Here's the thing:
Unless someone "stumbles upon" a course that isn't in the DGCR Rolodex and is tenacious enough to put it up for discussion here, it's a good bet that whomever's rating it is a local who's happy as a pig in $h!t to promote it. Most likely in the hopes that it drives more traffic to the course, which gives them more people to play with, which gives them more opportunities to play, which is more fun for them, so they win. This is not a hard concept to appreciate, since many of us here might likely do the same in their shoes. Lord knows that would be my first inclination.
However.....if you can put aside your bias and if you're serious about "growing the sport," it makes MORE sense to give an honest review of the current course conditions rather than propping it up by making it sound like it's the best thing since cold keg beer. Honesty is always appreciated by strangers (
especially on DGCR) because not only does it lend legitimacy to you AND the website, it also encourages readers to keep an eye out for how the course progresses, making them consider a return trip when the flaws of the course have worked themselves out.
Let's face it: If someone reads an inflated rating and, because of that rating on DGCR plays the course and is dissatisfied, it's reasonable to assume that they won't make a trip back. Conversely, if they read an honest review (however low rated it may be) and still choose to play it, they may come back to it to see the improvements since they won't feel like they were hoodwinked into playing a supposedly good course when in reality their experience was the complete antithesis of the rating.
Southeast Park is what brought me to that conclusion.
Like I said, it's not a bad thing at
all that locals are excited about a few more baskets to throw at in close proximity to their usual 10-20. The backfired enthusiasm is what kills course growth and improvement in this virtual fairway.
