The best 10 courses that no-ones ever heard of?

[Tom Mills]

Hello all,


I've been hunting around for some courses that fly well under the radar here in the UK and it got me thinking, why not use the brains of you fine folk!


What are the best 10 courses that you know of that no-one, or very few, have ever heard of?


Understand this could be a huge can of worms!

[Tyler Kearns]

Davenport CC, a C.H. Alison gem in Iowa.

[Thomas Dai]

Tom,
Likely to be ‘Top Secret’ I’m afraid ... course tour specialists guard their secrets closely until that is they are ready to spring their prize offering on to the ever waiting outside world!

Being slightly more serious, whilst this sites search engine isn’t the greatest if you type something like gems, or hidden gems or even under the radar into it you’ll likely find a few threads with some ideas or at least some trails and rabbit holes that you can follow to find out more.
Atb

[jeffwarne]

No one here?
Or a majority of golfers.


To make a "Best 10" kindbe gotta know what audience wont have heard of them
Heres some off most radars I like



Powelon Club-NY
Gailles Links-Ayeshire
Spey Bay-Scotland
Buckie Strathlene
Tarraleah-NZ
Anglesea-Australia
Midland Valley-SC
Arrowhead Point-GA
GreenCastle-Donegal
Dunfanaghy-Donegal
Gweedore-Donegal
Parknasilla-Kerry(worst of bunch but hidden plain spectacular sight)




And 2 GCA faves -
Arrowtown-NZ
Mulranny-IR


Another I really like is Northwest GC in Donegal


For years it was St Georges-LI but its on radar now

[Clyde Johnson]

No one here?
Or a majority of golfers

That's an important metric to define! What I'd consider as the cool, really under-the-radar courses can be tricky to recommend to the majority of golfers...plus I'd like to keep a few of those to myself, for now.


I'll start. Of the less talked about courses I visited last year, I was particularly fond of/interested by:


Scotland:
 - The original nine at Dunkeld & Birnham.
 - Selkirk.
 - Strathpeffer Spa.
 - Carrbridge.


England:
 - Flempton. (Though I suspect that's pretty well-known if you reside in East Anglia.)
- Bury.

Northern Ireland:
 - Scrabo.

[Sean_A]

Hello all,

I've been hunting around for some courses that fly well under the radar here in the UK and it got me thinking, why not use the brains of you fine folk!

What are the best 10 courses that you know of that no-one, or very few, have ever heard of?

Understand this could be a huge can of worms!

Tom

Hard to know who knows what!  I would suggest the following which I include in my top 100 best GB&I:

Beaverbrook
Castlerock Bann
Welshpool
Blackwell
Knole Park
Alnmouth Village

I think Kington is starting to get generally known these days, or it would top this list.

Courses which are among my absolute favourites, but not top 100 material:

Church Stretton
Appleby
Leckford Old

Ciao

[Tom Mills]

No one here?
Or a majority of golfers

More thinking most golfers. I know the knowledge base here is more diverse than your typical golfing group! There seems to be this top 100 to 150 courses that garner all the attention of the majority of the golfing public, and without approaching many clubs outside of these lists in a scattergun approach, I was hoping to get a point in the right direction!

[jeffwarne]

No one here?
Or a majority of golfers

More thinking most golfers. I know the knowledge base here is more diverse than your typical golfing group! There seems to be this top 100 to 150 courses that garner all the attention of the majority of the golfing public, and without approaching many clubs outside of these lists in a scattergun approach, I was hoping to get a point in the right direction!

Most golfers?
Plenty of gems threads here.
May have to search by region-or just search Sean Arble for UK list

[Daryl David]

Tai Tapu, NZ (9 holer)
Valdres, Norway (9 holer)
Gearhart Links, OR
Walla Walla CC, WA (back nine only)
Wick GC, Scotland

[Ronald Montesano]

Public courses in the Buffalo-Niagara region:


Cazenovia Park is a great nine-hole layout. Byrncliff and Ironwood are fun and challenging 18 hole courses.


A little farther east: Green Lakes near Syracuse is a wonderful state park course.


A bit south: Mark Twain golf course in Elmira is terrific.


All courses fall off the radar after a time in the light. You have to wait for your opportunity to rediscover them.

[Matt_Cohn]

I doubt there are too many in California that nobody has heard of, but for courses whose quality far exceeds their notoriety, I'll propose Claremont in Oakland and Virginia Country Club in Long Beach.

[Bill Gayne]

Fraserburgh, Dunaverty, Kilkee, and Swannanoa.

[Michael Underwood]

Clandeboye Golf Club - Dufferin Course - Belfast
Malone Golf Club - Belfast


Gearhart Golf Links - Oregon
Astoria Golf & Country Club - Oregon


Hiwan Golf Club - Colorado

[Chris_Blakely]

The Harbor Club was a
Very good Bert Way course in Ashtabula, OH that closed 8 years ago or so.


Lisbon Village was a 9 hole Ralph Barton course in NH with some wild greens and several noticeable templates.  I guess it too closed because no one heard about it.


The Powelton Club is a Devereux Emmet that has six to nine amazing greens and lost three or four holes because of freeway expansion.  This was definitely a course Emmet spent time building.


Vermillion GC Ohio I was built in the 20s, it is only 9 holes and has several wild greens that make me wonder if Stanley Thompson was involved as it reminds me of some of his other Cleveland courses.

[Garland Bayley]

In. Astoria CC
Out. Gearhart GL, which I found to be a disappointment.

In. Tarbat GC
Out. Tain

In. Bude and North Cornwall
Out. Saunton

In. Tenby
Out. Ashburnham

In. Strandhill
Out. Rosses Point

In. Perranporth
Out. Trevose

In. Jawbone Creek
Out. Yellowstone CC

[Andrew Harvie]

Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada

[Tim_Weiman]

I doubt there are too many in California that nobody has heard of, but for courses whose quality far exceeds their notoriety, I'll propose Claremont in Oakland and Virginia Country Club in Long Beach.

Matt,


Virginia Country Club is an old oil industry Long Beach hang out. I enjoyed the drop shot Par 3 near the clubhouse but really not much else. Honestly, despite the pace of play disaster on the first 4-5 holes, I’d prefer Rec Park. Playing it one day with Tommy Naccarato was one of my favorite golf experiences.

[Jeff Evagues]

Champion Lakes  Ligonier, PA

[Jim Sherma]

West Shore CC in Camp Hill, PA. Very good and no one really knows it exists.


Disagree with garland that Strandhill pushes out Co. Sligo. Both are worthy.

[Phil Burr]

10 is a lot but I'll weigh in with two:


First is from a GCA family often discussed/debated in this forum.  Riverdale (Dunes) in Brighton, CO.  Credited to Pete & Perry Dye (perhaps more Perry?).  If I'm not mistaken TD had a hand in its creation.  I played 18 one afternoon and had so much fun I blew off scheduled dinner at a fine steakhouse to play another nine, settling for a dry Chick-Fil-A sandwich next to the highway.  In no way did I regret my choice.


Second is Skunkamaug River GC in Coventry, CT.  Memorable for micro-contours in some of its front nine greens.  I remember putts where my feet would be on one slope, my ball on another, and the hole three feet away on yet another.  I always felt like the designer and superintendent didn't even have a roller to execute grading in a traditional way.  Felt like a welcome respite from the ubiquitous Cornish & Zikorus designs across the area.

[Paul Dolton]

Seascale GC. Cumbria


Seacroft GC. Lincolnshire

[Brock Lynch]

I doubt there are too many in California that nobody has heard of, but for courses whose quality far exceeds their notoriety, I'll propose Claremont in Oakland and Virginia Country Club in Long Beach.

You can add Crystalaire CC in Llano, CA to that list.

[Niall C]

Disagree with garland that Strandhill pushes out Co. Sligo. Both are worthy.

Jim

Even with Pat Ruddy's changes, Co. Sligo is one of the best links I've played and probably in my top 5 favourites however I think you'd struggle to claim a Harry Colt design that has hosted the Walker Cup is a course no-one has ever heard of.

Niall

[Richard Fisher]

Niall -  a pedant writes, but R County Down and not County Sligo has hosted the Walker Cup (in 2007)...
To Tom’s question, GCA is absolutely packed with recommendations for what used to be unknown or hidden gems, but the influence of this site and a few regular contributors has seen several courses (like Kington or Painswick) make the transition to external rankings, like the new Golf World rankings for England (a listing which, particularly in its second fifty, would have been unthinkable even twenty years ago).

[Dan Gallaway]

Tai Tapu, NZ (9 holer)
Valdres, Norway (9 holer)
Gearhart Links, OR
Walla Walla CC, WA (back nine only)
Wick GC, Scotland

How much involvement did Tillinghast have at WWCC?  Is the back 9 his work?