How Would You Rate A Course...

     Nice topic..  I and friends have discussed many times what is important to a course rating..  So many of my friends are into aesthetics and view.. For them that is the number 1 voting category, "how does the course look".. I on the other hand to do rate a course based on what it looks like from the camera view.. I'm a semi pro photographer and know all about pictures and beauty, but eye candy courses are lower on my grade scale.. If I was a golf course critic, this is how my ratings would go:

• Conditions of the course (35%)
• Conditions of the clubhouse (30%)
• Layout of the course (20%)

• Amenities & Aesthetics (15%)
   

Conditions would naturally be well kept greens, minimal weeds in fairways, manageable rough, trimmed bunkers with ample sand or water..  I look for a clubhouse to have some sort of refreshment area with seating, pro-shop, clean bathrooms and maybe a bulletin board area for announcements.. When looking at layout, I'm looking at playability.. Are the holes penal? target golf? Do they allow multiple types of play and does it offer a variety of holes such as doglegs left and right, slopes and whatnots.. The last section of amenities is where I place beauty of a course along with perks like gps carts, refreshment cart, bag drop-off.. etc etc..

Nice topic, thanks.

Keeping just to the course itself, what I like is:

1. Well kept greens and fairways.
2. Challenging holes based on risk/reward opportunities and not just length (i.e. a 230 par 3).
3. Some areas for errant shots where the ball can be found quickly or definitely determined to be lost (eliminate long times for ball searching).
4. Example of the above would be wooded areas between holes where the ground is cleared of brush and leaves.  You still have to punch out, but don't need 5 minutes to find your ball.
5. Nice tee markers that show the hole layout in distances (granite ones are my favorite).
6. Tee boxes with nice turf.
7. Consistent sand in all the traps.
8. Greens with optical illusions that trick your eyes on the break.
9. Hole layouts that don't just favor a draw or fade, but require both.
10. No holes that give you a penalty for a good shot.  (i.e. you hit the middle of the fairway with your drive but the ball rolls off the course into the woods due to the side slope and no rough).

Club house should be clean and staff friendly and polite.

Four criteria, equally weighted:

1. Course layout.  Are the holes fun/challenging, require varied shot selection, good use of terrain features, hazards, elevation changes, etc.

2. Course conditions.  Are the greens smooth/fast, consistent rough, maintained bunkers, tight fairways with good grass.

3. Facilities.  Range, practice green, clubhouse, grill room, locker room, etc.

4. Cart girl.  This one is self explanatory.

Rating a course is a bit like sitting in a bar with three buddies on ladies night and trying to agree on which is the prettiest lady. I think from a Pro golfer you will get a better answer, the reason is it won't come down to how well he plays the course as a factor, it will be how well he competes against a field of players on that course because score is a relative thing. In the case of a weekend player he will factor in the type of shots he can hit. If it's windy, he won't like the course unless he can hit a low shot into the wind or a high shot with the wind. If a person is a bit wild with the driver he won't like narrow fairways with a lot of out of bounds. If a guy is good at getting out of trouble he's not going to like three inch tall grass with lots of trees.

So if you come up to me and tell me a certain course is great, I'm going to want to know a little bit about your game which will help me figure out what factors are going to influence you more.