04/20/24
September 17, 2009
Top 100 Golf Courses in the World: according to Golf Magazine. An explanation of how they ranked them, and discussion of the results from Mark Garrod. There are 51 American courses, 11 Scottish, 9 English, 7 Irish and some others from: Australia (6), Japan (4), Canada (2), New Zealand (2), Wales (1), Spain (1), Portugal (1), France (1), South Africa (1), Dominican Republic (1), Mexico (1), South Korea (1).
It's tough to find something more subjective than ranking golf courses. There is no question that every golfer will come up with a different list.
Here is a blog by a guy who has dedicated himself to playing all of a Top 100 list.
posted by 86 at 10:10 AM on September 17, 2009
every golfer will come up with a different list
No question about that. The thing that annoys me on these lists is the presence of courses that have clearly lobbied the magazine to get themselves included, often at the expense of far better courses.
The European Club is a nice course in the best Irish links tradition, but to have it at number 85 in the world, and thereby implicitly make it the 6th best course in Ireland is farcical. I could name ten better courses without even thinking about it.
posted by JJ at 10:50 AM on September 17, 2009
Couldn't it just be that other people like that course a lot more than you?
I can't believe that a course in New Jersey tops the list.
posted by bperk at 12:31 PM on September 17, 2009
I know it's subjective and all, but I'd never heard of one of the Australian courses - Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania (number 43). Since it was only built in 2004, I must assume that the score was influenced by golf journalists given freebies along with plenty of the local Boags.
posted by owlhouse at 05:25 PM on September 17, 2009
I know absolutely nothing about golf but from what I have heard The Bethpage NY course was considered one of if not the best New York golf course yet there were like 5 courses in the metro NY/NJ listed ahead of it. I worked in the town of Bethpage during the Open in the early 2000's (2002 I think) and i was working in Farmingdale during this open and was constantly hearing from my customers about how difficult the course and how the Hamptons ain't got shit on Bethpage/Farmingdale.
posted by HATER 187 at 07:38 PM on September 17, 2009
I was at the US Open this year, HATER. Bethpage is a great course, but I think the others ahead of it in the NY area deserve to be so. We played Winged Foot during our visit and it is way beyond Bethpage, even though it really doesn't look it on TV, or even in the flesh.
At Winged Foot, the routing is perfect on every single hole. You're constantly faced with tough choices and risk/reward trade offs. Bethpage is stunning - theatrical almost - to look at, but there's really only one way to play most of the holes on it. That doesn't sound like much of a big deal, especially as the shots it demands are tough, but it does take an element of doubt out of the player's mind, which can often be the very thing that makes him hit a bad shot!
posted by JJ at 07:34 AM on September 18, 2009
I'm loving that the architect of the Old Course is listed as "Nature".
I've played 14 of them, which makes me feel like I've been wasting time and have a lot of work to do.