If you’ve been playing disc golf for some time and are ready to start competing, it might be beneficial to know how good you are in comparison with other competitors. Knowing your round rating and player rating can be important to placement in tournament divisions.
In the article, I’ll explain what a PDGA round rating and a player rating are along with how they are calculated. Having a basic understanding of these disc golf ratings can help determine where you stack up against the competition in PDGA sanctioned events.
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Here’s How to Calculate a Disc Golf Round Rating
To calculate a rating for a round of disc golf, use the PDGA calculation of stroke value for that round. The PDGA will assign a course score that equals a 1000 rated round. If shooting over the course score, multiply the number of strokes over by the value of a stroke, and subtract from 1000. Add the number to 1000 if shooting under the course score.
Below I’ll explain what a round rating and a player rating are and how you can calculate your rating.
What Does a Rating Mean in Disc Golf?
A round rating is disc golf is a rating system used by the PDGA (Professional Disc Golf Association) in their sanctioned tournament events to give an objective rating that measures the skill level of a player. The average of the round ratings will give each participant a player rating.
For the round rating and player rating to be eligible, the round must be played at a PDGA sanctioned event for singles only. Ratings aren’t calculated for teams or doubles.
These ratings are updated every month in the PDGA database to keep an accurate count on current ratings. The purpose of ratings is to even the playing field and break players into appropriate divisions.
These ratings prevent players from dropping into a lower division to compete against less skilled players.
What is a 1000 Rated Round in Disc Golf?
What is the 1000 rating? PDGA ratings are on a scale from 0 to 1000 and the closer to a 1000 rating or greater will mean you are a very good player. The significance of a 1000 rating means that your average round scores are on par with the course rating, or what is called the Scratch Scoring Averages (SSA).
If your averages are lower than the SSA, your rating will be above 1000. If your average scores are higher your rating would be lower than 1000, and so on.
Disc Golf Round Rating Calculation
The PDGA first calculates how many points each stroke would be to equal a 1000 rated round. This calculation is based on the players who played in the round that already have an established rating.
The PDGA then calculates what the round score should be for a person to shoot a 1000 rated round. Each stroke is given a value, usually ranging from 7 to 12 points per stroke.
For example, the PDGA determines that a course score of 50 is needed to shoot a 1000 rated round on a particular course. If you shoot a 60 for that course, you’ll multiply the number of strokes over 50 by the value of a stroke.
If the value of a stroke is 10 points, that means you’d multiply 10 strokes by 10 points for a total of 100. Finally, subtract 1000-100 for a 900 round rating.
The opposite is true if you have a great day and shoot under the course score. Then you’d add that to 1000 for a round rating above 1000.
Round ratings will be calculated differently for each course and round played to account for course conditions. Round ratings can even change on the same course, by factoring in different conditions, like the weather.
Unfortunately, the process by which the PDGA calculates these round ratings is not shared publicly so it’s hard to figure out round ratings without consulting the PDGA ratings for a course first.
How Do I Calculate My Disc Golf Player Rating?
Calculating a round rating is a little less complex and can be done without the PDGA secret formula. Player rating is an average of round rating. But, more recent round ratings hold more weight than older round ratings.
To calculate your player rating, you’ll need to average at least 8 rounds, dating back to 2 years if needed. If you have more than 8 rounds available to average, use all of the available rounds for the most recent 12 months.
The most recent 25% of rounds are rated double to give more weight to recent rounds.
What this does is give more weight to any improvement in your game from recent scores. In addition to this, rounds that are 100 points lower than your current rating, or 2.5 standard deviations below will be disregarded in the calculation.
So to recap, gather all of your round ratings from the last 12 months. Double the most recent 25% of rounds, and remove outliers that are 100 points lower than your rating.
Finally, take the average of these round ratings to calculate your player rating.
Is a Disc Golf Handicap and a Disc Golf Round Rating the Same?
What is a Good Rating in Disc Golf?
What’s considered a good disc golf rating is relative to the player. Someone just starting might consider a 900 to be a great rating. Whereas a pro would consider that to be a poor rating.
Here are how the ratings are broken down.
| Player Rating | Skill Level |
|---|---|
| Less than 900 | Beginner or Recreational Player |
| 930-969 | Intermediate Player |
| 970-999 | Advanced Player |
| 1000 | Semi-Professional Player |
| 1000+ | Top Professional Player |
What is the Highest Rated Disc Golf Round?
Disc gold round ratings are calculated independently for a particular course, and can even change for the same course under certain conditions.
Typically, the highest-rated disc golf rounds will be over 1000 for any course. Someone shooting over 1000 means that they shot under the course score.
Using the example from the round rating calculation, a person who shoots a 40 on a course score of 50, when the stroke value is 10 would have a rating of 1100 for that round.
What is a 1000 Rated Round in Disc Golf?
A 1000 rated round is comparable to shooting par on a golf course. If a course score of 50 is needed for a 1000 rating, you’d need to score a 50 on that course.
The course score will differ depending on the course and the conditions. The PDGA sets the ratings for a course using their proprietary process that is not shared publicly.
Final Thoughts | Disc Golf Player and Round Rating
Disc golf round ratings and player ratings can be confusing for a beginner player. Because the PDGA sets the ratings using a system that is not public makes it more complicated to understand.
Also, these ratings are only given to courses that are PDGA sanctioned with at least 5 players with ratings over 699.
If you’re ready to start playing in PDGA events, you can use this information while checking the PDGA database to determine your round rating and player rating.
