I wrote it, but embarrassed to post it. It is something that seems to come to mind every so often, so why not? I confess to less than full faculties at the moment. Winter, golf depression, a whisky or two. Also, an inclination to avoid philosophical rambling.
I’m not a rater or have ever entertained the thought that I’d be qualified, on any level, to do so. I suppose I’ve done some access whoring to see a few courses, but it’s always something I am more than willing to reciprocate in return. From my lowly perspective, an important part of being involved in the golf biz is that access to colleagues is an important fringe benefit. For most of us, we don’t make a lot of money and any profits we squeeze out of our operations are hard earned. Even more so for our employees. They aren’t getting rich doing what they do. Almost always these folks are doing what they do for a love (addiction) of the game or the lifestyle it affords: working outdoors in a beautiful place, in tune with Mother Nature, providing a field for pleasure, and so on. Given the demands of the job, it’s a fairly sure bet that people working at a golf course play a lot less golf than the golfers they serve. Sometimes these employees can’t even enjoy the golf where they work because the regular customers won’t let them just play golf without citing a laundry list of things the course needs to do to improve or the conditioning. Therefore, the chance to play the game on those rare days off is often most enjoyable by going elsewhere.
I think this is understood on some level by most of us in business. For example, we comp rounds and appreciate it when the favor is returned. OTOH, I have zero problem paying retail rates when that is what the course feels it needs to do to remain viable. Just expect the same treatment when you ask for the same from us. As for raters, I’m not sure this is analogous. I have little direct experience because nobody is clamoring to play our course. There is a sympathetic exchange of values: access for an objective rating, but, as we all know, there is no such thing as an objective rating. Nobody at any course has an objective point-of-view either. There is certainly no obvious brotherhood of poorly paid golf course workers. Could be, but not until it’s established. Yet somehow, I think there is a connection between the avid golfer/rater and the course wishing to be appreciated for the effort to present its product. As much as I abhor course ratings and avoid commenting on threads concerned with such opinions, I concede that it is essential to forming a perspective about what we like. Therefore, rating, or appreciating the infinite variety of golf courses, is a necessary evil in whatever form it occurs. Folks didn’t arrive in the Treehouse by simply loving golf. Golf isn’t enough. There is also their intellectual need to justify the addiction into something else, something beyond playing the game, caring about score or handicap, camaraderie, competition, and, of course, measuring up to whatever initial motivations were there at the beginning of the addiction. It’s a rationalization for an absurd obsession.
Go ahead and call the raters pimps. But, in fact, aren’t we all playing the same game for our own purposes? I say cut them some slack. Each to their own for justifying it in their own way.