Ok, I know this thread has gone on for a while now, and honestly I have read almost all the opinions. I work in the business as an Assistant Pro at Stone Eagle, we try to offer the best service we can whomever comes in the golf shop. If you are a guest of a member, we are going to treat you as if you are a member. If you are an unaccompanied guest who is labeled as a rater on the tee sheet you will still be treated as a top tier guest, but DO NOT act as if you belong at the club. Many raters literally pull up to valet and act as if they are a member when they come in the golf shop, (one incident was a rater came with his buddy, which I will talk about later, and they came into the shop to check in, a member just pulled in with a foursome, I kindly asked the rater if they wouldn't mind hitting balls for a while and let the foursome go out before them. The rater replied with a remark saying but we are only a twosome. I don't care who you are, unless you are paying the THOUSANDS of dollars the member is paying to belong to the club, you are always treated second. IMO you are privileged in the job you have to be able to go around to high end private clubs and play the course most of the time comped. Be respectful in the process, and realize that you are receiving a special treat that day.
Now from what I have read so far Gib and Jim Franklin sound like very honorable raters that we would love to have. BUT, like Greg Tallman has stated before you are two of HUNDREDS of raters. And to be frank, most of them are drop the rater name status whenever they can to get a free round. Trust me when you receive over 20 calls from different raters in one week, it gets old.
Now my only other concern is when the raters call up wanting to come and play, and then, "oh yeah, and also I have three guys with me too." IMHO, they do not need to come. I know you guys want someone to play with, but they do not deserve to play a private club just because they are friends with a rater. When I go play other private clubs I ALWAYS go by myself because I never want to impose them with other unwanted guests, the way I look at it, I am fortunate enough just for them letting me out. So, I always look at a rater wanting to come out with his buddies as just a joke, looking for a fun round of golf. Like GIB said, you are out there to do a job and study the course, not to mess around with your buddies playing a money game.