JC Jones,
What is your deal? The only arrangement that any golf course or club has with Golf Digest, and I presume other publications, is they allow panelists to play the course. Many of the clubs charge their standard guest fee to do so. The panelists then file their score, and at the end of the process, whether it's for Best New or Best in State or 100 Greatest, our statistician tabulates the numbers and gives us back the results. That's it. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?
"The only arrangement"? So, what do you call the 48 person non-arrangement at Cabot Citrus Farms in March where you are speaking to panelists? Did Golf Digest book all of the tee times on the website without "arranging" anything with the resort? Why continue to pretend these things don't exist?
I understand Golf Digest's methodology, entirely. I am well aware of the system and process that your "statistician," the Pope of the Slope, has implemented over the last 10+ years. The pivot in ~2013 created a system that perpetuates groupthink vis a vis the Scorecard; the ballooning of the panel to 2000 people to generate $2mm in "entry fees" and $600k+ per year in revenue has turned the rankings into a joke; and, the "awards" are easily gamed by clubs knowing they only need to find 15 panelists out of 2000 who are enamored with exclusive access, free rounds and other perks, to win "Best New". Moreover, the flood of these panelists who have no idea what they are doing, other than paying their way into an annual "free golf" punchcard, has caused most of these clubs to just shut down access all together because they dont want to participate in the Golf Digest charade.
The Golf Digest rankings are broken. Which is sad for me, because I always viewed them as the gold standard for US100, Best Public and Best in State rankings.