[Brian Finn]

Late last Friday, on another thread, I shared some quick work I did to combine the most recent top 100 US courses from Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, and GolfWeek.  A handful of comments and questions followed, both within the thread, and even more so via private messages.  A few main questions arose, all of which I will address in this new thread.

First, I determined that it was appropriate to add a fourth source, the top 100 US courses from top100golfcourses.com.  Personally, I reference their lists frequently, and find them helpful when traveling to a new state or country.  Additionally, we received details on their methodology, which, in brief, is a proprietary algorithm based on their own panel of contributors.  So, it will be added as a fourth source in the blended rankings. 

Second, I was asked to point out, or even list “outliers,” which for the sake of this exercise will not take on its true statistical meaning.  I did not perform any complex math in combining these lists.  I simply gave equal weight to each of the four sources from 1 to 100.  So, outliers, in this context, simply refer to things that stick out.  This would include courses on only one list, or excluded from only one list.  They’re really just aberrations that one could pick up by reviewing the list for a few minutes.

I find each list interesting and somewhat useful, and I don’t intend to comment here on the relative quality of one list vs. another.  Of course, there is inherent bias in everything, so some of that may come through, but mostly I am just putting forth a blended ranking and then making a few observations on the data.  Please let me know any questions or comments, especially if you have suggestions on how this might be made more useful. 

So, I will post the data first, then a few observations I made while compiling the list.  After adding the fourth source, there are now 147 courses that appear on at least one of the four lists.

[Brian Finn]

Overall	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	T100 Rank	Count	GD Pts	GM Pts	GW Pts	T100 Pts	Total Pts
1	Pine Valley	1	1	1	2	4	100	100	100	99	399
2	Cypress Point	3	2	3	1	4	98	99	98	100	395
3	Shinnecock Hills	4	3	4	3	4	97	98	97	98	390
4	Augusta National GC	2	6	2	8	4	99	95	99	93	386
5	NGLA	7	4	5	4	4	94	97	96	97	384
6	Oakmont	5	5	7	5	4	96	96	94	96	382
7	Merion (East)	6	8	8	7	4	95	93	93	94	375
7	Sand Hills	10	7	6	6	4	91	94	95	95	375
9	Pebble Beach	8	10	10	9	4	93	91	91	92	367
10	Fishers Island	9	9	12	11	4	92	92	89	90	363
11	Chicago GC	13	14	9	15	4	88	87	92	86	353
12	Friar's Head	16	13	13	12	4	85	88	88	89	350
13	Crystal Downs	14	16	16	10	4	87	85	85	91	348
14	Pacific Dunes	18	19	11	13	4	83	82	90	88	343
15	Los Angeles CC (North)	19	12	17	14	4	82	89	84	87	342
15	Winged Foot (West)	12	15	18	17	4	89	86	83	84	342
17	Seminole	11	20	15	21	4	90	81	86	80	337
18	Pinehurst #2	29	11	20	16	4	72	90	81	85	328
18	Prairie Dunes	25	18	14	19	4	76	83	87	82	328
20	Riviera	22	17	25	18	4	79	84	76	83	322
21	The Country Club (Brookline)	17	22	38	23	4	84	79	63	78	304
22	San Francisco GC	36	21	24	20	4	65	80	77	81	303
23	Ballyneal	44	34	19	22	4	57	67	82	79	285
24	Kiawah Ocean	24	31	40	31	4	77	70	61	70	278
25	Oakland Hills (South)	21	35	37	34	4	80	66	64	67	277
26	Somerset Hills	50	23	31	24	4	51	78	70	77	276
27	Camargo	42	26	36	25	4	59	75	65	76	275
28	Whistling Straits (Straits)	23	49	26	37	4	78	52	75	64	269
29	Muirfield Village GC	15	51	32	39	4	86	50	69	62	267
30	Shoreacres	54	24	27	33	4	47	77	74	68	266
31	Bandon Dunes	37	44	28	30	4	64	57	73	71	265
32	Bethpage (Black)	40	30	46	27	4	61	71	55	74	261
33	Peachtree	30	37	34	46	4	71	64	67	55	257
34	Wade Hamption	26	50	30	49	4	75	51	71	52	249
35	Garden City GC	61	25	44	26	4	40	76	57	75	248
36	Maidstone	64	29	39	32	4	37	72	62	69	240
37	Southern Hills	32	28	62	43	4	69	73	39	58	239
38	The Golf Club	43	42	45	41	4	58	59	56	60	233
39	Winged Foot (East)	41	46	47	44	4	60	55	54	57	226
40	Old MacDonald	56	66	21	38	4	45	35	80	63	223
41	Bandon Trails	67	38	41	42	4	34	63	60	59	216
41	Olympic Club (Lake)	34	54	55	45	4	67	47	46	56	216
43	TPC Sawgrass	52	45	56	36	4	49	56	45	65	215
44	Shadow Creek	27	81	29	54	4	74	20	72	47	213
45	Old Town Club	92	41	33	29	4	9	60	68	72	209
46	Old Sandwich	58	52	52	35	4	43	49	49	66	207
47	Quaker Ridge	76	39	43	47	4	25	62	58	54	199
48	California GC	0	27	50	28	3	0	74	51	73	198
49	Ohoopee	0	32	23	53	3	0	69	78	48	195
50	Myopia Hunt Club	69	43	49	51	4	32	58	52	50	192

[Brian Finn]

Overall	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	T100 Rank	Count	GD Pts	GM Pts	GW Pts	T100 Pts	Total Pts
51	Oak Hill (East)	20	40	94	64	4	81	61	7	37	186
52	Sebonack	38	97	22	66	4	63	4	79	35	181
53	Honors	28	63	61	75	4	73	38	40	26	177
54	Plainfield	75	57	42	57	4	26	44	59	44	173
55	Rock Creek Cattle Co	81	48	60	50	4	20	53	41	51	165
56	Gozzer Ranch	31	70	84	55	4	70	31	17	46	164
57	Essex County Club	79	64	67	40	4	22	37	34	61	154
58	Valley Club of Montecito	78	55	59	62	4	23	46	42	39	150
59	Pikewood National	33	60	64	0	3	68	41	37	0	146
60	Inverness	65	33	79	82	4	36	68	22	19	145
61	Sleepy Hollow	62	36	70	92	4	39	65	31	9	144
62	Yeamans Hall	99	47	69	48	4	2	54	32	53	141
63	Pasatiempo	98	59	54	63	4	3	42	47	38	130
64	Milwaukee CC	70	71	76	59	4	31	30	25	42	128
65	Congaree	39	72	73	94	4	62	29	28	7	126
66	Piping Rock	0	56	72	52	3	0	45	29	49	123
67	Eastward Ho!	0	53	74	56	3	0	48	27	45	120
68	Kittansett Club	77	58	78	73	4	24	43	23	28	118
68	Monterey Peninsula CC (Shore)	53	67	65	0	3	48	34	36	0	118
70	Whispering Pines GC	55	0	53	90	3	46	0	48	11	105
71	Baltusrol (Lower)	45	69	88	0	3	56	32	13	0	101
72	Baltimore CC (East)	0	75	68	65	3	0	26	33	36	95
73	Boston GC	84	0	57	69	3	17	0	44	32	93
73	Calusa Pines	74	98	63	76	4	27	3	38	25	93
75	Kingsley Club	0	79	51	85	3	0	22	50	16	88
75	Victoria National	47	0	0	67	2	54	0	0	34	88
77	Sheep Ranch	0	80	35	0	2	0	21	66	0	87
78	Estancia	72	0	48	0	2	29	0	53	0	82
79	Streamsong Red	0	77	86	61	3	0	24	15	40	79
80	Ridgewood CC	0	74	83	71	3	0	27	18	30	75
81	Spyglass Hill	51	0	77	0	2	50	0	24	0	74
82	Kinloch	66	0	66	0	2	35	0	35	0	70
83	White Bear YC	0	76	0	58	2	0	25	0	43	68
84	Alotian Club	35	0	0	0	1	66	0	0	0	66
85	Scioto CC	68	0	92	78	3	33	0	9	23	65
86	Interlachen	59	0	0	80	2	42	0	0	21	63
87	Gamble Sands	0	61	91	91	3	0	40	10	10	60
87	Sand Valley	0	91	80	72	3	0	10	21	29	60
89	Butler National	49	0	96	0	2	52	0	5	0	57
90	Erin Hills	46	0	0	0	1	55	0	0	0	55
90	Oak Tree National	57	0	90	0	2	44	0	11	0	55
92	Castle Pines	48	0	0	0	1	53	0	0	0	53
93	The Creek	0	62	0	88	2	0	39	0	13	52
94	Monterey Peninsula CC (Dunes)	80	85	99	89	4	21	16	2	12	51
95	Moraine	0	65	0	87	2	0	36	0	14	50
96	Saint Louis CC	0	78	75	0	2	0	23	26	0	49
97	Nanea	0	94	0	60	2	0	7	0	41	48
98	Colorado GC	0	0	81	77	2	0	0	20	24	44
98	Dallas National	71	0	87	0	2	30	0	14	0	44
100	Philadelphia Cricket Wissahickon	0	0	58	0	1	0	0	43	0	43

[Brian Finn]

Overall	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	T100 Rank	Count	GD Pts	GM Pts	GW Pts	T100 Pts	Total Pts
101	Medinah CC #3	60	0	0	0	1	41	0	0	0	41
102	Baltusrol (Upper)	63	99	0	0	2	38	2	0	0	40
103	Streamsong Blue	0	95	0	70	2	0	6	0	31	37
104	Lawsonia Links	0	87	0	79	2	0	14	0	22	36
104	Yale Golf Course	0	0	98	68	2	0	0	3	33	36
106	Mammoth Dunes	0	96	71	0	2	0	5	30	0	35
107	Bel-Air CC	0	68	0	0	1	0	33	0	0	33
107	Pete Dye GC	87	0	82	0	2	14	0	19	0	33
109	Cherry Hills CC	73	100	0	0	2	28	1	0	0	29
109	Newport CC	0	84	89	0	2	0	17	12	0	29
111	Harbour Town	0	73	0	0	1	0	28	0	0	28
112	Old Elm	0	0	0	74	1	0	0	0	27	27
113	Whippoorwill	0	0	0	81	1	0	0	0	20	20
114	Aronimink	94	89	0	0	2	7	12	0	0	19
114	Canyata	82	0	0	0	1	19	0	0	0	19
114	Prairie Club (Dunes)	0	82	0	0	1	0	19	0	0	19
117	Arcadia Bluffs	83	0	0	0	1	18	0	0	0	18
117	Bluejack National	0	0	0	83	1	0	0	0	18	18
117	Hollywood	0	83	0	0	1	0	18	0	0	18
120	Skokie	0	0	0	84	1	0	0	0	17	17
121	Dismal River (Doak)	0	0	85	0	1	0	0	16	0	16
121	The Quarry at La Quinta	85	0	0	0	1	16	0	0	0	16
123	Diamond Creek	86	0	0	0	1	15	0	0	0	15
123	Glen Falls	0	86	0	0	1	0	15	0	0	15
125	Olympia Fields (North)	88	0	0	0	1	13	0	0	0	13
125	Wolf Point Ranch	0	88	0	0	1	0	13	0	0	13
127	Hudson National	89	0	0	0	1	12	0	0	0	12
128	Mountain Ridge	0	90	0	0	1	0	11	0	0	11
128	Rich Harvest Farms	90	0	0	0	1	11	0	0	0	11
130	Congressional (Blue)	91	0	0	0	1	10	0	0	0	10
131	Pinehurst #4	0	92	0	0	1	0	9	0	0	9
132	Kapalua Plantation	0	0	93	0	1	0	0	8	0	8
132	Palmetto	0	93	0	0	1	0	8	0	0	8
132	Valhalla GC	93	0	0	0	1	8	0	0	0	8
132	Wykagyl CC	0	0	0	93	1	0	0	0	8	8
136	Blackwolf Run (River)	95	0	0	0	1	6	0	0	0	6
136	CC of Scranton	0	0	0	95	1	0	0	0	6	6
136	Wannamoisett	0	0	95	0	1	0	0	6	0	6
139	Davenport	0	0	0	96	1	0	0	0	5	5
139	Double Eagle	96	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	0	5
141	Galloway National	0	0	97	0	1	0	0	4	0	4
141	Quail Hollow	97	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	0	4
141	The Country Club (Pepper Pike)	0	0	0	97	1	0	0	0	4	4
144	Fox Chapel	0	0	0	98	1	0	0	0	3	3
144	Streamsong Black	0	0	100	99	2	0	0	1	2	3
146	Spring Hill GC	100	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1
146	St  George’s CC	0	0	0	100	1	0	0	0	1	1

[Brian Finn]

Courses appearing on all 4 lists:  65
Courses appearing on 3 lists: 16
Courses appearing on 2 lists: 25

Courses appearing on only 1 list: 41

            l   l   l   
            l   l   l   
            l   l   l
           V  V  V

Golf Digest:  17 courses
Alotian Club (35)
Erin Hills (46)
Castle Pines (48)
Medinah CC #3 (60)
Canyata (82)
Arcadia Bluffs (83)
The Quarry at La Quinta   (85)
Diamond Creek   (86)
Olympia Fields (North) (88)
Hudson National (89)
Rich Harvest Farms (90)
Congressional (Blue) (91)
Valhalla GC (93)
Blackwolf Run (River) (95)
Double Eagle (96)
Quail Hollow (97)
Spring Hill GC (100)

Golf Magazine:  9 courses
Bel-Air CC (68)
Harbour Town (73)
Prairie Club (Dunes) (82)
Hollywood (83)
Glen Falls (86)
Wolf Point Ranch (88)
Mountain Ridge (90)
Pinehurst #4 (92)
Palmetto (93)

GolfWeek:  5 courses
Philadelphia Cricket Wissahickon (58)
Dismal River (Doak) (85)
Kapalua Plantation (93)
Wannamoisett (95)
Galloway National (97)

Top 100 Golf Courses:  10 courses
Old Elm    (74)
Whippoorwill (81)
Bluejack National (83)
Skokie (84)
Wykagyl CC (93)
CC of Scranton (95)
Davenport (96)
The Country Club (Pepper Pike) (97)
Fox Chapel (98)
St  George’s CC (100)

[Brian Finn]

Courses excluded from only 1 list:  16 courses

Excluded from Golf Digest:  10 courses
California GC (35 = average rank from other 3 sources)
Ohoopee (36)
Piping Rock (60)
Eastward Ho! (61)
Baltimore CC (East) (69)
Kingsley Club (72)
Streamsong Red (75)
Ridgewood CC (76)
Gamble Sands (81)
Sand Valley (81)

Excluded from Golf Magazine:  3 courses
Whispering Pines GC (66 = average rank from other 3 sources)
Boston GC (70)
Scioto CC (79)

Excluded from GolfWeek:  0 courses

Excluded from Top 100 GC:  3 courses
Pikewood National (52 = average rank from other 3 sources)
Monterey Peninsula CC (Shore) (62)
Baltusrol (Lower) (67)

[Brian Finn]

Courses on all 4 lists dropped substantially by 1 particular source:

Old Town Club – 92nd on GD list, average of 34th on other 3 lists
Shadow Creek – 81st on GM list, average of 37th on other 3 lists
Oak Hill (East) – 94th on GW list, average of 41st on other 3 lists
Sebonack – 97th on GM list, average of 42nd on other 3 lists
Yeamans Hall – 99th on GD list, average of 55th on other 3 lists
Sleepy Hollow – 92nd on T100GC list, average of 56th on other 3 lists
Pasatiempo – 98th on GD list, average of 59th on other 3 lists

I will stop here for now.  Interested to hear any thoughts.  Thanks.

[Tommy Williamsen]

There a few outliers in each magazine, but overall there is a lot of agreement in the top 50. GM might be an outlier all its own because it rates classic and modern in different lists.

[Brian Finn]

There a few outliers in each magazine, but overall there is a lot of agreement in the top 50. GM might be an outlier all its own because it rates classic and modern in different lists.

You must be referring to GolfWeek, who publish the modern and classic lists separately.  While that is the case, the rating methodology is exactly the same, so you can combine their lists and rank them by their numerical rating (0.00 - 10.00 scale), which is what I did to arrive at the GolfWeek top 100 courses in the US.  So, that really doesn't cause any outliers, per se.

[Tommy Williamsen]

There a few outliers in each magazine, but overall there is a lot of agreement in the top 50. GM might be an outlier all its own because it rates classic and modern in different lists.

You must be referring to GolfWeek, who publish the modern and classic lists separately.  While that is the case, the rating methodology is exactly the same, so you can combine their lists and rank them by their numerical rating (0.00 - 10.00 scale), which is what I did to arrive at the GolfWeek top 100 courses in the US.  So, that really doesn't cause any outliers, per se.

I did mean GOLF WEEK. Sorry. You put a lot of work into this.

[Mark_Fine]

Great summary Brian!  Like your other list, I plan to spend some time with it when I get the chance.  Busy days right now.  Thanks again for pulling all this together.  Probably part my fault for causing you all this work but it should open some eyes.  Well done.

[Paul Rudovsky]

Brian--


really superb piece of work.  must say the more I look at the GD list the worse it looks!

[Lou_Duran]

Brian,


In compiling the lists, did anything specifically jump out that might account for the differences?

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Wow, this is awesome

[Kalen Braley]

Brian,

Excellent work indeed!  As one who considers myself neutral to the ratings, that looks like a helluva nice list of top 50 in the aggregate.  It'll be interesting to see what criticisms come of that list.  Do you have all this in a xls that you can email me?  My address is under my name  <------------

[Joel_Stewart]

Brian,

In compiling the lists, did anything specifically jump out that might account for the differences?

Brian, first great work.


Lou, it has to be the criteria for Golf Digest.  As a former panelist, I spent 20 years trying to figure out why Pasatiempo is not in the top 100. Since I live in the Bay Area, I accompanied some panelists there over the years and came away with the following thoughts.  Its either an unconscious bias, lack of understanding of architecture or prejudice. 


Specifically, Pasatiempo is a hard course.  For those playing it for the first time and maybe the only time, you're probably not going to score very well unless you're a low handicap player.


Pasa is a hard walk. For those who are over a certain age or out of shape, it can be exhausting.


[size=78%]It's not private. [/size]


It's not designed by Fazio. Yes some may have a bias towards Mackenzie but they are out numbered by those who prefer modern architecture.


Out of state panelists have many choices in Northern California.  If you only have a few days or a week to play, it probably is on the bottom of the list.


Some minor things:


It's in a housing community.
They don't have caddies.
6 & 7 are not very good holes.

[Steve Lapper]

Brian--


really superb piece of work.  must say the more I look at the GD list the worse it looks!

Ditto on the list..... Paul, what took you so long?

[Ira Fishman]

Brian,


Wonderful work. I hope that those who run the ratings programs spend some time studying.


But now you need to compile the World top 100 lists and include the 147+1 Custodians!


Ira

[Tim Martin]

Brian-Thanks for putting this together!!!!

[Peter Pallotta]

Brian,
Wonderful work. I hope that those who run the ratings programs spend some time studying.
But now you need to compile the World top 100 lists and include the 147+1 Custodians!
Ira

And in gca's version of 'art imitating life imitating art', Brian's list will be influencing all the other ranking panels for years to come!!

[V_Halyard]

Late last Friday, on another thread, I shared some quick work I did to combine the most recent top 100 US courses from Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, and GolfWeek.  A handful of comments and questions followed, both within the thread, and even more so via private messages.  A few main questions arose, all of which I will address in this new thread.

Ponder provoking. Thanks Brian.

[Jeff Schley]

First I don't know how the heck you got the formatting correct right out of the box! I struggle with that every time I post some list or something. So kudos on that alone!

Some impressions:

• As GD certainly has the most variance from the other three, if we removed GD and just had the other three, what would the results be? You could compare GD to the consensus of the other 3 lists and I think big disparities would be noticed. Ohoopee, Cal GC etc. would rocket higher on the other 3, and the 17 that are only mentioned on GD would become even more polarizing.
• There is consensus on the top 20. For the overall list there are only 2 perhaps outliers, Muirfield Village got 1 top 20 rating (#15 GD) and is #39 overall, Oak Hill got 1 top 20 rating (#20 GD) and is ranked #51 overall. So all other courses who made the top 20 in at least 1 list the lowest outside of the above 2 was Ballyneal at #23. So there is consensus on the top 20 for the most part.
• Alotian, Erin Hills, Castle Pines have a very high score in GD.  Alotian has been there for a long time at the top half and CP is private, but why would Erin Hills be so high at GD as it is a public course not close to any major city really. That is a mystery to me.  Anyone have any idea of why Erin Hills does so well on GD as a public in Wisconsin, but absent from others?
• Chicago golf courses have fallen quite a bit with this view outside of Chicago and Shoreacres. After that there is no consensus at all. Butler is on 2 lists, but the remaining are only on 1 list: Olympia Fields, Old Elm, Rich Harvest, Skokie, Medinah. Medinah at one point in time I believe was #10 for GD!

[Kevin Pallier]

Brian


Thanks for the work on this. It seems the Top50 courses is pretty consistent across the mags.


What happened to the Alotian & Nanea of GW's list - I thought they were previously considered in the Top20 modern courses? 

[jeffwarne]

Brian--


really superb piece of work.  must say the more I look at the GD list the worse it looks!

Great work Brian.
Golf Digest was once the gold standard as a magazine and a ratings panel-but not for many years.
Brian's work shines a bright light on the lack of sophistication in the GD ratings.
I must say the lists of what's NOT on each publication's list is most revealing.
Based on that I'd say GOLF and Top 100 both show the most sophisticated ratings. (and yes, I'm partial to classic gems as well as GOLF magazine and Top 100)
Previously, I would have said Golfweek was the most comprehensive but Top 100 and GOLF have made great strides and now vie for supremacy.

[Mark_Fine]

My quick takeaways - Which list is best is as subjective as which course is best as they all are subject to different criteria, there will always be a few head scratchers on any list and these are no different, the exact order will never be right (because there is no right), as you get further from the top there is always more variation (just like on any kind of list), some will say Medinah is a better championship test than Sand Hills (so it depends on your perspective and your definition of greatness), some will argue how can you possibly compare a design like Myopia Hunt Club to a Winged Foot West or Oakmont or The Ocean Course at Kiawah or Nanea, ..., but if these lists do anything, they ALL clearly include a lot of great golf courses ALL of which are worth at least one go around and some worth many many more if you happen to be that lucky.  Those here who have played most of them will know what I am talking about.

Again great work Brian!  Thank you 😊

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