All this talk about ratings of late got me interested to look at the differences between the lists and ask some of the raters with knowledge of both Golf Digest and Golf Mag systems how they come to differ so greatly in some respects but remain so similar in others.
I chose some courses and compared them. GD ranking is first, then Golf Mag.
Similar/Same
Pine Valley: 2, 1.
Cypress Point: 4, 2.
Shinnecock: 3, 4.
Pebble Beach: 6, 5.
Merion: 7, 7.
Olympic Lake: 26, 25.
Kittansett: 58, 58.
MPCC Shore: 72, 72.
Some difference
NGLA: 15, 9.
Fishers Isl: 9, 20.
The Country Club: 18, 23.
Bethpage: 29, 22.
Riviera: 31, 19.
Plainfield: 71, 61.
Big difference
Friar's Head: NR, 21.
Maidstone: 86, 37.
Valley Club: NR, 51.
Newport: NR, 70.
Yale: NR, 76.
Myopia: NR, 78.
So why are some placed so similarly by the different groups and yet others are so far apart?