[T_MacWood]

Golfweek tries to indentify the 100 greatest US classic and modern courses, GD is looking for the 100 greatest in America and GOLF the world's 100 greatest. Are there 100 great golf courses in the world, much less the US?

[rgkeller]

No.

In the history of the world there have been perhaps ten GREAT golfers.

Probably a similar number of GREAT courses.

[jim_lewis]

outstanding? yes
great? no

[Paul Richards]

Tom


The answer is a resounding 'YES'.


It just seems that some have a different way of defining them than others.


As I've said before, 'They're all good, but some's better'n others!'

 

[John_Cullum]

I would venture there are 100 great courses in New York, New Jersey, and PA combined.

Ditto for the UK and Ireland.

[JohnV]

For the record, Golfweek's list is the 100 Best Modern and 100 Best Classic.  No mention of them all being great.

That being said, Greatest doesn't mean Great.  One is relative and the other is absolute.  Greatness is in the eye of the beholder.

Golf courses are like sex.  When it's good, it great and when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

I don't know if there are 100 great courses or not as I haven't come close to seeing all the possible candidates.  I certainly couldn't identify 100 that I've seen that I would call great.

[PThomas]

this group trying to agree on the definition of "great"?   :'

[Mike_Sweeney]

this group trying to agree on the definition of "great"?   :'

Paul,

I will take the first shot. A great course is one that you are willing to get on a plane to just see that course and nothing else.

For me that would be about 25 courses, and probably a 1/4 of those are actually driving distance for me.

[PThomas]

Mike -- if that's the definition, personally I can think of a LOT more than 25!

[Phil_the_Author]

Semantics!

Just what this forum needs to argue over!

By the way, for all who want to wallow in definitions, there can only be one greatest. The other 99 are greaters.

I think there are hundreds of greaters, many that have yet to be discovered and appreciated by the masses.

[Wayne Freeman]

Hey guys- with 18,000 golf courses in the U.S., how can there not be 100 great courses-  in Calif., New York, New Jersey, and Pa. alone there have got to be 40-50 that just about anyone would be absolutely thrilled to play. When you play a Shinny, Southern Hills, Oakmont, Merion, PhillyCC, Seminole-  and on and on-  you just feel like you're walking with the golfing gods-  that's all you need.

[Mike_Sweeney]

Paul,

I will take the first shot. A great course is one that you are willing to get on a plane to just see that course and nothing else.

For me that would be about 25 courses, and probably a 1/4 of those are actually driving distance for me.

Actually, it is 33 courses on my "plane worthy" courses:

Pine Valley
Cypress Point
Muirfield
Shinnecock Hills
National
Myopia Hunt
Augusta National
St. Andrews (Old Course)
Pebble Beach
Royal Melbourne
Royal County Down
Sand Hills
Crystal Downs
Royal Portrush (Dunluce)
Ballybunion (Old)
Merion
Oakmont
Royal Dornoch
Turnberry
Pacific Dunes
Garden City
San Francisco
Fishers
Bethpage
Royal Birkdale
Royal St George’s
Hirono
New South Wales
Barnbougle Dunes
Morfontaine
Cruden Bay
Western Gailes via MWP
Friars Head

Wayne,

No way that hometown Philly CC is "plane worthy", not sure if it is Amtrak worthy.

[T_MacWood]

Mike
No Yale...is Bethpage greater than Yale?

I agree with those who put the number at much fewer than 100.

[Mike_Sweeney]

Mike
No Yale...is Bethpage greater than Yale?

Tom,

Only if it is a magic plane back to 1930 @ Yale. There are not many better tee to green than Bethpage.

A bigger omission is Oakland Hills and Winged Foot West. Winged Foot should be on for the 36 holes in one day, but since I personally like The East more than The West, I kept it out. I have some friends playing Oakland Hills this summer that have similar taste to mine, and it could jump onto my list, but my guess is that the members are not too worried about my "Plane Worthy" list.  

San Francisco GC probably gets some points as it is surrounded by one of my favorite cities.

[Mike Nuzzo]

To the original question...

There aren't 100 golf courses worth as much press or discussion as they get.

[ForkaB]

A great course is one which no matter how many times you play it you are intimately engaged with it and you learn something new, about golf and yourself.

I only know of one such course, but I haven't played any of the other possible candidates enough to know whether or not they also meet my criteria.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Mike,

Interesting list.  

Some notables not there (other than WF):

Seminole
Chicago GC
Maidstone
#2
The Golf Club
Highland Links
The Country Club
Bandon Trails (OK, I cheated by 6 weeks)
Sutton Bay
Teeth of the Dog
Swinley Forest
Walton Heath
Sunningdale
Lahinch

[danielfaleman]

Close to 100, maybe.

Say, 25 in the US, 20 in the UK, 6 in Ireland, 10 in Europe, 5  in Australia, 7 in Asia, 5 in Canada, 2 in Mexico, 3 in the Caribbean, 2 in Africa.

[Matt_Ward]

Tom MacWood:

From my travels in the USA the short answer is NO -- there are not 100 "great" golf courses in the USA.

I would define "great" in a similar fashion as Mike S
described -- courses, that if extended an opportunity to play, would mean a "drop whatever you are doing and go NOW."

Few courses I have played - reach that threshold.

[Mike Hendren]

I have no idea.

I do pity anyone who emphatically answers no.

[Matt_Ward]

Mike:

Thanks for the "pity."

I "pity" those who may not understand what others have seen and what they have not.

[Mike Hendren]

No.

In the history of the world there have been perhaps ten GREAT golfers.

Probably a similar number of GREAT courses.

Both lists, please.

[THuckaby2]

A great course is one which no matter how many times you play it you are intimately engaged with it and you learn something new, about golf and yourself.

That's a VERY intriguing way to look at this.  Of course that's no surprise coming from Rich - he is a fountain of intriguing ideas without a doubt.

What's interesting to me is the conclusions that we each might take from this, if we accept it as a definition of greatness (which I most definitely do at first glance).

Rich says he knows only one course that meets this.  I'm guessing it's Royal Dornoch championship course, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's not it.

I look at that and say: hmmmm... that seems to happen to me on the majority of courses I play.  I KNOW it happens at my home course Santa Teresa, and only the pollyana-est of pollyanas would ever call that course great.

So perhaps this works as a definition only depending on how one treats the game?

Very cool thought, Rich.  Intriguing to the max.

TH

[Mike Hendren]

Matt,

Thanks to you as well.

Is is possible that the more one sees, the less one likes?

Those of us relegated to sophomore status relish the seemingly unending opportunities to be amazed.  

Don't try to describe a Kiss concert if you've never seen it.
Don't ever forget that you just might wind up being wrong.
-Jimmy Buffet

[Kirk Gill]

Since Merriam-Webster online shows 11 different definitions of "great" that appear to cover virtually ever shade of positive feeling, I think how it is applied to ones opinion of a golf course says more about the person than it does the course.

For me, the greatness of a thing has to do both with the intrinsic qualities of that thing (how good is it REALLY) as well as a sort of historical or societal consensus as to how great the thing is (or was). So when it comes to golf courses, I have to consider how great I think it is personally as well as whether or not the course has been anointed as Great by history. What skews the whole process is that I personally have played only a handful of courses that history has deemed to be Great, and many that history will probably not consider at all. I would still have to say that Pine Valley is great, though, because that seems to be the consensus, despite never having played it. I'd love an opportunity to test the theory, but........

Am I wrong?

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