...you become a rater?

You hear all the talk about how professional golfers lives change after they win a tournament, or really change after they win a major.  But how about the day you get the call to become a rater?  

How did anyone become a rater before places like GCA let you show off your architectural knowledge?  Was it strictly word of mouth, or were there other gathering places?  Do you essentially stay a rater for life, or do they evaluate your ability to rate and bring in new blood from time to time?  

At what point do you move from the philosophy of "it'll probably never happen, but someday it would be neat to play that course, if I knew anybody, or a friend knew somebody", to the rater mentality of "I'm looking forward to playing there....soon" (even before the course has any members).  

And are there levels of raters?  After you do it a while, can you achieve Uber-Rater status, where you can basically play anywhere (including Augusta, Seminole, CPC, etc.) or are some places still just on a know-the-member-directly basis?  

I'm curious how the system works.  I don't care if anyone plays for free or any of that junk, but I'm curious how it plays out as part of the marketing aspects of a golf course / golf club.  Does it only seem to benefit the highest-end clubs (ie. Top 20, 100, etc.), or do the little guys ever get a bump from rater-word-of-mouth?  Any good examples of this?    

I don't get this bashing.Hopefully it is a joke I'm missing.Otherwise that's a pretty general criticism against a group of people.

Mike,
Good point. I have erased my spew.

My impression of Brian's thread was that he was sincere in wanting information about rating.  I must confess that I too am curious.  I am not interested in who pays/plays what etc.  Just general info on how the system works.

Ciao

Sean

My impression of Brian's thread was that he was sincere in wanting information about rating.  I must confess that I too am curious.  I am not interested in who pays/plays what etc.  Just general info on how the system works.

Ciao

Sean

I´m curious too.  Who appoints the raters?  What kind of resume do you need?  How many courses does a rater rate each year, and who decides which ones?

Brian:

As is so often the case, redanman is 100% right on, and very astute at that.  It surely does depend on the individual - where he comes from, how he treated things before becoming a rater, how he comports himself, etc.

In the end, it's one of the more "over-rated" jobs one can have, pun intended.  Those who don't do it are the ones who see it as a magic card or whatever.

Now Andy brings up a GREAT question.  The far more honorable part of this is doing the legwork to determine course rating and slope.  Yes, that is done under the auspices of the local golf association, under rules promulgated by the USGA.  It is actually a good bit of work, at least 90% objective with very little personal judgment involved, and one does go to all variety of courses, not just the good ones (if he has a conscience, anyway).

Hmmmm... sounds like the other type of rating in that respect.

 

TH

ps, yes, I do both.  There are a couple others who do so as well.  John VanderBorght would be the "uber-rater" when it comes to this form...

That guy in Florida must do it full-time for several associations or has been doing it a LONG time.. Here in NorCal, we'll have only maybe 75 total courses rated each season (April-October)....

And most of us do 10 or so per season - some do more - the retired guys.    So it's not like it's a LOT of work.. and hell in the end it is golf - yes we do get to play the courses either before or after the rating... so don't get me wrong, I was just playing the violin a little as compared to the magazine rating.

 

But yes, it is a very good way to see a course... or at least the holes you do the rating for (generally you break into three or four-man teams and concentrate on 4-5 holes).  You do look at things quite in-depth.

In the end it is a lot of fun, I think.

TH

Bob,

Are you implying that Huckaby is often assigned Hole #1, which he views from the tee-box, and then focuses the rest of his time on Hole #19?  

Bob,

Are you implying that Huckaby is often assigned Hole #1, which he views from the tee-box, and then focuses the rest of his time on Hole #19?  

At some places that is tempting.  And some of the captains do expect that out of me.  But I have yet to follow through on it....

 

No problem, Andy.

We have a few in NCGA who do darn near every rating each year... I wouldn't be surprised at all if a few of these guys aren't well over 500 in their total.  It is a nice way to spend a day.