It's such an odd list of courses, this one. They've got some of my favorite courses interspersed with others that you couldn't pay me to play [Wolf Creek and Tullymore, to name two].
It's also weird that they insisted on separating out the two different courses at The Loop, only to rate them almost dead even. My fear was that if one was rated significantly higher than the other, it would undermine alternating between the two routings every day, but it looks like we did well to balance the two so that won't happen.
I agree with Tom that there are some interesting selections on this list and leave me shaking my head. The fact that the Bear at the Grand Traverse Resort, Tullymore, and the Boyne Highlands Heather course made the list is shocking to me. I can think of 10 better courses in Michigan that I would rather play than those.
Arcadia Bluffs South, Pilgrims Run, Harbor Shores, Stoatin Brae, Eagle Eye, Treetops Signature, and plenty of others in blow those 3 out of the water. I am not suggesting that any of these are in the top 100 but after seeing those 3 on there then maybe they should be.
I was also shocked at the lack of Arizona courses on the list. We-Ko-Pa is awesome in my opinion so was surprised they were left off the list this year.
Bottom line is ratings are fun and in my opinion are good for the game. They do get people to go to courses that they never would have considered in the past but sometimes things to get a bit silly although I dont have a solution to the problem so I probably should not complain.
Having played 27 of the top 100 on this list there are a few I dont get why there is so much hype. I will probably get killed for this but I never understood the hype on Erin Hills. Yes, I had a great time and I admit that the golf environment is pretty cool but the course itself did nothing for me. It reminded me of Angels Crossing (which I really enjoy) but nothing that should be in the top 15 in the country.
Now with that being said I now many on this forum will say that Erin Hills is in their top 5 if not higher and I totally respect that. It hosted the U.S. Open so it probably should be but I just was not overly thrilled when I played it. I am not saying it was a dog track or that people should not play it but I just did not think it was that great. My point is each of us have our own things that we value and I guess maybe we should not get mad at these raters as we all have our own personal bias on certain courses.
So ratings in my opinion are good for golf but at times will drive certain people crazy which I totally understand. Heck....maybe next year Angels Crossing will be in the top 100 and that would be fine by me
Pure Michigan!