The forecast for Friday, Aug. 3, was cloudy and warm, with a high temperature of 90 and an afternoon thunderstorm expected. But the dawn of yet another muggy summer day was not enough to stop Dick's Sporting Goods' Edward Stack and Equitable Resources' Murry Gerber from golfing.

Mr. Gerber, Equitable's chief executive officer, shot an 89 at the Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, while Mr. Stack, Dick's CEO, shot a 77 at the Treesdale Golf and Country Club in Pine. Both went back for more in the days ahead, with Mr. Stack shooting a 91 Saturday, Aug. 4, at Treesdale and Mr. Gerber notching an 88 during a Sunday, Aug. 5, round at Laurel Valley as well as an 88 Monday, Aug. 6, at the Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley.

The information on Mr. Stack and Mr. Gerber wasn't gained from a loose-lipped caddy. The men posted their scores and locations on a publicly available Golf Handicap Information Network (www.ghin.com) maintained by the U.S. Golf Association.

The lower the handicap index -- which combines the player's score with the course difficulty -- the better the golfer. Mr. Gerber's handicap currently is 10.4, while Mr. Stack remains the most-skilled golfer among Pittsburgh-area CEOs with a handicap of 5 (he ranked seventh in the country last year on Golf Digest's list of corporate America's 200 best players).

The online scoring index is meant to keep players honest. But does the public really deserve to know the intimate golfing habits of the rich and powerful?

The USGA, after much debate this year, said "no." Starting Jan. 1, unless you are a golf club member or competition committee participant, information available on www.ghin.com will be limited to the handicap index and recent scores, along with the month and year played. The name of the course and the day played no longer will be available to the general public.

The change highlights an ongoing debate about privacy, security and the public's right to know when it comes to corporate CEO behavior.

Just last month, The Wall Street Journal used the handicapping Web site to show that Bear Stearns executive James Cayne golfed extensively during a recent period of crisis for the Wall Street firm.

Two years ago, the Journal used the online index to link the use of private corporate jets to golfing trips made by several high-profile CEOs, including PNC Financial Services Group Chief Executive Officer James Rohr, ex-PNC CEO Thomas O'Brien, then-PPG Industries CEO Raymond LeBoeuf and then-U.S. Steel chairman Thomas Usher.

And it's not just journalists who play "gotcha" with the information. Bosses have been known to use the site as a way of checking up on employees during "sick days," said the USGA's Kevin O'Connor, who is in charge of the Golf Handicap Information Network.

Insurers investigating disability claims have used it to confirm that injuries sustained on the job apparently were not enough to impede a player's golf game.

Some USGA members worry about the unknown -- anyone who might have an ill-intentioned interest in tracking their habits and predicting where they might be on any particular day.

"There are just general privacy concerns, consistent with many things that take place today in the world we live in," said the USGA's Mr. O'Connor, in an e-mail.

Could that explain why Mr. Rohr -- an avid golfer who hit his first hole-in-one last year at a tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif. -- stopped posting scores on the USGA site last fall? Through a spokesman, the bank CEO declined to comment. Perhaps Mr. Rohr (who has a handicap of 11.1 and ranked 83rd last year on Golf Digest's CEO player list) is weary of golfing stories by now.

After all, the Journal's 2005 report showed PNC's corporate jets shuttling to and from Vero Beach, Fla., where Mr. Rohr has a home and a golfing membership at the Redstick Golf Club, more than 100 times in four years (Mr. Rohr reimburses the company for any travel and perks exceeding $50,000). He last posted scores from Redstick on Nov. 12 and Nov. 15, 2005.

Locally, according to the USGA site, Mr. Rohr belongs to the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel and Laurel Valley -- two of the more popular haunts for local golfing CEOs. Others are the Oakmont Country Club, Treesdale, the Allegheny Country Club, the Fox Chapel Golf Club and the Longue Vue Club in Penn Hills.

Several executives belong to more than one.

Mr. O'Brien, the retired PNC chief executive officer (with a handicap of 2.4), still belongs to seven clubs -- including two in Florida and one in California.

Former Mellon chief executive Martin McGuinn still has memberships at Fox Chapel and Laurel Valley, but also belongs to one in Southampton, N.Y., where he posted 13 scores between May 26 and Aug. 29.

Federated Investors Chairman John F. Donahue belongs to two local clubs and two in Florida. In fact, he has posted scores from the Naples' Olde Florida Golf Club 10 times since Feb. 18, 2006, the last one entered Wednesday, Oct. 17.

But where and when a CEO golfs should be "nobody's business," argued Chris Allison, a former CEO of Cheswick telecommunications equipment maker Tollgrade Communications.

"I think the correlation between CEO golf behavior and the amount of time he is working is flawed. I have been around a lot of CEOs on a golf course, and they are all connected, and they all have their cell phones on."

There is the perception, he acknowledged, that if a CEO golfs during the week, he or she is not working. And there certainly are examples locally of executives taking a round on a Tuesday, a Wednesday or a Friday.

Mr. Stack, the Dick's CEO, has played on weekdays 14 times since June 8 (two of them holidays), and Equitable's Mr. Gerber has played 13 times during the work week (four on holidays) since May 17.

Charlotte Zuschlag, chief executive officer of Ellwood City-based ESB Financial, has posted eight weekday rounds since Sept. 7; PPG chief executive officer Charles Bunch has put up six weekday scores since April 22 (one on a holiday); while John Pelusi of local commercial real estate financier HHF Inc. has played five weekdays since May 24.

"If a guy takes an afternoon off in the middle of the week to play golf, I am not worried about it," Mr. Allison said. "He is working till 9 at night when he gets home and then all weekend . . . . CEOs work incredible hours."

What's more, plenty of networking, quality time with clients and business dealings can take place on golf courses and at private clubs, he added.

He experienced that firsthand at Tollgrade. One day, while golfing, a critical message came through on his BlackBerry, and "I just dropped what I was doing, [went] under a tree and negotiated a deal. I was never out of touch."

"Take it from somebody who was a CEO: CEOs are working all the time, even when they are on a golf course."