More on the GD rating system.
GD's ratings are published under the heading of the "Greatest" courses in the world, U.S. or given state. I don't think their system really gives us that.
I think that most of the courses that benefit from the walking penalty are old courses that don't need help with their bottom line either. At the same time, most of the courses that are penalized are new courses that do need help with their bottom line. As the cost of new courses continues to escalate and the sites available for their construction get more and more difficult, carts and their revenue are practically required. That's the modern world.
As I said in my earlier post, in some states the effect is really obvious. In states with a shortage of quality courses you frequently see old courses, long revered for their history, but too short for modern tournament play ranked higher than brand new spectacular resort courses. The no-walking penalty levied against the resort is what creates and perpetuates this. The new resort course is really better but the playing field used for rating isn't level.
I'm not saying that walking shouldn't be allowed, I enjoy it myself, and feel it's the best way to play, but whether I walk or ride- the difficulty and pleasure of the next shot is what determines the quality of the course I'm playing.
While I'm at it, I'll also take a shot at GD's practice of awarding points to courses for their history. Is it fair to give points to an old, short, out of condition course that may have had a major tournament in 1920 when it clearly is no longer a
test of modern equipment? What has shot values in the hickory era got to do with today? Newer courses haven't had an opportunity to host majors and probably never will for a lot of reasons. They shouldn't be penalized for it.
Everyone knows that great holes are copied and updated on most new courses because classic design concepts are invaluable. Since we don't want to go back to hickory shafts we have to evaluate all courses, even with their modern interpretations of classic designs, using modern equipment criteria. We should also realize the fact that carts are a necessity at almost all new courses and stop penalizing them for a fact of modern life.
How about GD publishing all the ratings for each course or publishing a rating without the walking and history penalties. I'll bet a lot of state ratings would change dramatically.