Interesting thread, as they all are for me. Reading through it, I think I have come to agree with what I now take to be Ms Cindy's main point:
Cindysphinx said:
... if you play a non-USTA county league and someone asks your level, isn't the answer "I don't have a USTA rating, but I think I am around 4.0"?
Cindysphinx said:
Bottom line: Be as honest as you can. If your rating is not official, just say that.
I agree with this. If your rating isn't a USTA computer rating, then just say up front that it isn't, and reveal the origin and development of your rating.
As I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, there aren't any USTA leagues in the Fort Lauderdale area, so it's all based on self rating according to NTRP guidelines, starting out, and is then adjusted by league adminstrators according to performance. Maybe not as accurate as computers, but pretty accurate, I think.
It is of course easy to overestimate one's abilities. Knowing nothing about these ratings, when I first got into the league I'm currently involved in I, as did all the other players, had to self-rate my level based on the NTRP guidelines. So far, it's worked out really accurately, I think. In my own case, I had to weigh the beauty (imho) of my shotmaking with the fact that I'm playing guys who are, on average, about 30 years younger than me. Guys with (imho) relatively ugly games who I would have (imho) beaten mercilessly 40 years ago beat me now because they're stronger, faster, quicker, and have more stamina.
So, (and I think I saw this in somebody's sig) I'm one of those old guys with, like, 4.0 + strokes who compete effectively only at a 3.0 (or less) level.