The point of rating a course is not to put one's own taste on a pedestal and thus elevate it above what most of the golfing public says. After all, those are the folks, who are supposed to make use of a ranking when deciding which course to visit.
I agree and disagree with the above. And the difference comes in understanding what ranking/rating you are looking at.
For entities like Golf Digest and Golfweek, raters are NOT to put their taste on a pedestal. Rather they are to rate according to a pre-defined set of criteria. In fact, the Golf Digest process and criteria is much more strict and mathematical.
However, something like the Confidential Guide with its rating process is one person's taste on a pedestal. For those ratings to be of any value to you, you need to have similar taste in golf courses as Mr. Doak does.
As I've said for awhile, for anyone to get the most out of all these rankings and lists, they need to understand how they are derived AND at the same time understand their own taste in golf courses.
Mac:
I disagree with pretty much all of what you wrote there, but I'll stick to the part about my book.
The Confidential Guide does two things: it assigns a rating to each course, and it offers a short review. The review offers some information about the course to help you determine if you would like it. You don't have to have similar taste to mine in order for that to be of significance. A sample:
Mulranny GC, Co. Mayo. Golf from 1896.
The antithesis of Carne, I stumbled upon Mulranny en route to Connemara from the north, when I spied a remote patch of linksland and said to my traveling companion, “that is the kind of land people should play golf on.” Around the next turn, there was a sign for golf, and lo and behold, Mulranny Golf Club has occupied this patch of turf from 1896. Mowed mostly by sheep, except for the greens protected by wire fence, this was the tightest turf I’ve seen in Ireland, and with the wind blowing, quite a demanding nine holes, even though you can hit it anywhere and still play on. If you need a change of pace, this is the place. Some of the land at the fringes of the course begs to be used for golf, but it’s hard to see how such a location could sustain more holes. 5 - - - [2013]
Obviously, you can tell I liked it very much, but I didn't give it an 8 or a 10 just because I liked it. Clearly, if you don't like sheep or want something dramatic, this review tells you that you might not want to make the trip, but if you want a change of pace or to see an unspoiled little place, you might love it.
In my opinion, that's a lot more valuable than a ranking, and also allows for much more variety of tastes. But, of course, I'm biased
