Matt Ward,
This is in response to your question: "How could Saucon Valley Grace be listed in the top 100?"
1) I forget how long ago this was, perhaps 20 years? Obviously, there were far fewer great courses then.
2) Twenty years ago, the course was not "tired looking" (re-building the bunkers is in the in range plan.) In fact, the style of the bunkers then was far more "in vogue" at the time the rankings were done.
3) The course certainly has some "wow" features that I assume many raters would like: many dramatic, expansive bunkers; the meandering Saucon Creek that comes into play very often; and awesome variety of trees.
4) It is hard course.
5) As I recall, twenty years ago the turf conditions on the Grace were the best I had ever played. Not that they are bad now but rather, twenty years ago the conditions were superior to the vast majority of courses, IMO. So that would give it a huge advantage when the raters went there, right?
I am not arguing that it belongs in the top 100, just giving my opinion how it got there.
I always like it when I am able to intertwine US History with the history of GCA. Saucon Valley is a GREAT example of this. Think back to the post WW II years when Bethlehem Steel was in its boom years and this club was largely run by Beth Steel executives. Obviously, the Grace Course shares the name of Eugene Grace, chairman of Beth Steel...so the courses there benefited from that influence. The club was a critical factor in Beth Steel competing for engineers with Detroit and New York, so when I say the conditionng there was better than most, there were definite reasons why this was the case.
Anyway, the club has transitioned nicely, as has the entire Bethlehem economy, after the demise of Beth Steel. And I find that cool.