Disc golf player ratings now on UDisc
Your UDisc round ratings now roll up to not one, but two overall player ratings to track your growth on the course!
UDisc player ratings measure your ability at your peak potential, so you don't need to worry about a single round undoing all of your progress. Instead, they show what you can be when you're playing at your best.
Player ratings are based on the same 1-300+ scale as round ratings and come in two forms:
- Everyday rating: Calculated by averaging ratings from the 8 best rounds out of your last 20, including casual rounds and those played in an organized UDisc league or event. You can unlock your Everyday rating once you play 3 rated rounds and are a UDisc Pro subscriber.
- Competition rating: Also calculated from the best 8 of your last 20 rounds, but only from rounds played during organized UDisc leagues or events. These ratings are available to all players on the app, regardless of subscription status.
If have not played 20 rated rounds, both ratings will be determined using the top 40% of available round ratings in either category. Additionally, qualifying rounds must have "Include in my stats history" toggled on, and teams rounds are not included.
Here's what you need to know about UDisc round ratings:
- UDisc round ratings are powered by AI, using a regression model that has been trained on millions of rounds scored with the app.
- Round ratings are based on holes and courses, not a field of tournament players.
- The scale is 1-300+, providing benchmarks for everyone from beginners to pros.
- Round ratings are available on version 18.0 of the app and are a UDisc Pro benefit.
Round ratings are now available on UDisc!
Have you ever wanted a more concrete way to track your progress or compare your performance across different courses? You can do just that with UDisc round ratings. Powered by millions of players' scores, years of data-driven research, and artificial intelligence, round ratings feature a new, easy-to-understand numeric scale that will make analyzing your game a breeze and give you something more to aim for every time you hit the course.
Round ratings are available starting with version 18.0 of the app and are one of the benefits of a UDisc Pro subscription. We’re excited for you to be part of the journey as we release our initial model and continue to refine it – let's dive in to see how everything works.
Jump to...
- What is a UDisc round rating?
- What is the scale for UDisc round ratings?
- Example comparing two rounds using UDisc round ratings
- How are UDisc round ratings calculated?
- Why isn't every stroke worth the same in UDisc's round ratings system?
- Why didn't UDisc use the PDGA ratings scale?
- Will I get round ratings for my old scorecards?
- Will I get ratings for doubles rounds?
- How does the UDisc round ratings system control for players who keep score while using practice shots, mulligans, etc.?
What is a UDisc round rating?
A UDisc round rating is a metric that provides an easy, precise way for disc golfers to compare round performances at different courses or on different layouts on the same course.
For example, is a 7-under on your local course's short tees better, worse, or roughly the same as a 1-under on the longs? UDisc round ratings give you a way to compare those rounds apples to apples.
UDisc Pro subscribers will be able to see their round ratings upon completion of each scorecard. Your ratings will also live on the "Rounds" tab in the app for easy reference.
What is the scale for UDisc round ratings?
UDisc round ratings work on a general scale of 1-300+. This provides milestones for players at every level of their disc golf journey.
- 1-100: Achieving a rating of 100 will be something for a beginner or early intermediate player to celebrate – it won't be easy, but it won't be unattainable.
- 101-200: More experienced disc golfers will want to consistently break triple digits and aim for 200.
- 201-300+: Elite performances will trend from the 250s to 300, with ratings over 300 representing the kinds of performances legends are made of.
Yes, a round can be rated higher than 300, but it will be exceedingly rare. We anticipate that fewer than 1% of all performances will reach that upper echelon.
Example of comparing two rounds using UDisc round ratings
Let's imagine you're an intermediate player and a work trip takes you to Massachusetts, where you throw a +5 on Maple Hill's Red layout. On a dream vacation to Norway later in the year, you toss a +5 on Krokhol Disc Golf Course's Blue layout. The scores are the same, but how do they compare to each other overall? And are they impressive for your general skill level?
- Maple Hill Red round rating: 161
- Krokhol Blue round rating: 195
We know that all scores aren't created equal – round ratings can tell the story more clearly. And these ratings show that your +5 at Krokhol was quite a bit better round than your +5 at Maple Hill.
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Fun fact: Of the more than 200,000 disc golfers who created new UDisc accounts this summer, over 80% of those who shared their experience level identified themselves as beginner or intermediate players. So while this system is built for everyone, it is especially helpful in providing context for new disc golfers to more accurately measure how rapidly they improve.
How are UDisc round ratings calculated?
The simple answer
Using millions of rounds recorded with the app, UDisc's data science team built an AI-powered regression algorithm that compares your round to that of a statistically "standard player." The more impressive your round is on a course/layout compared to that of the “standard player,” the higher your rating.
The full answer
The AI-powered algorithm that powers UDisc round ratings wasn't just the result of punching some numbers into ChatGPT; instead, it's a sophisticated neural network model that determines the distribution of scores that the “standard player” would likely record on each hole. These distributions are then combined to create a scoring distribution on the full layout.
Your round rating is determined by how your round score compares to this scoring distribution.
Other important things to know are…
- Though you'll always know what your score is in relation to par on a course or hole, UDisc's model doesn't actually consider "par" on a hole when calculating ratings.
- Weather conditions, since they can be highly localized (especially wind), are not factored into the model. Learn more
- Ratings are generated outside the controlled confines of a tournament so they can be available to players anytime.
In most instances, a round will earn a rating if it meets the following criteria:
- It is played on a Smart Layout that has a difficulty classification badge
- Six or more holes have been scored
- You are a UDisc Pro subscriber
There are some outlier scenarios that can result in no round rating being generated. For more on those details, please see our FAQ.
Why isn't every stroke worth the same in UDisc’s round ratings system?
Simple answer
Making the jump from a +22 to a +21 round, for example, typically requires less fine-tuning than going from -14 to -15 on the same course. To reflect the fact that the better you become, the harder you have to work to improve, UDisc ratings give more weight to strokes as scores go lower.
Full answer
In UDisc’s round ratings system, the better you play, the more points a one-stroke improvement is worth. Here is an example from Maple Hill’s Red layout:
|
Round |
Score |
Rating |
Difference |
|
1 |
+24 |
86 |
|
|
2 |
+23 |
89 |
+3 |
|
1 |
-13 |
266 |
|
|
2 |
-14 |
273 |
+7 |
A player who improves from +24 to +23 will earn 3 points for that stroke. At the other end of the spectrum, a player who moves from -13 to -14 earns 7 points.
While the notion that each stroke is not equally rewarded might seem strange at first, it’s actually an intended outcome of one of the qualities UDisc’s ratings system optimized for: that a 10 (or 20, or 30) point ratings gain should represent a similar amount of improvement, no matter where it lies on the overall scale.
To get at this concept, we aimed to equalize the variance in round ratings for players whose average round ratings lie at various positions on the overall scale. This means, for example, that a newer player whose typical scoring spread at Maple Hill’s Red layout is +21±6 and a more advanced player whose typical scoring spread is -6±3 would both see a ratings spread of around 40 points (the newer player would be centered at 95, while the advanced player would be centered at 222).
After all, every additional throw in a round means another opportunity for improvement.
While a newer player may not earn as many points for each stroke they shave off their scores, they tend to shave off more strokes at a higher rate earlier in their careers; if you’ve been playing awhile, you might be able to recall how quickly you were able to jump from +20 to +10 to +5, and so on.
On the other hand, an experienced player who squeezes an extra stroke out of the course – and elevates their performance from amazing to incredible – will receive more points for their efforts. Again, if you’ve been playing disc golf for some time you will know how much harder it is to level up once you’ve fine-tuned all of your skills.
We think our system provides the best of both worlds: New players will still gain confidence in their play and see quick ratings gains, while high-level disc golfers will be rewarded in a way that ratings systems that award a fixed amount of points per stroke cannot offer.
There are several other factors that influence points per stroke, such as the number of holes (layouts with fewer holes will yield more points per stroke) and scoring trends on the layout (layouts with tighter scoring distributions will yield more points per stroke). This means that there is not a hard and fast rule about what score will award what points. Still, the general concept of better scores earning more points per stroke will remain the same regardless of where you play.
Why didn't UDisc use the PDGA ratings scale?
UDisc set out to craft a ratings system that was available to players anytime they played, not just during tournaments. It would have to be based on courses – more specifically, hole scoring during all kinds of rounds – and would cater to a wide array of disc golfers.
This was necessary because a majority of rounds scored on UDisc – 95% – come outside of the tournament or league setting. Additionally, many disc golfers do not participate in formal competition.
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1.3 million disc golfers used UDisc in 2022 while the PDGA's active membership was just over 130,000.
Our goal, then, was to build a round ratings system that would be more easily accessible to all disc golfers, not just those who are active on the tournament scene. We opted to not use the PDGA's notable "1000-rated" scale, or to map a translation to it, not only to avoid confusion – the systems are vastly different, so it is not fair to compare the two – but also to provide newer players easily understandable benchmarks for progress.
That doesn’t mean we don’t value tournament players and competition – after all, we have entire platforms dedicated to league and event scoring. It just means that, with a large audience and less control over the daily scoring environment, we had a unique problem to solve for. We found that the 1-300+ scale and a sliding scale of points per stroke were the solutions that would better help us achieve our goal of being useful for casual and competitive players alike.
Will I get round ratings for my old scorecards?
Round ratings will only be produced for scorecards starting with version 18.0 of the app (released on October 15, 2023) and later. There are no plans to retroactively populate historical round ratings. However, beta testers did receive a month's worth of backdated ratings for validation purposes.
Will I get ratings for doubles rounds?
Yes! Team up and enjoy. You and your doubles partner’s round rating will be the same as an individual player’s rating who shot the same score on that layout.
How does the UDisc round ratings system control for players who keep score while using practice shots, mulligans, etc.?
Like with any casual round on UDisc, you can choose your own adventure and take the ratings system as loosely or seriously as you like. If you use mulligans or mark your score from the better of two practice shots, for example, that’s cool – just be sure to consider that when you’re looking at your ratings.
Want to compare to your friends? That works, too: You’ll be able to see round ratings for other players on your scorecard, and you’ll know if they are on the same page as you with regard to how they keep score. If you try to judge your round rating against one that someone shares on social media, though, the comparison might not be as valid, so keep that in mind.
The TL;DR is this: If you compare two round ratings, you’re getting a comparison of player A’s performance given their playing and scoring practices to player B’s performance given their playing and scoring practices.
"Verified" ratings based on controlled event environments, like leagues and tournaments, may come in a future update.
Be part of the process
Like we said at the top, we want you to be part of the ratings journey – it’s all about building community and making UDisc better.
With more than 100,000 disc golf holes around the world, we know that ratings are going to be an iterative process and we want to make sure we do everything we can to get it right. Do you see some ratings that seem off for a course or layout? Fill out our survey and we’ll be sure to look into it.
Want to dive deeper? Check out our round ratings FAQ to get into the nitty gritty. Otherwise, play and enjoy!
