They Give Something Back To Game

Their work appears in tiny type somewhere on the golf scorecard.

Many of you probably overlook it entirely.

But those numbers that show up under “ratings” and “slope” come from somewhere.

They come from guys like Marty Kofmehl, Jim Kearney and a handful of other locals who volunteer their time to measure and evaluate the courses.

For handicap purposes, those numbers give a relative rating of course difficulty.

And since something so subjective is impossible to measure, it’s up to someone to consistently apply a standard set of criteria.

“We have a book that has about 10 items that we rate on,” said Kearney, who has been rating courses in the region for the past 10 years. “Ratings are pretty much done by yardage, and the slope has to do with how the course plays, the size of the greens, width of the fairways, how many trees, how many bunkers, uphill, downhill, etc.”

Generally, the raters take on a course in groups of four, measuring length, width of fairways, width of landing areas, and speed of the greens. They also consider the nearness of hazards, trees and out-of-bounds markers.

After that, Kearney explained, they each rate the hole independently and then haggle over their feelings until a consensus is reached.

“It takes about four or five hours to rate a course,” Kearney said.

Surprisingly, they do all this while the course is in play. “That hasn’t been much of a problem, but we did have one guy get hit in the hand (by a ball) and get hurt once,” Kearney said.

None of the raters gets paid for his efforts. And up until a few years ago, they didn’t even get reimbursed for mileage or travel expenses.

Now, the Pacific Northwest Golf Association picks up the expenses and mileage.

“It used to be all out-of-pocket,” Kofmehl said. “But we felt like we were giving something back to the game that has given us many years of pleasure.”

As an example of their work, some of the higher-rated public courses in the area include MeadowWood (73.1 rating, 132 slope), Hangman (71.9, 126) and Indian Canyon (70.7, 126).

Those are from the men’s blue tees, but courses are rated and sloped from all men’s and women’s tees.

Generally, courses are re-evaluated on a 10-year cycle, unless significant changes are made in the layout, Kearney said. And the group that works the Spokane area is also responsible for courses from the Columbia River all the way over to the Montana border, and from the Canadian border down to Grangeville, Idaho.

And the work, well, Kearney said it’s really a great deal of fun.

“All the guys who do this are retired and play a lot of golf,” Kearney said. “I carry a 12 (handicap), Bud (Ashworth) is a 10, Marty is about a 15 or 16 and Joe Trembly is a 5, I think.”

Kofmehl said he actually carries a 21 handicap, but “when you’re pushing 74 and still swinging, there’s always hope.”

“The thing about it is,” Kearney said, “we all really love the game.”

Golf bits

The Miss Spokane scholarship program benefits from its fifth annual golf scramble Aug. 20 at Esmeralda.

The $35 entry fee includes green fees, barbecue and door prizes.

Entry is limited to 120 players. Call Lee Schuster at 535-8627 for further information.

Here’s a pat on the back for longevity. It was brought to our attention that there have been 25 Wandermere Amateur tournaments and Jack Hansen, Jack Luher and Lou Ward have played in every one of them.

, DataTimes