Tom Doak,
Since I posted the actual rules, I hope you would address those, rather than Tony's twisted view on them. There are no codes agains self laudatory remarks, as per points 4-8 below, just nothing fraudulent, or false, etc.:
IV. Members shall not engage in any practices that involve dishonesty, fraud, deceit, bribery or misrepresentation in securing or executing their work.
V. Members shall not promote themselves or their services with false, exaggerated or misleading information and publicity.
VI. Members shall report truthfully and clearly to their prospective client or employer their qualifications and capabilities to perform services.
VII. Members shall make full disclosure to their client or employer any financial or other interest they may have in any part of their project. Members shall avoid, abandon or remove such interests if they compromise their actions or prevent them from serving the best interest of their client or employer.
VIII. Members shall recognize and respect the work of other golf course architects and shall not knowingly make statements or offer opinions and comments that are false or attempt to injure or disparage their practice, projects or any of their work.
As you can see from point 8, the rule apparently applies to all gca's, not just members. It also gives some wiggle room, saying "knowingly make false statments" which implies you can talk about other gca's but you can't lie about them, at least the way I read it.
Tony, I think Ian has summed it up with brevity.
And, I will add that you are pretty arrogant to believe that an investor, smart enough to have made the millions necessary to build a golf course, isn't smart enough to know which gca is best for him, unless of course, you tell him.
Since you are the ones making the accusations that ASGCA harms the investor, why don't you offer some proof to start? The facts are that investors in the US and elsewhere HAVE found young, relatively unknown at the time gca's like Kidd, Doak, etc. for high profile projects. And not a peep from ASGCA, except of course, from individual gca's who happened to be both members and chasing those glorius, once in a lifetime commissions aggressively, as you like to say.
For all your rants, you really haven't convinced me that investors have been hurt, and you haven't really tried, other than to have us accept both your ideas on that, and your twisting of the ASGCA code
But keep trying....as I enjoy the good natured banter.