in the past year in comparison to the Scratch Scoring Average (SSA) of the course layouts you played. Players who average the course layout SSA will have a rating of 1000. As of 2021, top pro players who average scores lower than SSA have ratings over 1000 ranging up to 1050. PDGA amateur men average around 860 and women around 725. Each additional throw in your score will reduce your rating from 7 to 13 rating points depending on the SSA of the course.

Ratings updates occur on the second Tuesday of each month. The online event report submission deadline is the Sunday prior to the ratings publication date.

Players who enter a PDGA event in a division tracked by the PDGA will automatically get their results entered into the ratings system. A new member will receive a Preliminary Rating as soon as they play an event when the TD posts Unofficial Results.

12-Month Window: A player’s rating is based on rounds played within the 12 months prior to the date of their most recently rated round.

Recent Rounds Count More: Once a player has at least 9 rated rounds, the most recent 25% (one-quarter) of their rounds are double weighted. This gives more importance to recent performance.

Fewer Than 8 Rounds: If a player has fewer than 8 rounds in the past 12 months, the system will look back up to 24 months to find at least 8 total rounds. If fewer than 8 rounds exist within 24 months, all available rounds in that period will be used.

Low Outlier Rounds Excluded: If a player has at least 7 rounds included in their rating, any round that is more than 2.5 standard deviations below their average or more than 100 rating points below their average will be excluded. (Note: a player’s average rating may be different than their official rating due to weighted averages.)

Incomplete Rounds: Rounds that are not completed are not included in a player’s ratings calculation.

In most cases, this happens because an older round that was previously included in your rating has aged out. PDGA ratings are based on rounds within a specific time window, so when an older round falls outside that window, it is no longer included in your calculation.

In very rare cases, a rating change can occur due to an increase in your score variability (standard deviation):

• If you have at least 7 rounds included in your rating, any round that is more than 2.5 standard deviations below your average is excluded.
• If you later play rounds that are significantly higher than your average, your standard deviation may increase.
• When your standard deviation increases, a previously excluded low-rated round may no longer fall outside the 2.5 standard deviation threshold.
• As a result, that lower-rated round may be included in your rating calculation.

If you have at least nine rounds included in your rating, the most recent 25% of those rounds are double-weighted. Because of this weighted average, your rating will not necessarily match a simple average of your round ratings.

Your first rating can be calculated after just one valid round of tournament play. It will be posted on the PDGA website the next time the ratings are updated.

Your current PDGA player rating and stats can be found on your PDGA Player Profile. You can search for your player profile by selecting Player Search from within the Membership menu.

All amateurs with the exception of aged based divisions, like Juniors or Masters and older, compete in divisions based on rating levels. You may not play in a lower division if your rating is above a certain number. The ratings breaks for each division is shown on page 5 of the PDGA Tour Standards. In addition, there are ratings events where everyone – Ams and Pros – play in a division based on their rating.

If you have pre-registered, the TD may allow you to remain in that division as long as the event is within two weeks of the ratings posting date. If you did not pre-register before the new ratings were posted, then you are expected to play in the division (or higher) where your new rating now resides. This only applies to Amateur players registered for amateur ratings-based divisions; it does not apply to a Professional-class player taking advantage of the Pros Playing in Amateur Divisions program.

Unofficial Ratings

• Tournament Directors upload scores using the PDGA Tournament Manager.
• When at least two propagators play a specific layout, the system automatically calculates unofficial round ratings (available via the “Show round ratings” link).
• At this stage, results are considered Unofficial.

Ratings Team Review Process

• Official ratings are manually calculated when there are fewer than two propagators on a layout.
• Unofficial ratings are reviewed when there are fewer than five propagators.
• Unofficial ratings are also reviewed if they deviate significantly from expected propagator averages, which may indicate a potential error.

Official ratings are posted on the second Tuesday of each month. View the monthly ratings update schedule.

• The Tournament Director has not yet uploaded the scores, or
• There were not enough propagators on your layout to generate unofficial ratings.

• You have not played in any new events.
• You played in a new event, but the Event Director did not submit the official event report before the ratings update deadline.
• League rounds are not included until the entire league has been completed and the official event report has been submitted.

• An official event report for an event you played in previously may have just been submitted in time for this ratings update.
• An older event you played may have required a correction due to a scoring error or a course layout assignment mistake that was recently discovered.

• If you are viewing unofficial ratings (shown as “waiting for report” or “official ratings pending” under the event Status), contact the Event Director to request any corrections.
• If you are viewing official ratings (shown as “official ratings processed” under the event Status) and notice an issue, email [email protected] and include a direct link to the event.

• Propagators are players rated 700 or higher, based on at least 8 rated rounds, and a rating effective date within one year of the tournament start date.
• Their scores are used to calculate the course rating (SSA) and generate unofficial round ratings for all players on that layout.
• At least two propagators must play a specific layout for the online system to generate unofficial ratings for that round. 
• Layouts with one or no propagators will not receive unofficial ratings online, but they will still receive official ratings calculated by hand.
• Propagators are identified on tournament pages by having their rating displayed in bold.

The unofficial ratings for each round are calculated from only the scores the propagators threw that round. Their scores will naturally vary from round to round even when it looks like the weather conditions are similar either on the same day or even the next week with a completely different set of propagators. The typical variance in a round rating for the same score under similar conditions can range up to 25 rating points (about 5%). If it's more than that, it's possible the weather was significantly different or perhaps the TD did not set the course layouts properly when uploading scores. The good news is that when the official ratings are calculated, the scores of all propagators playing the same layout in more than one round are combined so that everyone will receive the same official rating for the same score in all of those rounds.

Yes, it can sometimes be true by a few percentage points. However, here's the catch. It's not because these top players have higher ratings. A couple factors are in play. There can be additional tournament pressure in higher tier events especially when local players are grouped with traveling pros. In addition, lower rated players seem to play worse on average than their ratings, especially when it's a tournament layout not played daily that's longer and has more OB challenges. Third, we've found that the farther you play from home, even if you know the course, players tend to average a few throws higher. All of these factors can boost the course rating resulting in slightly higher ratings than local sanctioned events. If you happen to be a local not affected by the added tournament pressure and course challenges, you may be able to average a throw or two better scores and earn those higher ratings. Note: those better ratings aren't just handed to you, you still have to earn them.

Yes. The weather and tournament pressure are automatically taken into account resulting from the typically higher scores propagators shoot in tougher conditions. These higher scores thrown by propagators will produce higher ratings for the same score on the same course layout compared with rounds played in milder conditions and recreational play.

Sometimes. Once the tournament scores and report are submitted to the PDGA, a preliminary SSA is calculated for each round. Then, the software compares these preliminary SSAs. If these two SSAs are statistically far enough apart, each round will get separate official ratings because the software identified a statistical difference in playing conditions between rounds. However, in most events these preliminary SSAs are close enough that they will be combined to produce a single official SSA so everyone gets the same rating for the same score in both rounds.

Sometimes. The official ratings (not unofficial) can end up different for the same score thrown early versus later in the day when weather changes significantly. This special process to calculate ratings by time segments over the day is done when the TD or another official notifies the PDGA that certain rounds had significant weather differences, especially wind. The ratings team will either break up the scoring data for those rounds by time segments within a single large division (more than 80 players) or by grouping smaller division(s) who played near the same time of day. Preliminary SSA values will be calculated separately for each time of day grouping. These preliminary SSAs may not be statistically different enough so a single official SSA will be determined for that day. However, sometimes the SSA will be enough different from the others that either higher or lower ratings for the same score will be produced for players competing during that time period versus the other time periods.

This is true in some cases. The roughly 2%-7% difference (1-3 throws) seems to be due to a little more pressure on players when playing tournaments versus leagues. Presuming the weather conditions are similar, it appears to be the most likely factor to account for the difference. The good news is that this effect doesn't help or hurt the ratings of players overall. No matter how difficult or easy a course plays, the average player rating of the propagators before the round is about equal to the average of the ratings they receive in each round. Check it out and see.

If you do not complete a round for any reason other than manipulating your rating, and if you inform the TD that you will not be completing the round, you will receive a score of 999 indicating you Did Not Finish (DNF) that round. You will not get a rating for that round but will receive ratings for any other rounds you completed before and sometimes after that round (if TD allows). If you complete a round, you will receive a rating for the round, regardless of whether you were sick, injured, or otherwise impaired. So keep that in mind when deciding whether to complete the round.

This is a Class D4 offense under the PDGA Disciplinary Policy & Process with penalties according to Competition Manual 5.06.C.

When reported by the group to the TD, the offending player will receive an 888 DNF for trying to manipulate their rating. This is a Class D4 offense under the PDGA Disciplinary Policy & Process with penalties according to Competition Manual 5.06.C.

• All rated rounds you have played that were reported to the PDGA within 12 months of your most recently rated round are included in your rating calculation.
• If you have at least seven rounds included in your rating, any round that is either more than 100 points below your average rating or more than 2.5 standard deviations below your average rating, whichever number is smaller, will be excluded from your current rating update and marked with a “No.”
• This include/exclude calculation is performed with each ratings update. As a result, your lowest-rated round may be excluded in one update and included again in a later update.
• The more consistent your play, the less likely any rounds will be excluded. More inconsistent play increases the likelihood that one or more lower-rated rounds will be excluded.
• Rounds in which you record a DNF (Did Not Finish) are never included in your rating.

If a round is suspended and cannot be completed in accordance with PDGA 1.07, at least 13 holes must be completed by the field for the round to receive an official rating. For courses with fewer than 13 holes, scores from two rounds may be combined to produce one official round rating. Official ratings can be calculated for rounds of up to 36 holes.

Every throw equals about 10 rating points on a typical 18-hole course from the long tees. If your scores average 10 throws over SSA, your rating will be 100 points lower than 1000 which would be 900. So a player with rating of 950, who is about 5 throws better than a player with a 900 rating, should probably spot the 900 rated player about 4 to 5 throws if they are trying to level the playing field for the round.

In theory, yes, but it has a very low probability of happening. We know that a propagator will throw more than three shots better than their rating about 1 in 6 rounds. We calculate ratings based on at least 2 propagators. And normally, we have more than 20 in most events. But let's say we just have 5. The odds that all 5 propagators will shoot more than 3 shots better than their rating in a round is 1 in 7776 rounds (1/6 to the 5th power).

Dealing with ‘sandbagging’ – players entering a division below their skill level – used to be a challenge. Since 2002, PDGA Player Ratings have been used to group amateur players in competition divisions to prevent players from entering divisions below their rating. In addition, ratings provide one element for ranking the world's top players on the PDGA Tour. Course ratings pave the way for statistical comparisons of courses around the world with the potential to help improve their designs and levels of challenge.

There is no simple or accurate way to calculate a course rating using only measurements such as hole length, foliage, fairway width, or hazards. These factors do not reliably predict how difficult a layout will play.

Tournament Directors frequently modify layouts by:

• Adding temporary holes
• Changing tee or pin positions
• Using temporary or newly installed courses
• Changing out-of-bounds areas

In many cases, no prior rating would exist for those specific layouts.

Many courses have multiple tees and multiple pin positions per hole. This can create hundreds or even thousands of possible layout combinations, making it impractical to assign and maintain fixed ratings for every configuration.

Instead, the PDGA calculates ratings based on actual scores from propagators playing that specific layout during that specific round. This ensures ratings reflect how the course played under real tournament conditions.