Course rating, like golf, has its origin in the British Isles. The first measure of course difficulty was par.  The word par is derived from stocks; i.e., "a stock may be above or below its normal or par figure." British golf writer A.H. Doleman in 1870 asked Davie Strath and Jamie Anderson, two professionals, what score would be required to win The Belt at the then 12-hole course at Prestwick. Their response was that perfect play should produce a score of 49. Mr. Doleman called this par for Prestwick and when Young Tom Morris scored two strokes over par for three rounds (36 holes) to win The Belt, the term stuck.

Another measure for scoring difficulty of golf course was "bogey," which was the expected score of the fictitious Colonel Bogey. About 1890, Mr. Hugh Rotherham of the Coventry Golf Club proposed the concept of a blind opponent in match play. He was called Colonel Bogey by Dr. Thomas Browne of Great Yarmouth. Colonel Bogey was a low handicap golfer who usually made 4 on long par-3 holes and 5 on long par-4 holes but otherwise played nearly flawless golf. Bogey scores ranged from 76 to 80 on most courses.

The first course rating system was developed by the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) under the leadership of Miss Issette Pearson in about 1900. Robert Browning in "A History of Golf" says of the LGU, "Their biggest achievement was the gradual establishment of a national system of handicapping.No doubt it was uphill work at eh start (1893) but within eight or ten years the LGU had done what the men had signally failed to do - had established a system of handicapping that was reasonably reliable from club to club.

Since 1989, the USGA has organized and conducted a national course rating calibration seminar at each USGA annual meeting for course raters from all over the U.S., and from foreign countries licensed to use the System. In 1997, the USGA conducted two national calibration seminars, one on the east coast and one on the west coast. The format was changed to include four person teams from golf associations throughout the world. At this time, the USGA Handicap Department will likely continue to have separate seminars on each coast and invite teams from authorized golf associations.

Today every golf association in the United States that rates golf courses is licensed to use the USGA Course Rating System. As of 1998, foreign golf associations licensed to use the System are: Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brunei, Rarussalam, Canada, Canadian Ladies Golf Association, Chile, the Republic of China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, South America, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela. The possibility of a common world-wide course rating system using the USGA System is being investigated.

Information provided by the USGA (www.usga.org)