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Jeff Schley

  • Karma: +0/-0
I love this article!  Evan Rothman is my new favorite GM writer! He isn't a member on this site, we gotta get him on here. He had to have some inside help from Ran or others to come up with a poser type golf course rater. Very funny as we have been talking about this ad nauseam this week.
Here is the article below. What are your favorites?  I like most, but my favorites are:
1. You Must Have an Underrated Favorite Course by a Famous Architect …
5. Have a Few Cliff Clavins Handy
6. Know, and Take a Stance on, a Controversial High-Flyer
7. …And Know the Guy Behind the Guy

Remember that old U.S. Navy commercial: “It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure”? Well, being a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Course Rater is kind of like that, minus reveille. Also, it’s not really a job at all. More like an avocation. Anyway, you probably don’t have enough free time or cash flow to jet around the globe playing the world’s great golf courses as a matter of course, reading biographies of C.B. Macdonald to pass the time. Tant pis, so much the worse, as they would say over a post-round cognac at Morfontaine, the Tom Simpson–designed Golden Age gem in France ranked No. 41 on this year’s list.
The next best thing might be for you to become a well-traveled GOLF writer, but I need this gig, so forget that. Plus, who wants to deal with the jet lag and lost clubs? All you really want to do is sound convincing at the 19th hole, lording your architectural wisdom and worldliness over the great unwashed who think a Redan is something you sleep on. You don’t need to speak in a brogue or peer at companions through a monocle, but you do need command of a few facts, concepts and bits of insider knowledge. Here’s how to fake it until that winning Powerball ticket comes through.


1. You Must Have an Underrated Favorite Course by a Famous Architect …
Any bleeping idiot can see the glories of, say, Pacific Dunes or Old Mac at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, and questioning Tom Doak’s artistry, while a ballsy move, will get you banned from design chat rooms faster than professing a love for fivesomes. But to brag on a little-known example of his work, preferably an early course that hints at where his craft will lead — now that’s the stuff. In this vein, mine used to be Doak’s Black Forest at Wilderness Valley, a heaving, rugged 18 in Northern Michigan. It was auctioned off by the IRS last year, so, hey, you have to follow the news, too!
2. …And Have a Contrarian Opinion About One, Too.
Bill Coore is a huge jerk! Okay, terrible example — he’s actually the nicest man in golf, but you get the idea. A course rater sometimes has to go against the flow to show that he’s got a mind of his own.

3. But Know the Sacred Cows
From Bobby Jones to Rory McIlroy, many prominent professional golfers have hated the Old Course at St. Andrews at first sight. It’s flat, it’s boring, it’s quirky, whatever. Eventually, they come around, and you’d better, too, if you know what’s good for you. It’s the “cradle of golf,” and you might as well criticize motherhood while you’re at it.
4. Have a Pair of Comfortable Shoes
“I was riding around Pebble Beach…” No, you were not. You were walking the course, because that’s what a course rater does, damnit! The “walk in the park” test is key to a track’s quality and appeal. A true rater will sometimes even walk a course without clubs, so as not to be distracted or impacted by his or her play. Myself, I’m gamboling about in a luxe pair of Royal Albartross Croco Black kicks, which have the added appeal of sounding like a Top 100 Course themselves.
5. Have a Few Cliff Clavins Handy
Ah, Cliffy, the Cheers character Top 100 raters most resemble and a repository of arcane historical nuggets. Here are two Cliffisms that’ll play well at the clubhouse bar: “Alister MacKenzie first learned about the principles of camouflage during the Boer War, when he served in the British Army as a civilian physician, and later used those principles in his course design.” “Myopia Hunt Club got its name by virtue of the fact that several of its founders came from Massachusetts’ Myopia Club, which itself was founded by four brothers with poor vision — and a very good sense of humor!”

6. Know, and Take a Stance on, a Controversial High-Flyer
Certain courses, while a fixture in the Top 100 rankings, still provoke heated debate as to whether their lofty perches are merited or the result of other, non-design factors, such as exclusivity, championship history or the Illuminati’s secret backing. Prime among these courses: Scotland’s Muirfield, San Francisco’s Olympic Club, and Seminole in Florida. Yea or nay doesn’t matter — just be at the ready with a “hot take.”
7. …And Know the Guy Behind the Guy
Any foodie worth his sea salt can tell you not just the name of the celebrity chef on the marquee but the chef de cuisine who’s sweating bullets in the kitchen. Likewise, a rater knows the “boots on the ground” for the top architects. Here’s a cheat sheet: Brian Slawnik and Brian Schneider (for Tom Doak); Dave Axland (for Coore/Crenshaw); Jim Wagner (for Gil Hanse); Nick Schaan (for David McLay Kidd).
8. Champion a Little- Known Designer
Remember Tony Lazzeri? No? The second baseman was a part of the New York Yankees’ famed “Murderers’ Row” lineup of the late 1920s. If you wanted to impress a baseball fan, you’d talk about Lazzeri, not Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig. And you’d have a neat factoid at the ready (see “Have a Few Cliff Clavins Handy”), e.g., Lazerri still holds the American League record for most RBI in a game with 11. You need your own Lazzeri. Consider Charles “Steamshovel” Banks, a cohort of C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor whose highly regarded original designs include Whippoorwill in New York and New Jersey’s Forsgate. Factoid: Banks was a Yale grad who taught at the esteemed Connecticut prep school Hotchkiss. He met Raynor when the latter was redoing the school’s course, then quit to join Raynor’s firm. School’s out… forever!
 9. Have a Favorite Strain of Grass
And it must be fescue. Case closed.
10. Study the Templates
Biarritz and Narrows, Alps and Cape — the rater knows his template holes like the back of his golf glove. He can recite his five favorite Redan holes at the drop of a bucket hat, with brownie points for a non–Macdonald- Raynor-Banks track. (Name-checking No. 2 at A.W. Tillinghast’s Somerset Hills in New Jersey will earn mega snaps.) Why are template holes so crucial? Because course raters know that even a bad template will have strategic interest, and strategic interest is to cracking the Top 100 as sweet vermouth is to a killer manhattan.
11. Be Worldly Wise
College graduates take the Grand Tour of Europe; golf course raters take the Grand Tour of Scotland and Ireland. Sure, you get some extra credit for including England (now home to 11 courses in the Top 100). Better still to trek the continent proper to play under-visited gems such as The Netherlands’ De Pan (Utrechtche), a 1929 H.S. Colt design debuting at No. 88. And everyone knows an Australia/New Zealand trek is de rigueur for Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Cape Kidnappers, et. al. But true raters aren’t list chasers; they’re adventurers with a thirst for far-flung excursions that take in Africa, Asia and South America, where many of the 400-plus courses under consideration for Top 100 status reside and new candidates always emerge.


12. Keep Up with the Joneses
The Jones architecture dynasty is in its twilight phase; still, a would-be rater has no street cred if he doesn’t know his Robert Trent Jones Sr. from his Jr. from his Rees.
13. Belong to an Architecture Society or Online Forum
You think being a course rater is all jet-setting? Well, maybe … but Ivy League professors with tenure don’t just bumble their way into the gig, do they? Nor do they ever stop their own education. In a similar vein, raters pursue their abiding passions both offline and online — and make new friends (often with nice club memberships) in the process. Check out the Donald Ross Society (rosssociety.org), the Alister Mac- Kenzie Society (alistermackenzie.co.uk), or Google to see if your pet architect has a similar group. Also, for the most interesting golf architecture discussions on the Internet, with the least profanity, visit the granddaddy of such sites, Golf Club Atlas (golfclubatlas.com), cofounded by none other than GOLF’s architecture editor, Ran Morrissett.
14. Be Conversant on the Game’s Hippest New Tracks
Quick! Which of these is not a world-class course built this century?
A. Ohoopee Match Club
 B. Sweetens Cove
 C. Rock Creek Cattle Company
 D. Sheep Ranch
 E. Newman’s Own Salad Dressing
Why the cool new kids on the block no longer have “Golf Club” or “Country Club” at the end of their monikers is a question better suited to the marketing mavens. For wannabe-rater purposes, never mind what’s in a name. You need to know what makes them compelling. Oh, and the answer is E.
15. Have a Personal Ranking of All of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s Courses
You’ve been to Bandon, right? Otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I won’t bore you with my own list — remember, I’m not an official Top 100 Course Rater, I just play one in this article. But I will say that Bandon Trails sits at the summit. At least until Coore/Crenshaw’s Sheep Ranch officially opens this spring. I’ve already booked my ticket. You?
 
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 04:37:41 AM by Jeff Schley »
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

jeffwarne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Priceless.


GOLF Magazine has come a loooong way


Thank you Ran and thank you GOLF for swimming against the sinking tide in mainstream magazine publications.
"Let's slow the damned greens down a bit, not take the character out of them." Tom Doak
"Take their focus off the grass and put it squarely on interesting golf." Don Mahaffey

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Evan is one of the rare golf writers today who is actually a really good writer, and that piece is a great blend of truth and satire.


I'm not sure he needed inside help, though; he pays attention.

Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
#12 must be a typo. Should read: “Keeping up with JC Jones.”  Or: “Keeping up with JC Jones’s rating/ranking threads!”


😁
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 12:03:34 PM by Terry Lavin »
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

David Wuthrich

  • Karma: +0/-0

Bernie Bell

  • Karma: +0/-0
Good stuff.

"Thank you Ran and thank you GOLF for swimming against the sinking tide in mainstream magazine publications."  This reminds me of the old Sprint commercial >

-It’s my little way of sticking it to the man.
-But you are the man.
-I know
-So, you’re sticking it to yourself.

- Maybe
« Last Edit: November 26, 2019, 12:27:38 PM by Bernie Bell »

Evan Fleisher

  • Karma: +0/-0
Love this!!!  8)
Born Rochester, MN. Grew up Miami, FL. Live Cleveland, OH. Handicap 13.2. Have 26 & 23 year old girls and wife of 29 years. I'm a Senior Supply Chain Business Analyst for Vitamix. Diehard walker, but tolerate cart riders! Love to travel, always have my sticks with me. Mollydooker for life!

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Naughty but nice.
Sound be sent to all raters!
:)
atb

Ira Fishman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Naughty but nice.
Sound be sent to all raters!
 :)
atb


Should be read by everyone on Gca.com.


Ira

Peter Pallotta

re Cliff Claven

Norm: You're all dressed up - you have a date tonight?
Carla:  A date? Cliff hasn't had a date in 30 years.
Cliff:   Well, Carla, that's because I have very high standards in women.
Carla:  Yeah - they gotta *like* you.

There's some gca access analogy there, but I'd hate to unpack it and see what I find!

Tim Martin

  • Karma: +0/-0
re Cliff Claven

Norm: You're all dressed up - you have a date tonight?
Carla:  A date? Cliff hasn't had a date in 30 years.
Cliff:   Well, Carla, that's because I have very high standards in women.
Carla:  Yeah - they gotta *like* you.

There's some gca access analogy there, but I'd hate to unpack it and see what I find!


Favorite Cliff Claven reference-


Dr. Frazier Crane-“Hello in there Cliff. Tell me what color is the sky in your world?”

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
re Cliff Claven

Norm: You're all dressed up - you have a date tonight?
Carla:  A date? Cliff hasn't had a date in 30 years.
Cliff:   Well, Carla, that's because I have very high standards in women.
Carla:  Yeah - they gotta *like* you.

There's some gca access analogy there, but I'd hate to unpack it and see what I find!


Favorite Cliff Claven reference-


Dr. Frazier Crane-“Hello in there Cliff. Tell me what color is the sky in your world?”


Can anyone name the World Top 50 course which has a Cliff Claven quote above the halfway house urinal?  ;D
H.P.S.

Jeff Schley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Was talking to a friend who is a rater and he was talking about Forsgate, which is fine and dropped a "Steamshovel" Banks reference. I instantly thought about this article.  ;D


I love Ethan Rothman and wished he would write more often.
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

John Kavanaugh

  • Karma: +0/-0
I can't read that many words but the shape of the piece looks nice.

Peter Flory

  • Karma: +0/-0
#9 is pretty funny. 

John Kavanaugh

  • Karma: +0/-0
How is anyone getting paid when the entire article is copy pasted?

Mike_Trenham

  • Karma: +0/-0
#9 - 30+ year old poa is the best.
Proud member of a Doak 3.

mike_malone

  • Karma: +0/-0
Sounds like I’m a rater but I’m not. That’s entertaining. As Mayday Malone I should have a Cliff Clavin but don’t.
AKA Mayday

James Bennett

  • Karma: +0/-0
#9 - 30+ year old poa is the best.


I have been impressed by poa greens in difficult climates in Los Angeles at Riviera and Lakeside, and in Melbourne at Yarra Yarra.  Good poa greens can be done in mediterranean climates (although Melbourne is bordering on maritime).


James B
Bob; its impossible to explain some of the clutter that gets recalled from the attic between my ears. .  (SL Solow)

Gib_Papazian

Guilty as charged.

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Rank amateurs. Should have included visiting the grave sites of Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald.  Been there. Done that. 


A Recovering Rater.
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

Tim Fitz

  • Karma: +0/-0
re Cliff Claven

Norm: You're all dressed up - you have a date tonight?
Carla:  A date? Cliff hasn't had a date in 30 years.
Cliff:   Well, Carla, that's because I have very high standards in women.
Carla:  Yeah - they gotta *like* you.

There's some gca access analogy there, but I'd hate to unpack it and see what I find!


Favorite Cliff Claven reference-


Dr. Frazier Crane-“Hello in there Cliff. Tell me what color is the sky in your world?”


Can anyone name the World Top 50 course which has a Cliff Claven quote above the halfway house urinal?  ;D


Well you see Norm, that would be Shoreacres.  Great subtle addition to the men’s room. 🍺

Jeff Schley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Rank amateurs. Should have included visiting the grave sites of Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald.  Been there. Done that. 


A Recovering Rater.
Michael that is AWESOME!  Love that one. chuckled. ;D
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Rank amateurs. Should have included visiting the grave sites of Seth Raynor and C.B. Macdonald.  Been there. Done that. 


A Recovering Rater.

Gulp. I visited Braid's grave, last home and childhood home.

A Sacked Rater

Ciao
New plays planned for 2025: Machrihanish Dunes, Dunaverty and Carradale

Dave McCollum

  • Karma: +0/-0
I shouldn't have quit hanging out here.  Seems the treehouse has developed a much needed sense of humor.  I'm too freaking old and too incompetent to run around playing new to me golf courses.  I'm back to to where I started:  with the right folks any course is fun.  I remember a road trip to St. George, Utah where we had a three day match with 3 golf mad tennis pros and just had to stop off for a warm up round in Ely, Nevada to fire up our dormant golf games.  On the fun scale that ranked right up there with playing Royal County Down and Portrush.