The Greatest Golf Courses Ever

Pebble Beach #18 - Via

America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses For 2010

1 - Augusta National G.C.

Via

2 - Pine Valley G.C.

Via

3 - Shinnecock Hills G.C.

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4 - Cypress Point Club

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5 - Oakmont C.C

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See the rest of this list.. (Pebble Beach is ranked #6 this time.)




America's 100 Best Courses You Can Play

Golf Digest's List - Click on the "100 Greatest Public" tab.
1. Pebble Beach Golf Links
2. Pacific Dunes
3. Whistling Straits (Straits Course)
4. The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
5. Bethpage State Park (Black)
...the rest

Golf.com's List - Find this interactive map.


1. Pacific Dunes
2. Pebble Beach Golf Links
3. Whistling Straits (Straits Course)
4. The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
5. Pinehurst #2
...the rest

And both of those have state-by-state lists, but the best state-by-state list is:

Golfweek's list.

Golfweek doesn't provide an overall list like the other two, but the cream of the crop, top-10 type courses are pretty much the same anyway (they specifically state that Oregon's Pacific Dunes is their #1).

Here are a few highlights of Golfweek's state-by-state list:

Arizona #3: Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale
My Dad and I stood on the back deck of the clubhouse here for about 15 minutes trying to decide if we really wanted to pay the exorbitant green fee (this was 1996, and that price was about $125). Regretably, we ended up playing elsewhere for just more than half the money, and an ordinary-type course we could play here for $30. Remember that was 1996.

Louisiana #3: The Bluffs C.C. and Resort, St. Francisville
One of the most unique courses I've ever played, and also the highest green fee I've still ever paid (1999 or 2000 - $102). The beauty is so "far away" from the awesomeness of that hole pictured. Incredible design using a prime piece of real estate, and a superior CHARACTER grade.


Must enlarge!

I would LOVE to go play the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

Last but not least, Hawaii's #8: Ko'olau:
This is the course at the top of my own personal list of "courses I must play in my lifetime". (That'll be a later post!)

Obviously you must enlarge..

Throughout my entire course-design career for Jack Nicklaus GBC, nothing impressed me more than the design of this hole on this course. Supposedly one of the toughest golf courses in the world, too. And is it not gorgeous?

By the way, I've played 4 of the 20 listed Texas courses (7, 13, 15, and 20), and no less than 4 more that most definitely should be on there.

They are:
Cedar Creek in SA
The Bandit in McQueeney
Walden at Lake Conroe
The Falls, New Ulm