Golf Digest Honors Ballyneal

[Ron Farris]

To Adam - Dishonor not Honor?

"The complexity at Ballyneal is mostly manifested in a mental process that the golfer has to go through, inorder to be sucessful. Calculations involving factors that go way beyond exact yardages."  

I think the average person just wants to play golf on a pretty golf course with modest challenges and a certain degree of predictability.  Perhaps the Golf Digest panel is more average than the likes of GolfWeek, etc.

I played the Sand Hills in absolutely horrific conditions last fall.
It was cold, windy, and the greens were ridiculously fast.  I watched a playing partner putted off the greens 10 time in one round.  I bet if you did that in Florida you would absolutely hate the course.  My friend absolutely loved the Sand Hills and he can not wait to get another chance to play.

I have not played more than one shot at Ballyneal, but I have spent some time at the site. I would have expected it to be higher on the list, but who am I to say - it is the only course on the list that I saw.

Congratulations to Tom and his fabulous crew.

[Aaron Katz]

Another possible explanation is that the three Doak courses diluted the vote.  I could see a rater not wanting to put Ballyneal, Stone Eagle, and Tumble Creek 1-2-3.  That could have led to some intentional spacing of the three on ballots.  And between Ballyneal, Stone Eagle, and Tumble Creek -- with each being in such a different setting -- I could easily see the ranking order of those courses being a matter of preference.  I for one would join Stone Eagle before Ballyneal simply because the desert setting reminds me of home.

[Tom Huckaby]

Aaron - that would make sense if this was a ranking system, but it's not.  Each course is rated separately giving 1-10 values to set criteria.  No ballots are cast or rankings made.

The universe of GD raters who saw all three is likely pretty darn small also.

Now back to my hiding place....

 

[Geoffrey Childs]

Is it any wonder then that GCA is 75% of natures' DNA bio-builidng blocks

Steve

 

It makes for good fertilizer too. Maybe that's the missing link.  

[Eric_Terhorst]

I find it difficult to be disappointed when the accompanying article says this:

Quote:
What really sets The Concession apart are its greens. Several are perched above fairways, with steep dropoffs on one side or the other, and the one on the par-4 10th is at ground level, flowing from front to back. But the real departures from the Nicklaus mold are the movements within the greens. Instead of outside mounds extending into greens to create shelves and slopes, Nicklaus developed The Concession's greens with contours that originate from within the putting surfaces and ripple outward, leaving most collars relatively flat. It's a technique he says he learned while teaming with Tom Doak on Sebonack Golf Club in New York. Which proves you can teach a top dog new tricks.