Mike N,
Yes. And, I have walked it while watching some high level competitors play it to get a sense of that, too.
Kelly Blake Moran,
I have a few problems with your post, mostly summed up nicely by Tim Nugent. While you label that conversation as hypothetical, I fear many won't remember that part, since that is what so often happens, so that is pretty damaging to post with my name on it. If hypothethical, why not use a made up name? That is just really, really, low, IMHO.
For the record, I have never called anyone on the DMN panel to get them to go vote on any course. Nor have I promised any client or potential client any sort of influence on the panel.
As I explained in a previous post, I declined for years, and after getting on the panel, continue to vote my courses reasonably, or even lower to be sure I am fair regarding my own work. The thing that convinced me to join was that there is really no one on that panel without some bias, because all are members of clubs, employees of clubs, etc. Who doesn't have some kind of conflict of interest?
I guess its MUCH MUCH better to have a panel made up of nothing but access whores, eh? Frankly, I have seen those guys vote way down or way up based on how they were treated at a club, so I doubt they give a totally unbiased ranking either. So every ranking system has its inherent weaknesses, period. But, no one gets hurt in it either, whether some future course in Laredo, TX makes the DMN list.
BTW, while you can leave my name out of it, there IS often some lively discussion about just how much if at all a gca or golf course should promote itself for best new in the national mags. Insiders usually accuse the well to do of flying people around to see their courses, etc. Some gca's never mention their projects to known panelists. Most are somewhere in between.
Is asking a rater to go see a course unethical? Paying for lunch? Paying for the round? Flying them there on your private plane? Some level of promotion is certainly ethical. I can't imagine a Presidential election without some campaigning, for instance, but taking certain kinds of money and contributions is considered wrong.
You get the idea. The DMN panel is so far down the list of priorities that I have to wonder how stringent the ethical standards you imply should be in force really need to be.
OH well, just some more pre coffee rants.