What is the CCR?

Each week in the golf club results section within daily newspapers, a numerical figure titled the CCR is printed prior to each club’s winning competition scores. But what is the CCR, what does it stand for, how is it calculated and what is it used for?

The Calculated Course Rating or CCR was introduced as part of the Australian Course Rating System to create a more statistically accurate way of assessing course difficulty following a competition round.

Essentially, it is a figure (calculated by the person so authorised by the Club Committee or by GolfLink) that reflects the playing conditions of each competition round. The CCR is then utilised for the subsequent handicapping of players within a competition field.

A CCR, rounded to the nearest whole number, (.5 being round down) must be calculated for every competition round conducted by a club. If weather or course conditions alter during the day and a competition field can reasonably be segregated into two sections of similar quality (eg. morning and afternoon), two CCR’s should be calculated.

The field size is the number of competitors who commence the round, except for any who do not finish due to illness or a reason other than performance. Unless evidence dictates otherwise, non-returned cards and incomplete cards are considered as “worst” scores for the purpose of CCR calculation.

The CCR and a course’s Australian Course Rating (ACR) have a direct relationship with each other. Subject to the exceptions below, the CCR cannot be higher than 2 strokes above or lower than 1 stroke below a course’s ACR.

Exceptions:

(i) When “tee-up through the green” applies, the lower limit below the ACR is 4 strokes.

(ii) If the CCR is calculated at less than or equal to the best nett score returned, it must be raised to be 1 stroke higher than that score, up to a maximum of 4 strokes above the ACR.

Therefore at a course with an ACR of 72, the CCR can range between 71 and 74 unless the above exceptions apply.

However, for courses which are regularly exposed to severe weather conditions, State Associations may approve up to an additional 2 strokes allowance above the ACR during the calculation of the CCR. eg: to a maximum of 4 strokes above the ACR (and 6 strokes above the ACR under exception (ii) above). Once this approval has been given, it must be utilised at all times unless withdrawn by the State Association. Discretionary use is not permitted. There are a small number of courses which currently have either a 1 or 2 stroke allowance within Victoria including The National and Queenscliff, both of which experience regular strong winds.

With the above requirements in mind, the CCR is then calculated as follows:-

Small Fields:

When a competition field consists of more than 1 and less than 21 competitors, the ACR is used as the CCR. However it
should be noted that exception (ii) above still applies. Therefore if a club’s ACR was 72 and the best net score from a “small
field” competition was 73, then the CCR would become 74.

For Fields of 21 Players or More:

The CCR is calculated to the nearest whole number 12.5% of the field size (.5 being rounded down).

Competitors’ scorecards are placed in nett order of merit from best to worst.

From the best card, count down the cards to the 12.5% number previously determined. The nett score on this card is the CCR, subject to the above requirements and exceptions.

Let’s look at four competition examples of establishing the CCR for competitions played from the Championship (Blue) tees at Commonwealth Golf Club. The par of the course is 73 whilst the blue tee ACR is 74.

Example 1:

Field of 60: 12.5% = 7.5 = 7th card (rounded down to nearer whole number).

Best Nett scores (in order) – 71, 71, 72, 73, 73, 74, 75, 76, 76 ………….

CCR = 7th card = 75

Example 2:

Field of 96: 12.5% = 12th card

Best Nett scores (in order) – 69, 69, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 71, 71, 71, 71, 71

12th card = 71

However CCR = 73, as the CCR cannot be lower than 1 stroke below the ACR.

Example 3:

Field of 110: 12.5% = 13.75 = 14th card (rounded to nearest whole number)

Best Nett Scores (in order) – 71, 72, 73, 73, 73, 73, 74, 74, 75, 75, 76, 77, 77, 78

14th card = 78

However CCR = 76 as the CCR cannot be more than 2 strokes above the ACR.

Example 4:

Field of 40: 12.5% = 5th card

Best Nett Scores (in order) – 77, 77, 78, 78, 78

5th card = 78

The CCR at Commonwealth is usually limited to a maximum of 76 (Eg: 2 strokes above the ACR).

However in this example, due to the high nett scores returned by competitors, the CCR for this competition would be 78 in accordance with the requirement of the CCR to be 1 stroke higher than the best nett score to a maximum of 4 strokes higher than the ACR.

Four Ball Rounds
When Four Ball rounds are used for handicapping, the course ACR shall be used as the CCR.

For Fields of Low Markers;
For low handicap fields, such as in Open Amateur competitions, club, district and State Championships, the CCR shall be determined as above except that the figure of 20% shall be used instead of 12.5%.

The AGU define a low handicap field as one in which at least 80% of the players are in handicap category A (eg: up to 4.4).

For Fields of High Markers:
When a field larger than 20 comprises at least 51% of the competitors on handicaps of 20 or higher, the percentage to be used to calculate the CCR shall be 10% instead of 12.5%.

Stableford and Par Competitions
For Stableford and Par competitions, the same procedures apply but the cards utilised must be converted to stroke scores.

Examples:
- 36 Stableford points or square in Par = course par
- 40 Stableford points or +4 in Par = 4 strokes below par
- 34 Stableford points or –2 in Par = 2 strokes above par
- In a Stableford field of 96 players at Commonwealth, 12.5% = the 12th card. If the 12th card = 34 points the CCR would be 75 (ACR – 74; Par 73)

Unlike the ACR, the CCR has a relationship with the par of a course when stableford and par competitions are played. However, in many ways the CCR is the realistic par of a course for each specific competition as it reflects how a field of players fared on the course for that particular day.

Usually if the CCR figure is well above the course par, it indicates a difficult day on the course for players eg. strong wind or heavy rain. A CCR figure that is equal to or below the course par reflects good playing conditions eg. fine weather with little wind.

Next time you pick up a newspaper to look at the results from golf club competitions within Melbourne or Country Victoria, take note of the CCR. It will tell you how difficult each course played for that competition, especially if you know the par of a course. If it was your winning score, the CCR will also provide an indication as to how many strokes will be taken from your handicap.