Elite Course Playoff -- NCAA Tournament Bracket Style

[Matthew Lloyd]

What elite U.S. course would come out on top in a NCAA basketball style bracket playoff?  

An explanation of how I put the bracket together:
-- used the most recent Golf Digest rankings as a guide
-- stuck very closely to the East-Midwest-South-West regions
-- just like the NCAA committee fails every year, so did I -- some of these regions are loaded, others a little weaker
-- i have played less than 25% of these courses so much of the seeding is based purely on a ranking system that I know has been debated often on this site, but i needed to use something as a baseline to start from

I was curious to see how I would pick the winners of each round, but since I have played so few of the courses, I am much more curious to see what a consensus on this site would say. If you have 9 hours of free time to look at the bracket, please weigh in with your thoughts.

Here is a link to the bracket challenge: http://challonge.com/GCAelitecourses

EAST REGION

(1) Pine Valley
(16) Aronimink

( The Country Club
(9) Friar's Head

(5) Fisher's Island
(12) Bethpage Black

(4) Winged Foot
(13) Garden City

(6) National Golf Links
(11) Sebonack

(3) Merion
(14) Quaker Ridge

(7) Oak Hill
(10) Baltusrol

(2) Shinnecock Hills
(15) Congressional

WEST REGION

(1) Cypress Point
(16) Ballyneal

( San Francisco
(9) Castle Pines

(5) Olympic
(12) Spyglass Hill

(4) Riviera
(13) Old Macdonald

(6) Gozzer Ranch
(11) LA North

(3) Pacific Dunes
(14) The Golf Club at Black Rock

(7) Shadow Creek
(10) Bandon Dunes

(2) Pebble Beach
(15) Cherry Hills

SOUTH REGION

(1) Augusta
(16) Valhalla

( Pinehurst 2
(9) Peachtree

(5) Wade Hampton
(12) Pete Dye GC

(4) Ocean Course - Kiawah
(13) Kinloch

(6) Southern Hills
(11) Pikewood National

(3) Alotian Club
(14) Shoal Creek

(7) Honors Course
(10) TPC Sawgrass

(2) Seminole
(15) Harbour Town

MIDWEST REGION

(1) Oakmont
(16) Inverness

( Prairie Dunes
(9) Medinah

(5) Whistling Straits
(12) Victoria National

(4) Muirfield Village
(13) Butler National

(6) Chicago GC
(11) Canyata

(3) Crystal Downs
(14) Scioto

(7) Oakland Hills
(10) The Golf Club

(2) Sand Hills
(15) Milwaukee CC

*****************************

Like any bracket predictions, I'm guessing this would mostly go chalk with the top seeds advancing to the Final 4.  But there are a lot of potential upsets on the board as well, and dangerous double-digit seeds that I could see moving along, such as Old Mac, LA North and Bandon to name a few.  Based on a lot of the threads I've read on this site, 6-seeded NGLA seems particularly likely to go on a run.

[Alex Miller]

looks fun! Some thoughts:

West
LA North easily wins the first round, but I cannot predict how a matchup against PD in the second would go. Further more the winner of that would face PB and I cannot predict that either. CPC still comes out of the West.

East
Friar's Head would do a lot of damage if it didn't have to face Pine Valley in the 2nd round. I'll let the experts speak more to that. NGLA is poised to upset Merion in the second round for a classic (and oft debated) matchup with Shinnecock Hills in the 3rd. This region is stacked and anyone's to win.

South
Again tough luck that Pinehurst #2 and Peachtree would face off with the winner going against ANGC in round 2. This region probably sticks closest to chalk though I'm not too familiar with the Alotian Club. I'd imagine it would sneak by Shoal Creek but still lose to Seminole.

Midwest
Could a number 8 seed upset Oakmont and make it to the regional championship? Prairie Dunes is likely a top 5 course in a very strong region. The Chicago GC vs Crystal Downs matchup in round 2 with the winner facing Sand Hills in round 3 make this bracket hard to predict, but I believe it will come from that half despite Oakmont's (deserved?) #1 ranking.

Final Four prediction based on personal experience and heavy weighting to people I've personally talked to about the courses in contention.
1 CPC
6 NGLA (the Cinderella baby!)
1 ANGC
2 Sand Hills

[Bill Brightly]

Can you amend the Midwest to slip in Ballyneal? Might be fun to see one of gca's darlings included.

[JC Jones]

Can you amend the Midwest to slip in Ballyneal? Might be fun to see one of gca's darlings included.

It is in the West as a 16 seed.  It has an RPI of 78 and a CPI* of 1.  

*Colton Power Index

Edit:  I should amend to say that had Kingsley made the bracket it would have a JPI of 1.

[Jim Colton]

Can you amend the Midwest to slip in Ballyneal? Might be fun to see one of gca's darlings included.

It is in the West as a 16 seed.  It has an RPI of 78 and a CPI* of 1.  

*Colton Power Index

Edit:  I should amend to say that had Kingsley made the bracket it would have a JPI of 1.

That's not fair. Its CPI is 4. And I have it losing in the first round.

Dismal River(s) and Kingsley would make for an interesting NIT.

I would agree the Golf Digest is the RPI of the golf course rankings. Golf Magazine is the Coaches poll, Golfweek is KenPom and Links100 is the Sagarin ranking.

[Tom_Doak]

I have no intention of following your playoffs, but looking at the seeding based on the GOLF DIGEST rankings just reinforces how screwed up their rankings are. 

National is 6th in the East? 
Pinehurst No. 2 is 8th in the South? 
Prairie Dunes is 8th in the Midwest?

[JC Jones]

Can you amend the Midwest to slip in Ballyneal? Might be fun to see one of gca's darlings included.

It is in the West as a 16 seed.  It has an RPI of 78 and a CPI* of 1.  

*Colton Power Index

Edit:  I should amend to say that had Kingsley made the bracket it would have a JPI of 1.

That's not fair. Its CPI is 4. And I have it losing in the first round.

Dismal River(s) and Kingsley would make for an interesting NIT.

I would agree the Golf Digest is the RPI of the golf course rankings. Golf Magazine is the Coaches poll, Golfweek is KenPom and Links100 is the Sagarin ranking.

Dismal v Kingsley in the NIT?  And it would be interesting?  This is offensive on many levels

At one point Ballyneal had a CPI of 1, it must have lost in its conference tournament!

[Chris DeToro]

I too like the 8 seed, Prairie Dunes, to advance far out of a tough bracket.  They look like this year's UK team to me...

[John Kavanaugh]

Don't forget that the fescue greens at Ballyneal graduated last year. With the freshmen bent Ballyneal loses in the first round.

[Peter Pallotta]

Cool bird's eye view of the country, thanks Matthew. It struck me that, from the air, the West Region is the most interesting of all: new schools and old schools, small schools and big ones, some historical and academic pedigree and some great teams.

Peter

[John Kavanaugh]

Victoria National brings the most fans and continues the 12 beating 5 trend so popular this year.

[Jim Colton]

Winner gets to take on the international bracket in an exhibition match:

(1) Royal County Down
(16)/(17) Carnoustie/Morfontaine

( Hirono
(9) Turnberry Ailsa

(4) Muirfield
(13) Ballybunion

(5) Royal Melbourne (West)
(12) Barnbougle Lost Farm

(2) Royal Dornoch
(15) St George's

(7) Royal Portrush
(10) Kingston Heath

(3) The Old Course
(14) Royal Melbourne (East)

(6) Barnbougle Dunes
(11) Cape Kidnappers

[Matthew Sander]

Potential second round classics: East - (6)NGLA vs. (3)Merion, Midwest - (6)Chicago Golf vs. (3)Crystal Downs

I don't know if the GCA server could handle such match ups...

[JC Jones]

I would agree the Golf Digest is the RPI of the golf course rankings.

So you're saying Shot Values are akin to Strength of Schedule? : D

[Matt Bielawa]

Love the potential matchup in the second round between Augusta and Peachtree as well (if Peachtree could knock off Pinehurst).  So many different story-lines there.

[JC Jones]

Potential second round classics: East - (6)NGLA vs. (3)Merion, Midwest - (6)Chicago Golf vs. (3)Crystal Downs

I don't know if the GCA server could handle such match ups...

I'll take Merion and Chicago in the upset.

[Jason Thurman]

Challonge.com will let you create this bracket and open each matchup to voting, if you want. I set up something similar last year. It's pretty easy and, while voters have to register, the process only takes a few seconds.

[Peter Pallotta]

In the NCAA, the underdogs can sometimes 'match up' suprisingly well with the favourites - a rock solid zone, say, exposing weakness on the perimeter, or a great offensive rebounder slowing down an otherwise explosive transition game.  But here, how does the underdog actually DO anything to match up any better against the favourite? I mean, a golf course is an inert object, or at least a static one - it can't make itself play better defence or create scoring opportunities with new schemes. Or CAN it? Ah - there's the interest, I think: okay, let the No 1 seed go against the No 16 seed, but give them both a chance to 'prepare': on one, grow the rough to 5 inches, narrow the fairways and have the greens running at 13;  for the other, let it dry out, move the tees around, change a Par 5 to a 4, and hope the wind picks up. Then let's see how the COURSES (i.e. the teams on THAT DAY) fare against eachother, not how the ARCHITECTURE (i.e. the selection-committee seedings based on the SEASON) fares head-to-head. Like in the tournament, the games actually have to take place in TIME and SPACE, not in THEORY.

Peter

PS - Not to say that this thread isn't good and worthy, just to say that's an idea (above) that just popped into my mind, so I typed it.

[JC Jones]

That's an impressive display of basketball knowledge coming from a Canadian.

[Peter Pallotta]

Ha - been watching the tournament since before Lancaster Gordon ran Louiseville's offence, and my highschool team got our asses kicked in the city final (catholic league) by St Michael's just a few years after Leo Rautins had left for Syracuse. But in truth, I was a slow power forward on a team of undersized Italian Canadians who were always getting distracted by pretty girls in the stands.

Peter

[Mark Fedeli]

Fun idea. I'm throwing together a bracket on Challonge.com for voting. Will post back with the link in a few mins.

[BHoover]

Spring needs to arrive soon so we can stop with pointless activities like this and actually play golf.

[Mark Fedeli]

Challonge.com will let you create this bracket and open each matchup to voting, if you want. I set up something similar last year. It's pretty easy and, while voters have to register, the process only takes a few seconds.

Done and done. Tournament is live here: http://challonge.com/GCAelitecourses

As Jason mentioned, you need to register for a Challonge account, but it's quick and painless: https://challonge.com/users/new

[Chris_Hufnagel]

Spring needs to arrive soon so we can stop with pointless activities like this and actually play golf.

From your mouth to God's ears...

I have been checking the Climate Prediction Center's long range models and they are even more depressing then the weather today. Through mid-April the Midwest is showing below average temperatures and above average precipitation...

[BHoover]

Spring needs to arrive soon so we can stop with pointless activities like this and actually play golf.

From your mouth to God's ears...

I have been checking the Climate Prediction Center's long range models and they are even more depressing then the weather today. Through mid-April the Midwest is showing below average temperatures and above average precipitation...

The weather here in central Ohio has been bad enough, but I truly do feel sorry for you guys farther north, especially in places like NE Ohio, Michigan, Wisconson and Minnesota.  The seemingly endless winter has been tough to take...I imagine that prescriptions for Prozac, Lexapro and similar medications are at all-time highs.