Let it begin...GD Best New Announced

[henrye]

Hey Ben.  If you hear anything on the Canadian methodology, let me know.  Not too important, but would be nice to know. Two things I find interesting from Canadian perspective.  1.- Architect Doug Carrick has won last 3 years in a row - congratulations to him and his team - I think Ian is there.
2.- strange how they only list 3 courses in Canada.  I realize the majority of the readers are south of the 49th parallel, but what's the point in listing only 3?  Not excatly compelling for a Canuck to go out and pick up off the mag. rack.

Ben, have you played Bigwin?  Everyone who has played it raves about it.  Ian, what happened to Ospey?

[Craig_Rokke]

23 different award winners. At least you can say G D isn't closed minded, or only cares for certain styles of architecture.

Regrettably, I've played just one course on the list: Rustic Canyon. Glad to see it faired well! Applebrook deserved better, though. Congratulations to J. Engh.

First time I've seen initiation fees mentioned for best new privates.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Henry,
Ian is with Carrick yes, and Osprey is as deserving or more than Angus Glen, which is also by them.

One correction though, Grahame Cooke won last year (Fox Harb'r) and McBroom (Timberwolf) the year before.

As for Bigwin, I have been and found it absolutely stunning visually.  The sixth hole, which the picture you always see is quite beautiful and I am sure will be up there with Greywolf for the front of the Carrick media kit.  

The other nice thing at Bigwin is the history of the lodge, quite a setting.

I do have a photo tour of Bigwin, the day was a little cloudy, but you will get a sense from the pictures

Bigwin

Best,
Ben

[Mike_Sweeney]

Turboe,
It was enjoyable to see two N.East courses in the mix, even if they fall in the upscale category. They need the marketing help as many golfers already are complaining about the fees at both these places.

 

Jim Kennedy or others,

Have you played either The Ranch or Branton Woods, and what did you think ?

[RJ_Daley]

Thanks for the picture links to the holes at Bigwin, Ben.

In looking at them, does anyone else see a very strong monotony in the greensites.  Nearly all of them seem to be front left angling to back right, with bunkers covering the front right to back right faces of the elevated greens.  I think there are at least 10 greens that look alike.  

[ian]

Henrye,

Both Osprey courses were in last year.

[henrye]

Thanks Ben & Ian.  I too prefer Osprey to Angus Glen, and at Angus, I prefer the south to the north, although to be fair I've only played the north once.

I'm curious, from an architect's perspective, is the Golf Digest rating the most prestigious?  What others would be considered important?  In Canada, I assume it's Score Magazine, but what about in other countries?

Well, I'm reluctantly being dragged off to Jacksonville in a few hours to play that TPC course, but only because Ian and his gang haven't figured out a way to place some form of heater under the fairways to melt off the snow.

[ian]

Henrye,

Golf Digest, hands down matters most for new. Score for top 100 (should be 25 to 50 though).

I will say Angus North is a suprise.

Ian

P.S. working on the top secret heater project.

[jeffwarne]

Calusa is a very good course-for 17 holes-#18 is WEAK,and I like short par 5's

Very pleased to see Branton Woods' showing. Bergstol had done a lot of construction for Fazio and has just recently started doing his own designs. He has a tremendous amount of potential. Worth a play, for sure, if you are in the NY area next summer.

Have heard many good things about Calusa. Has anybody out there actually played it?

[John Foley]

Ian & Ben,

Kind of surprised that there was no mention of Battlefeild.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

John,
To be honest, I did not go down this year.  The feedback has been mixed, but Ian would know more.

Best,
Ben

[Jeff Shelman]

The two that I've played that made the lists are pretty good.

The Legends in Prior Lake, Minn. (25-30 min from downtown Minneapolis) is another good course by Gill Miller Architechts. The sixth hole is a long, demanding par 4 (450ish from the back) with water left off the tee and water short and right near the green. The one shots on the back side both have forced carries over water. There's also one short two shot hole (which I like). There's a good variety of holes. Maybe none are spectacular, but none are bad.

The bad about the course is it isn't that friendly to walkers. No benches and with GPS on the carts, they don't think walkers would like to know where the pins are on greens. I don't need a pin sheet, but red, white, blue flags would've been nice.

One nice thing is the Sunday afternoon rates are very affordable (less than $50 if I'm not mistaken).


TPC at Rivers Bend:

I'm generally not a huge fan of Arnie courses, but this was better. There are a lot of trees -- especially for a TPC. There's a good mix of holes and challenging greens. The only drawback is that the closing hole is a bit weak, a short par 5 that lacks character. All in all, pretty good for a TPC and better than the one in the Twin Cities.

I haven't had a chance to play The Summit, a course on the affordable public list. Reports, however, are good.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

John,

I was surprised that Battlefield didnt make it either.  Granted I did not see any of the ones that won in Canada, but I did see several that were competing for it, and Battlefield was the best that I saw.  Very flashy bunkering, lots of eye candy, solid track.

D