Former Senior Director of United States Golf Association Handicap Department Dean Knuth, as the developer of the USGA's Course Rating and Slope Rating System, became known in golf circles as: The "Pope of Slope".

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"Golf Digest Contributing Editor Dean Knuth, is the Tiger Woods of number crunching (he invented the Slope System)" ---Golf Digest, March, 2008, page 64.

The odds of scoring better than your handicap in any given round are one in five, according to Dean Knuth, the former USGA handicapping official who devised the Slope rating system and whose Web site, popeofslope.com , is a fount of fun facts about handicaps. The chances of beating your handicap by three strokes? One round in 20. By eight strokes? One round in 1,138. For most of us, that's once in a lifetime. Wall Street Journal,
"The Genius of Handicapping", November 1, 2008, by John Paul Newport


Headlines

Golf Digest Handicap
Get a Handicap
How to detect a Sandbagger
Every golfer needs to get carded

 

Dean's Analysis of the World Handicap System

In an effort to create a process that every golf association in the world can accept, we have downgraded the handicap system here in the United States. What was a straightforward and precise process has been transformed into one that is more complicated and less precise. American golfers will soon feel its changes. I believe that the introduction of what I ll call par handicaps, is the most significant mistake.

Read More
The flaw in the new World Handicap System

New Articles on the History of Golf

  1. The Career of Golf Course Architect William Watson (1860-1941)
  2. The Early Years of the San Diego Country Club
  3. The History of the Coronado Country Club
Dean Knuth Named "Top Innovator In Player Development By Golf Inc. Magazine"

BONITA, CA (July 6, 2016) Dean Knuth, designer of the popular Knuth Golf High Heat family of metalwoods, was one of nine golf industry executives honored by Golf Inc. magazine as an "Innovator In Player Development".

Knuth was the only golf equipment designer selected on the list, which appeared in the May/June issue of Golf Inc., a long-running golf industry trade publication. Knuth Golf launched its High Heat driver to rave reviews at the 2015 PGA Merchandise Show, then followed this year with the introduction of the High Heat 3-wood and hybrid.

The article highlighted the fact that Knuth, a former USGA Senior Director, designed High Heat with amateurs of all skills levels in mind:

"Pros can swing at speeds as great as 113 mph and hit the center of the face nearly every time. Weekend golfers don't quite have that firepower or accuracy. So the center of gravity is 25 percent deeper and 18 percent lower than most major brands. As a result, High Heat is longer, straighter and more forgiving."

Those claims are backed up in tests by Golf Laboratories, the world’s recognized leading robot testing company, which showed the High Heat High Heat driver to be longer, straighter and more forgiving than the major brands. Sports Illustrated Golf Writer Gary Van Sickle wrote that High Heat was the most significant technological innovation in golf equipment, and a game changer for amateur golfers … with advantages compared to major brands when it was launched at the PGA Merchandise Show in 2015.

The High Heat driver won the prestigious ING Industry Honors award for Product Ingenuity this year, as voted upon the members of the 26-year-old International Network of Golf, a non-profit, media-based networking organization.

Knuth Golf launched its 3-wood and hybrid at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show, with its titanium cup face instead of the traditional steel faces like the major brands. Once again the media and players reviews were extremely positive, with comments like Incredibly easy to hit and hot-faced. Like the High Heat driver, several media named the metalwoods the Best of their breed.

Knuth, who created the Slope Rating System used in USGA handicapping, was pleased with the honor bestowed by Golf Inc. magazine.

“Our goal from the beginning has been to design and produce clubs that assist amateur golfers of all skill levels in their quest to get better and gain more enjoyment from golf, said Knuth. The more fun golf is to play, the more likely we are to attract new players. We are thrilled Golf Inc. magazine has recognized our efforts to do just that.”


  2020 Edition: Dean's Scottish Golf Vacation Guide
Over 250 links
90 pages
How to get tee times
Where to stay
What to see

more...


Magazine Articles

IS IT PLUS OR MINUS?
First-Tee Mulligans
Handicaps of PGA Tour players. HOW TO WIN A TWO-PLAYER TEAM EVENT

QUICK NINE?
Meaning of codes after Handicaps.
Trying to handicap a scramble?
THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU
Handicap Differential

Picking Your Ideal Partner
Net Skins Game
Canada Adopts USGA's Stroke Control
HOW MANY STROKES DO YOU GET IN MATCH PLAY?
FIGURE IT OUT- Course Handicap Formula
GO AHEAD AND PICKUP
Post a Score on Un-played Holes
Two Outstanding Tournaments
Posting Off-Season Scores
BUSTED! One tournament does a great job of chatching sandbaggers

Sports Legend Revealed: Does the course at Ko'olau Golf Club exceed the maximum slope rating?
Sandbagger's Hell at the World Am
Frank Hannigan on the Stimpmeter and Slope
How Tough Is Augusta National?
Average Slope Rating
Beating Your Handicap by Nine Strokes
Competing from Different Tees
Dancing About Architecture
Making a Case for Net Double Bogey
Play From Multiple Tees
Scrambles
Vanity Handicaps
Was Madoff A Cheat at Golf, Too?
What's a Sandbagger?
What does "bonus for excellence" mean?
Why 96 percent?


The real difference
between you & Tiger

Dean invents new High Heat driver

 
Scotland


 
Dean after playing golf with the Blue Angels

 
Suzanne and Dean
2013 Couples Club Champions
San Diego Country Club

Dean and Suzanne with Jerry Tarde at Masters

Dean was the guest speaker at a Naval Postgraduate School Alumni outing

 
Century Club's Military Appreciation Luncheon photos


 
2011 Masters, Suzanne and Dean on TV

 
Masters 2009


 
Dean/Chuck at R&A Autumn Meeting

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