Review criteria
Our approach to reviewing and rating our experience of the different golf courses we play
Some of you may know that a psychology degree has a large component of statistics. Yes, stats, that area of maths related to collection and analysis of data, and trying to make sense of our world through numbers. It's a useful skill, and whilst it took a lot of work to get my head around, has been one of the most important in my career - and life - so far.
Fast forward 15 years from my uni days, and I've still got stats on my mind. Call me a nerd, but it feels natural when looking back at the end of 18 holes, to apply some numbers to the time spent out there.
Golf traveler? Travel golfer?
You may have gathered from my other blog articles - my partner and I travel and play golf - A LOT! It's a great way to experience a new place, work on your game, and challenge yourself to be better version of you every day. It also gives depth to the experience of being a tourist, and you tend to get off the beaten track a little.
Yes, that’s the rock of Gibraltar in the background, La Hacienda Golf Links, Marbella Spain.
Bring the two together - statistics and travel - and what do you get?
Golf course reviews of course. We've developed a set of criteria which we use to assess our experience of a golf course on a given day.
Our goals are twofold:
One, to share experiences with all of you, and hopefully inspire you to play different courses.
Two, to enhance the experience by paying attention to all the richness and diversity of being in a great big green paddock, trying to hit a tiny white ball, into a hole, 18 times.
Now to be clear - these ratings are subjective. Whilst the criteria allow for some level of consistent assessment, they measure what we believe are important in the experience of playing a game. They are not strictly technical, but rather a reflection of the time we spend, on a specific course, on a specific day, under specific conditions - variables which are changing all the time.
So, how do we rate courses?
Well, there are five main criteria, each comprised of sub-criteria, giving a score out of 100 points.
2 Biodiversity: 20 points
Birds: 6 points
Animals: 2 points
Trees: 6 points
Shrubs: 3 points
Flowers: 3 points
1 Condition: 20 points
Tees: 3 points
Fairway: 6 points
Bunkers: 3 points
Rough: 2 points
Greens: 6 points
4 Design
Variety of holes: 4 points
Diversity of challenges: 4 points
Natural environment: 4 points
Makes you think: 4 points
Balanced challenge / ease: 4 points
5 Vistas (views): 20 points
Internal: 10 points
External: 10 points
3 Organisation: 20 points
Welcome: 4 points (includes ease of booking, cost, engagement with staff and members)
Practice facilities: 4 points
Food&drink: 4 points (we always give a 3 if we didn’t try this out)
Pace of play: 4 points
Clubhouse: 4 points
100 points, five criteria
Important to note that we've put a lot of effort into refining these over the past two years, having played more than 50 different courses and learning a lot in the process. For example, we felt condition of the greens was more important than the rough, and the number and diversity of birds more relevant than animals. And so we assigned weightings to the condition and biodiversity criteria accordingly.
What about performance?
Initially we also had performance stats in there (long game, short game, putting etc.) After some time, we decided to place into a separate section, as we found it impacted the objectivity of the ratings, and was more a reflection of our game and not the course itself.
More on this can be found in "rethinking performance: the learning and enjoyment aspects of great golf".
And how does this relate to the mental game?
We've more recently introduced a "qualitative" section, where we ask questions related to the mental game - inspired by psychological material in this section.
Taking one mental game focus - just one - onto the course each day keeps you focused on what you can control, and helps you develop the skills needed to improve performance under different playing conditions. See this article for key questions to stimulate your mental game.
Try out the review criteria next time you play.
Interested in reviewing courses you play? Why not take these criteria and make them your own. Conduct a review at the end of 18 and notice how different the experience is. I believe that not only will it enhance your physical experience of the game, but you will improve your mindset, too.
