Top 10 Courses that predate 1900

[Tony_Muldoon]

A few that were considered top 10 then are NLE.
e.g.
Royal Isle of Wight.

[Eric Morrison]

I know this thread is old, but I found it after doing a search on my course. Just want to clear up one fascinating misconception about Shenny. The original Ross routing had about 101 bunkers. The course as it is now, 10 untouched Ross holes, 2 modified holes with original Ross green complexes, and 5 new holes, has 99 bunkers. I have talked to numerous older members here and they all have told me at one time or another they thought there were 130-140 plus bunkers on the course. I have done a lot of historical research on this, so I know for certain there were never that many. I have wondered how this rumor so to speak was ever born...

[Rich Goodale]

A few that were considered top 10 then are NLE.
e.g.
Royal Isle of Wight.

Tony

What do you (or anybody) know about Royal Isle of Wight/Bembridge?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Rich

[Jordan Wall]

What about Seattle CC?

A very fine golf course built in 1900...dont know if it's top-10 or not because I dont know of everything before 1900, but it would be worth consideration.  It's a great course.

[John Sabino]

Cary - From the 1908 edition of Golf Illustrated, ranking of the top courses which was compiled by the most prominent golfers in the world. The rankings were fairly broad-based, comprising the opinions of 230 professional and 314 amateur golfers.

The list is below in order of rank:

The Old Course at St. Andrews
Prestwick
Sandwich (also known as Royal St. George's)
Deal
Hoylake (also known as Royal Liverpool)
North Berwick
Sunningdale
Westward Ho!
Portmarnock
Formby
Royal County Down (known as Newcastle then)
Rye
Portrush (now known as Royal Portrush)
Lahinch
Carnoustie
Luffness New
Woking
Gullane
Huntercombe
Brancaster (now know as Royal West Norfolk)
Littlestone
Lytham and St. Annes
Dollymount (now known as Royal Dublin)
Machrahanish
Walton Heath
Harlech (now known as Royal St. David's)
Muirfield

Joe

[C. Squier]

Flossmoor CC just across the street from Olympia Fields was built in 1899.  Don't know how much of the course is still true to its original design though.  Fun course, nice greens....getting a little makeover this year too.  

CPS

[BCrosby]

Top 10 pre 1900 are all links courses located in GB&I.
There weren't any other pre 1900 courses good enough to crack that list.

In many respects, that was the problem that gave rise to the profession of gca.

Bob

[Matthew Hunt]

If you want to see origional RCD the No.2 has more Morris Holes, green and Hazards than the No.1.

[Jim Nugent]

Does RCD really count?  Pretty sure that in Ran's profile, he says they made wholesale changes to the course after 1900, and almost nothing of the earlier design is still left.

Joseph Rigo's list is real interesting.  Has to give us some great leads.  The main question is, how many of those courses have changed dramatically since then?  

[john_stiles]

A few of the courses listed by Mr Rigo are  OTM.

For those courses,  I would doubt nothing is the same as 1900.

There is a good book which relates the old courses to the new courses for Old Tom Morris.  The book talks about many courses and provides a stick routing, sometimes a hole description, etc.

The book is 'Golf Courses of Old Tom Morris' by Robert Kroeger.

My memory is that much of OTM's work was changed or obliterated due to course changes required by the ball 'enhancements'.

[Rich Goodale]

John

Kroger's book is a very good one, and I used it as a guide when I wrote an article on Old Tom Morris, for the July 2006 issue of Golf Course Architecture magazine.  And, while there are surely many of his holes which are NLE, there is a surprisingly large number which remain, including world-class examples such as:

The Dell at Lahinch
Foxy at Dornoch
The Alps at Prestwick
The Cape hole at Westward Ho!

I think that there is not a modern architect today who would not trade his or her finest holes for those that Old Tom managed to design and build over 100 years ago.......

Rich

[Matthew Hunt]

Jim, my point entirely. The Tenth is the only original greenside now on use on the No.1.

On the No.2 the Pitching green, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 15th and 18th are all original Tom Morris green sites. This steam from the fact that the No.2 used to 'eat' holes as the No.1 ‘rejected’ them. The old 16th on both courses were over 100 years old and should never have been replaced by more 'conventional' holes.

Also there is a lot of Tom's bunkers and Turf Dykes (which I have just posted a thread on) on the No.2.

If anyone is in Newcastle I could show them what all the GCAs did at both the courses at RCD including Tom Morris

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