Someone asked me the other day to list top quality designs that didn't require extensive collateral or your first born to play. The person asking wanted to have a listing of courses unique from a design perspective and at the same time sensitive to one's wallet.
Candidly, affordability needs to be a major element because so few people have the personal network or resources to play many of the exclusive private clubs or even the high-prived CCFAD types.
The benchmark would be less than $100 during peak season time -- and the cart fee would also be included within the calculations if it was mandated in order to play. I've IDed my top ten with a few others that just missed but were included as honorable mention types. No doubt there will be dissent and I look forward to hearing back from those who strongly disagree. I might even add a few more but the ones listed were courses I thoroughly enjoyed.
Again --
The stipulations are as follows ...
1). Bonafide Public Courses
2). Opened in the last ten years (1998-2008)
3). No more than $99 green fees charged during peak times and includes cart fee if mandated.
In no specific order ...
* The Trophy Club
Lebanon, IN
Green Fee Max = $65
Cart Included in Fee
Architect: Tim Liddy
Gets little ink nationally - some even think Purgatory in Noblesville should be thought of as the better layout. I don't. Purgatory is fine in many spots but it's overkill with bunkers to the max. Liddy did so well on a nearly flat piece of property. The challenges are there -- but never do you get the hard edge look that his mentor Pete Dye was famous for.
The par-4 13th is one of the best two-shot public holes in the USA and that's only one example of what's there. Why The Trophy Club doesn't flay higher baffles me.
* Mines Golf Course
Grand Rapids, MI
Green Fee Max = $36
Cart fee (optional) = $13 per person
Architect: Mike DeVries
What Mike DeVries did for private golf with The Kingsley Club -- also in MI -- he has followed-up with a winning effort for the public side with Mines. So much of MI public golf is repetitive ho-hum layouts -- some of them are bigger ticket costs but likely most of them could not hold a candle to what you get with Mines. Any trek to MI to sample public golf there must include a visit here.
* The Harvester
Rhodes, IA
Green Fee Max = $89
Cart Included w GF
Architect: Keith Foster
Never really understood why Harvester doesn't receive even more attention. I guess the location in Iowa has really flown below most golf radar screens. Very demanding course but at no time is it a "sink or swim" type ultimatum type course. Foster did really solid work with The Quarry in San Antonio and Haymaker in Steamboat Springs but each of those two courses does have some weak holes in the mix. I didn't really see many holes there that one could classify as being miscast.
* Wild Horse
Gothenburg, NE
Green Fee Max = $38
Cart (optional) = $13 per person
Architect: Dave Axland & Dan Proctor
The layout has been hailed by many people and rightly so. Not overly produced with so many extras thrown haphazardly into the mixture. Wild Horse is the quintessential example of how minimalism can work wonders at a very reasonable fee. Why there aren't more such courses astounds me. Maybe a few architects should trek to Gothenburg with their pads and pencils to take some long overdue notes on what golf really needs.
* Black Mesa
La Mesilla, NM
Green Fee Max = $67
Cart (optional) = $20
Architect: Baxter Spann
As many on GCA likely know, one of my personal favorite courses. Spann was blessed with a tremendous site and he skillfully routed the course so that at no time does mediocrity set in with a smattering of so-so holes. The short par-4's -- the 7th and 14th are simply delicious items to overcome. The blind tee shot at #10 is one of the more demanding shots you can play from any public golf hole in the USA. The scenery is breathtaking both on and off the course. Spann also crafted green sites that can be quite finicky but at no time do they border on miniature golf fiascos -- although some might see #16 as one such example. I don't.
Black Mesa requires solid driving of the ball -- powering the ball alone means nothing there. High desert golf that matches the powerful appeal of Santa Fe -- 20 miles to the southeast. Now another reason to visit there.
* The Rawls Course at Texas Tech
Lubbock, TX
Green Fee Max = $50
Cart (optional) = $14 per person
Architect: Tom Doak
Doak didn't bring inexpensive public golf to life in Texas -- I really liked what Ken Dye did years before that with Painted Dunes Desert GC in El Paso, but that layout was allowed to fall a few notches because of a lack of real care. A pity indeed.
The Rawls Course provided a much needed shot in the arm for The Lone Star State. Too much of the golf in Texas is solely focused on the private side and those tied to various gated communities. The Rawls Course clearly shows how Doak could take such a God foresaken piece of land and transform it into a real gem.
Being located in Lubbock can be a tough visit for many -- place the course in the Dallas, Houston or San Antonio areas and it would have garnered even more attention.
I liked plenty of holes there but the short par-3 at 158 yards is one peach of a hole. Plays generally into the wind and when the stick is cut tight to the left you'll need to know how to really hit a fine shot that stays under the breeze and is capable in coming to a quick stop in such a demanding hole position.
* GC at Red Rock
Rapid City, SD
Green Fee Max = $49
Cart (optional) = $15
Architect: Ron Farris
Plenty of talk about Dakota golf falls to Links of ND, Hawktree and Bully Pulpit, to name the three main contenders. Red Rock exceeds them all. Architect Ron Farris worked magic on a rolling terrain site and the combination of holes and shot requirements is a good bit better in terms of challenge and range than the other aforementioned courses. Red Rock gets little fanfare but anyone going to see Mount Rushmore -- it's about 10-15 minutes away from the course -- would be wise to stop by and play the layout.
* Four Mile Ranch
Canon City, CO
Green Fee Max = $59
Cart (optional) = $15 per person
Architect: Jim Engh
Played the course for the first time this year and was struck by how Engh retained his sense of boldness but this time without the clear repetition of inserting his hands so clearly into the overall picture. Four Mile Ranch is blessed with a site that has enough roll but no so much as to require man's hand to be so clearly seen. Engh has tempered the desire to shape things to such a heavy hand. Does he still do it? Sure. But's it not so over-the-top as some, myself included, have mentioned at various times witgh different projects. At Four Mile Ranch you get a layout that rewards shotmaking to a high degree. The green contours are so refreshing with the likes of the par-3 12th with its reverse Biaritz green, to name just one example. The par-4 5th with its ocean wave green is also well done. Engh learned from his past works and his improvements -- while not sacrificing his core creativitity - arein full bloom at Four Mile Ranch.
* Lederach
Harleysville, PA
Green Fee Max = $75
Cart (included w green fee)
Architect: Kelly Blake Moran
The major contribution of Lederach by Moran is how it changed the bleak and rather sad level of Pennsy public golf. To be fair, Moran added a good bit to the rather empty canvass of Keystone available golf when he brought forward Morgan Hill - located just 45-60 minutes away a few years before Lederach. Unfortunately, Morgan Hill is more a testament to the ability of an architect to overcome a very demanding and difficult site but the true capacity of Moran to deliver came with a site not as overall severe, but one that would require a clever routing and a plentitude of holes to keep you guessing. Lederach is a bold and clear departure from the dreadful public golf that inhabits a state where the private side if light years beyond. Pennsy public golf still has miles and miles to go but I credit Moran for bringing forward two layouts -- most notably Lederach -- with a blue print that will start the climb for public golf there.
* Rustic Canyon
Moorpark, CA
Green Fee Max = $60
Cart (optional) = $13 per person
Architect: Gil Hanse w Geoff S and Jim W
A winning oasis in a graveyard area filled with over-priced and over-shaped and over-hyped public course options. Plenty of details are faced when playing Rustic Canyon and the site was used to great success. The aspect at Rustic that fascinates me is the constant desire to switch the pacing of the course as you play each hole. Has much changed since Rustic Canyon entered the scene. Not much from my visits to SoCal land -- although Barona Creek is one real plus in the greater SD area. The big time difference between them -- Barona on a weekend / holiday time frame costs roughly three times more.
Honorable Mention ...
Lakota Canyon Ranch
New Castle, CO
Green Fee Max = $95
Cart (included w green fee)
Architect: Jim Engh
I've played the course a few times and still enjoy what it offers. Fortunately, Engh was able to get a site that was not as severe as his previous effort at Sanctuary but he crafted a design that was a bit more complex than what he did with Redlands Mesa.
I really love the closing stretch of holes at Lakota -- the par-4 16th is one of Engh's best par-4's that I have played - ditto his work with the closing hole -- a superb risk and reward type hole. The only issue is the overshaping at the par-3 17th -- which sports a predictable Engh heavy hand with the terrain to get a certain finished look. Lakota personifies fun to the max. The uphill par-5 4th is one of the best three-shot holes (for most humans) you will play anywhere. Lakota Canyon sent a clear statement that Engh could deliver the goods -- the issue would be if he could tone down the clear fingerprints he leaves on courses. Four Mile Ranch demonstrates that clear evolution in my mind.
Old Works
Anaconda, MT
Green Fee Max = $50
Cart (optional) = $14 per player
Architect: Jack Nicklaus
Have to give credit to Nicklaus and his team credit for taking on a project that usually would fall to some other person / group. ARCO made the right move from a PR perspective in getting a golf course built on a former superfund site, if memory serves. The layout by Nicklaus lacks a number of details one would see with other Jack layouts -- e.g., the bunkering is quite ordinary and a number of the greens are extremely subtle to say the least. Yet, despite the limitations of a few bells and whistles elements, Old Works is still challenging and it did something Jack had previously avoided with many of his other designs - doing a quality public project in which the green fees would be very modest. Old Works is not a home run from the design side of things but it still impresses me with what was done there and how Nicklaus went outside his usual box of design choices to provide something of quality for the masses.
Paa-Ko-Ridge
Sandia, NM
Green Fee Max = $79
Cart fee = $20 per person
Architect: Ken Dye
Spring Creek
Gord Le, VA
Green Fee Max = $75
Cart fee = $20 per person
Architect: Ed Carton
Rochelle Ranch
Rawlins, WY
Green Fee Max = $28
Cart fee (optional) = $25
Architect: Ken Kavanaugh
Devil's Thumb Golf Course
Delta, CO
Green Fee Max = $35
Cart (optional) = $12 for 18 holes
Architect: Rick Phelps
I might add a few more as well ...