Last Call?!?
But I just got here!!!...
To drag up an old cliche..."Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Otherwise we would all marry clones of Elle MacPherson/Claudia Schiffer/Charlize Theron. (Hmmm, Maybe this is not a bad idea..."THIS...COULD...WORK!!! - Dr FRAUNCKenstein in "Young Frankenstein"). In the movie "Demolition Man", Sandra Bullock informs Sylvester Stallone that "In 2012, it was decided that Taco Bell was the best restaurant. Therefore, all restaurants are now Taco Bell's." What a sad state of the world if golf courses had uniform dimensions and surfaces such basketball or Catherine Zeta-Jones was left wanting for attention...
Given the unique nature of the playing surface, the ranking of golf courses, IMHO, is a natural human response. The rating process plays into "What was the most fun, best restaurant, vacation, job, teacher," etc. that you ever had? Obviously, there are a variety of subjective viewpoints on "The Best" based upon the posts above. Current raters determine best golf courses based upon the 10 point scale by judging a variety of factors: Toughness, Length, Hazards, etc. Fun has not been as highly regarded as these other factors for reasons that I will approach from my personal viewpoint below.
Here's my case for the status quo of keeping the current ratings system:
Golf, and all of the inner psychotic in us, has always been a challenge against one's self, as well as against the everchanging elements on the course. Part of the challenge against one's self is the expectation of hitting a great to perfect shot each time, and the failure to do as often as one would like to. Dealing with that disapointment, or exceeding one's abilities often reveals one's character due to the shot's result. Frequently, the mental game clouds the approach to the next shot. The architect has created a maze, a puzzle, and challenge to elicit those emotional responses. Playing within one's abilities can also separate the low score from the trainwreck hole. My principal ability is to hit drives over 300 yards. Therefore, "I didn't fly 3,000 miles to lay up on every hole from the Whites!!!"
Difficulty should be the paramount factor in dictating a challenge and ranking courses. To paraphrase Shivas, "What fun is it to beat up a weakling? At least if I get the crap kicked out of me by a tough course, I can still enjoy the challenge of myself against the course, and the opportunity to beat my opponent(s)." To back up my statement, I revert to the economic scale of supply and demand. Pine Valley will never be lacking for tee times. Easier courses in the area are being evaluated for potential home sites (Blue Heron Pines?). To further emphasize the point, PVGC has broken with their tradition of a single set of tee-markers per day, and gone to three sets of tees. I hope to be able to tackle the "Crump Tees" from the tips one day. People looking for fun can play any set of tees that they would like, and we can even play a match at handicap from our respective handicap tables for those tees.
In today's equalitarian society where even Stanford University rounds up grades to make their undergraduates more attractive for advanced degree opportunities, the "Six year old birthday party mentality" prevails where "Everyone gets a present because they as soooo special." Screw that!!! There is no net division in the United States Open or The Open Championship.
Our handicap mentality plays into this mix. In order to "Sell" tournaments to their membership, some club events have migrated towards one Gross/three Net prizes to encourage particpation from the membership. I say, if you want to get a prize, work hard and improve your game. I still play in these types of events because I enjoy playing with people outside of my "Par or Death" weekend morning foursomes. But hasn't the Handicap allowance to compensate for weaker players to play against the strong "Dumbed Down" the game to the point of winning net prizes for beating one's handicap replaced the goal of shooting the lowest score?
To those who want to rate courses from the member's/white tees, be my guest. NGLA will probably be a top 3 course again on this scale. I love NGLA from as far back as possible. (We've already hashed over the modern ball/equipment issue). I would still drive the 2 1/2 hours to play N.G.L.A. from the forward tees, but it wouldn't be the same challenge. The "Fun" rating will probably reward the "Playing within one's ability" more than other factors (Brains over brawn?).
Achievement is very satisfying and also used as a measure of success. Let's not kid each other that shooting a 75 with an 8 handicap from 6,400 yards on a 70.4/128 is an achievement worthy of an 80 from the tips at Pine Valley or Pacific Dunes.
Feel free to tee off on me...
JWK