Tom MacWood,
Thanks for the additional info on Ridgewood. I may be in Cleveland later this summer and was hoping it was worth checking out. Sounds like something I'd enjoy.
Tom/David,
You guys do seem to be struggling with my definition of a public course, and I apologize if I was unclear, and I know some of these areas can be a bit grey.
However, back in the very early 80s, Golf Digest magazine attempted for the first time to put together a list of the "Top 50 Public Courses" in the country, and they didn't seem to struggle at all.
In fact, it wasn't until years later, when for obvious marketing purposes they began to first include all resorts, and then strangely tried to break their listing into the Top 50 Expensive Publics and the Top 50 Cheap publics that things got vey odd indeed.
However, on the first list at least, they did know what a public golf course was, and didn't seem to fall into many of the traps that you two seem to keep tripping into.
We can debate the inclusion or exclusion of certain courses on this list based on quality, but there's hardly a course here that I wouldn't classify as "Public", at least in the 1982 timeframe the course was put together, with the possible exception of Edgewood Tahoe, which probably got on simply through having hosted the 1980 US Publinks tournament, and possibly beginning some of the confusion.
To wit;
FIRST TEN
Brown Deer Park - Milwaukee, WI - 1929
Cog Hill #4 - Lemont, IL - 1964
Edgewood Tahoe - Stateline, NV - 1968
Indian Canyon - Spokane, WA - 1934
Otter Creek - Columbus, IN - 1964
Plumas Lake - Marysville, CA - 1926
Tanglewood - Clemmons, NC - 1958
Torrey Pines South - La Jolla, CA - 1957
Wailua - Kauai, HI - 1960
West Palm Beach - WPB, FL - 1947
THE OTHER FORTY
Alvamar Hlls - Lawrence, KS - 1968
Ancil Hoffman - Sacramento, CA - 1965
Arroyo del Oso - Albuquerque, NM - 1965
Bangor Municipal - Bangor, ME - 1964
Bear Creek - Dallas, TX - 1980
Braemar - Edina, MN - 1964
Bunker Hills - Coon Rapids, MN - 1974
Cranberry Valley - Harwich, MA - 1974
Downing - Erie, PA - 1962
Fall Creek Falls - Pikeville, TN - 1972
Flanders Valley - Flanders, NJ - 1963
Glenview - Cincinnati, OH - 1974
Grand Haven - Grand Haven, MI - 1965
Grapevine Muni - Grapevine, TX - 1979
Hershey Parkview - Hershey, PA - 1931
Hog Neck - Easton, MD - 1976
Hominy Hills - Colts Neck, NJ - 1964
Industry Hills - Industry, CA - 1964
Kemper Lakes - Hawthorn Woods, IL - 1979
Lawsonia - Green Lake, WI - 1929
Mangrove Bay - St. Petersburg, FL - 1978
Montauk Downs - Montauk, NY - 1969
Oak Hollow - High Point, NC - 1972
Oak Mtn. State Park - Pelham, AL - 1974
Papago - Phoenix, AZ - 1963
Pasatiempo - Santa Cruz, CA - 1929
Perdido Bay - Pensicola, FL - 1962
Pine Ridge - Timonium, MD - 1958
Pompano Beach - Pompano Beach, FL - 1954
Rancho Park - Los Angeles, CA - 1949
Richter Memorial - Danbury, CT - 1971
Salem Hills - Northville, MI - 1963
Sleepy Hollow - Brecksville, OH - 1923
Spook Rock - Ramapo, NY - 1970
Stone Mountain - Stone Mountain, GA - 1969
Stow Acres - Stow, MA - 1954
Tokatee - Blue River, OR - 1966
Turnwater Valley - Olympia, WA - 1970
Waveland - Des Moines, IA - 1901
Wellshire - Denver, CO - 1926
The courses were rated based on "excellence of design" and "course conditioning".
According to the magazine, "Some pubilc courses blessed with good design and rich tradition, like San Francisco's picturesque Harding Park and the Black Course at New York State's Bethpage Park have been purposefully excluded because the reports on their current conditioning are negative."
For those who think ratings aren't worth anything, it was reported later that this exclusion of the Black course was the impetus for the later restoration/renovation.
I was also surprised personally to see I'd only played 14 course on this list.