GD Discovers Fun & Character

[Steve Lapper]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/best-new-courses-the-fun-factor?utm_medium=email&utm_source=120620&utm_campaign=golfworld


Mea Culpa & "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery!"


Geez, what took them that long?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Do the 100 august members of Golf Magazine's panel consider the " fun factor?"

[Steve Lapper]

Do the 100 august members of Golf Magazine's panel consider the " fun factor?"

Yes! It's not a quantitative category, but it almost always plays a major role.

[Tom_Doak]

Do the 100 august members of Golf Magazine's panel consider the " fun factor?"

Yes! It's not a quantitative category, but it almost always plays a major role.

Well it's really up to the individual, is it not?

[Edward Glidewell]

Well it's really up to the individual, is it not?

Which is really true of almost everything around ranking golf courses, although I think fun factor is probably even more subjective than most other categories. Just look at a course like Tobacco Road, which some people absolutely love and think is a blast to play and others think is miserable and the furthest thing from fun.

[jeffwarne]

"That’s because one of the new criteria we’ve introduced is called Fun."




"Yeah, in all the years Golf Digest has been ranking golf courses—America’s 100 Greatest started in 1966, America’s Best New Courses started in 1983—we never gave much thought to fun. You could argue that we were too infatuated with the notion of championship golf, but honestly, what kept consideration of fun out of our previous course rankings was our desire to eliminate expressions of emotion in our deliberations."




Just wow...80% don't keep score and 99% don't break 80, and this just occurred to them..
Can't wait till they quantify "fun"..or did they

[Tom_Doak]

Well it's really up to the individual, is it not?

Which is really true of almost everything around ranking golf courses, although I think fun factor is probably even more subjective than most other categories. Just look at a course like Tobacco Road, which some people absolutely love and think is a blast to play and others think is miserable and the furthest thing from fun.

All the categories are entirely subjective, so I don't know how you consider fun "more" subjective.


But my point was that GOLF Magazine does not tell the raters what factors to consider.  We don't have to assign any points for fun if we don't want to.  Ran might, however, have his thumb on the scale in deciding whom to consider as a panelist.

[Edward Glidewell]

All the categories are entirely subjective, so I don't know how you consider fun "more" subjective.


But my point was that GOLF Magazine does not tell the raters what factors to consider.  We don't have to assign any points for fun if we don't want to.  Ran might, however, have his thumb on the scale in deciding whom to consider as a panelist.

I meant with regards to Golf Digest, not GOLF.


And yes, of course they're all entirely subjective. The way I worded that was incorrect -- what I really meant was that I think "fun" likely has a wider variation than any of their other categories, although I suppose it may not be so different from aesthetics or memorability.


It doesn't really matter because the rankings are always going to depend heavily on who is actually creating the data no matter what the criteria is. I think if they put together a panel consisting of 100 scratch/plus golfers and 100 20 handicappers, there would be significant differences.

[Tom_Doak]

 I think if they put together a panel consisting of 100 scratch/plus golfers and 100 20 handicappers, there would be significant differences.

Undoubtedly.  But I think GOLF DIGEST still favors low handicap golfers for its panel, so it's their idea of fun that will prevail.  Thank goodness they are only rating U.S. courses that way . . . I have known many low handicappers who just hated the sort of quirk you find at Lahinch.

[Joel_Stewart]

Mea Culpa & "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery!"


Geez, what took them that long?

You have Jerry Tarde and Ron Whitten unwilling to change.


With Whitten now retiring, maybe they change the methodology for rating courses.

[Jay Mickle]

Undoubtedly.  But I think GOLF DIGEST still favors low handicap golfers for its panel, so it's their idea of fun that will prevail.  Thank goodness they are only rating U.S. courses that way . . . I have known many low handicappers who just hated the sort of quirk you find at Lahinch.

Seems to me that low handicappers are more likely correlate fun with how well they score and quirk is considered in some ways unfair. To me as a 15 handicapper who rarely keeps score, quirk and contour that require some thought, creativity and out of the box shots are the most fun.

[Jonathan Cummings]

Another GD rating category....geez

[Tom_Doak]

Another GD rating category....geez

Dude you should be taking the line that your book changed their minds 

[John Kavanaugh]

Low handicappers equate fun with how much they won. One better architecture is hard to beat.

[Bruce Katona]

Fun factor is high on BK's list.  Character is nice, difficulty fine when the game is in mid-season shape but FUN is certainly #1.

[Jonathan Cummings]

Another GD rating category....geez

Dude you should be taking the line that your book changed their minds 

Tom my boy, let me just say that I don't think I'm on Whitten's Xmas list.

[Steve Lang]

   Suppose this fun business is all a variant on the 50 shades of adrenaline/dopamine release   

[John Kavanaugh]

Whitten is on the most important list of all. Last man standing.

[Jonathan Cummings]

Whitten is on the most important list of all. Last man standing.

You lost me John.  Please expand.

[Tom_Doak]

Whitten is on the most important list of all. Last man standing.

He is retiring effective December 31.

[V_Halyard]

Do the 100 august members of Golf Magazine's panel consider the " fun factor?"

Hell yes. 2 - 4 hours is way too f'ing long to enjoy something that sucks.