Dave - Brad can answer for himself but I would think I am proof of no vote fixing. I have made my opinion of RC public on GCA for several years. If Brad wanted to get it into the top 100, I would have suspected that I would have been one of the first people he would have pressured into changing my rating. He certainly did not and RC made it with my opinion notwithstanding.
Thank you for your testimonial, and thanks to Lou for his as well. I doubt Brad (or anyone) would try to influence you, David, for he must be aware that as a rater you are a paragon of integrity and propriety.
RC is too easily overpowered. I seem to remember that same rater you refer to shooting even or 1-under, driving 2 par 4's (1 with a 3-wood), hitting 3 par fives in 2 and making one eagle and five birdies total - as a 5-handicap. He also rendered most of the strategy irrelevant because every second shot was with a wedge.
Frankly I am at a loss for what to say. You've puffed about your performance at Rustic before, and since your round is the basis for your conclusions about the course, I think we ought to set the record straight. You played very well, made an incredible eagle on No. 9, and made three or maybe four birdies. As for the rest, suffice it to say that your score is off by a deuce or two, and your listed accomplishments are a bit bolder than I recall. Believe it or not I usually find this sort of discussion unseemingly, and I wouldn’t go down this road if I didn’t feel pretty confident in my recollection. Feel free ot set the record straight so we can avoid the gory details.
Even if we take your mistaken recollection at face value, I think I may still be missing your point. You say you were seven under for five holes (an eagle and five birdies) so you’ve got some serious big numbers to make up on the other thirteen. But there isn’t much place for bogeys when you have five (5!) eagle putts, plus a bunch of birdie chances from wedge approaches.. Plus you say you had birdie putts on Nos. 17 (189) and 18, where you did not hit wedge seconds. All this and still failed to finish below Par. It doesn’t seem to me that the course was “easily overpowered.” In fact it hardly seems you “rendered most of the strategy meaningless” at all.
Don’t get me wrong,. Red numbers are there for the picking at Rustic. A huge hitter on his game could conceivably have seven eagle putts. Throw in all the wide fairways and three par threes under 170 yards, and by appearances quality golfers ought to be able to go very low. Yet the course has held its own. One thing I really like about Rustic is that players like you always think they scored much better than they did, even when they played very well.
The next day he shot 12 strokes higher and significantly more challenged at Shady Canyon (Which is a better course and another that all things being equal, I would play 7:3 over RC if they were neighbors).
Well then it must be a much better course if you shot 12 stokes higher ! My problem is that you had already decided that Shady Canyon was a much higher class of course
before you even played there!Don't get me wrong, RC is worthy of being a 150 - 350 course in the country because of how good its green complexes are and given that the LA area may be the worst major metropolitan area in the country for good public golf (Let alone good public golf at less than $100 per round) RC should be commended. I just know that I am screwed with Huckaby because when I go to taunt him of GD's egregious oversight of Kingsley, he is going to reply with RC being in our top 100 and MPCC Shore not being, and I will have no reply.
Let's see, Rustic Canyon is within a few miles of three other newer other public access courses, all of which have been honored by the national magazines. And Neal Meagher and Todd Eckenrode might disagree with you, at least with regard to their courses in the area. As might Curley and Schmidt. But dont let these things stop you, you are on a roll . . . tell me more about LA's public golf.
And dont worry about the Yuckster razzing you. He would never taunt you about RC making the GW list. TomH thinks Rustic Canyon is an outstanding course and is well deserving of the accolades it receives. At least that is what he has told me . . . .
As for RC being top 150 to 300 modern, you may well be correct. I cant say because I havent seen enough of the courses. I leave that to the experts.