A course you just don’t get…

[Ally Mcintosh]

I looked back on Dornoch and Golf Mag always had it rated highly right enough. It is in the GB&I rankings where I think it has jumped most. Lahinch is another that has risen hugely. Another I love also.


To echo a little of what we both said, rankings have changed along the following lines in my perception:


- Panels are made up more of GCA types who tend to embrace quirky features and individual holes more so than the previous generation.


- The admiration and fawning over Golden Age architects has increased exponentially (although admittedly this can’t be the reason behind NB).


- Panels are now swayed more by things that look cool on one play over necessarily things that play well (and can’t be determined on one play).


For this thread, there are very few well thought of courses that “I don’t get”. Maybe I’ve just avoided those that I know would be less to my taste.

[Anthony Butler]

The Country Club in Brookline is hosting the US Open in 2022. I’m sure the USGA will put together a decent course from the 3 nines, but as an everyday members course it has too many ho-hum or just plain weird holes to justify it’s Top 40 world ranking.


IMHO it barely makes the Top 5 in MA as far as an everyday members course.


From my one playing of Pine Valley I recognize it’s a phenomenal course, but I’m not sure I’d enjoy being a member there… in many cases you’re better off missing a green by 5 yards than 5 feet as the ball tends to shoot off the side of many green pads into spots where you’re lucky to make a double bogey.


I realize golf is not meant to be ‘fair’ but Pine Valley takes that philosophy to the extreme.

[Andrew Harvie]

I didn't really find Pinehurst No. 4 to be all that appealing and find Gil's work to be subpar there. National Golf Club of Canada is the obvious one in Canada. Quintero in Arizona is no good. Tobacco Road I get, I just don't like as much as others so maybe it does not fall in this camp. Gamble Sands is half excellent, half hodge podge to me but still fun

[Tom_Doak]

Or maybe NB is so loved because it has one of the best and most compelling back nines on the planet. The views don't hurt though. A lot of panels have become more open to odd holes...which should always have been the case considering the stature of TOC.

Sean:


You are preaching to the choir, here:  North Berwick has always been one of my favorite places in golf.  It just amazes me that the definition of "great" has changed so much that a course universally dismissed as "too easy" 30 years ago is now in the top 30.  If there were a few more top golfers in the panel, and they loved it half as much as we do, then it would be easier for me to accept.  But it's still on my short list of places I'd want to keep going back to.  I was in Scotland for five days in June, and it was the only course I played.

[Sean_A]

Or maybe NB is so loved because it has one of the best and most compelling back nines on the planet. The views don't hurt though. A lot of panels have become more open to odd holes...which should always have been the case considering the stature of TOC.

Sean:


You are preaching to the choir, here:  North Berwick has always been one of my favorite places in golf.  It just amazes me that the definition of "great" has changed so much that a course universally dismissed as "too easy" 30 years ago is now in the top 30.  If there were a few more top golfers in the panel, and they loved it half as much as we do, then it would be easier for me to accept.  But it's still on my short list of places I'd want to keep going back to.  I was in Scotland for five days in June, and it was the only course I played.

Which is why I mentioned TOC. OK, it's a champ course in name so it technically fulfills the big boy criteria, but it's about the easiest champ course on the planet. Plus, most daily play golf is from tees so far forward that it is a source of grousing for tourists...so few people experience TOC in champ clothing. Yet, the course is always ranked very highly despite the idiosyncrasies of the design. I find it more surprising that raters didn't better explore the more TOC side of ranking rather than treating it as a sacred cow. Everybody gets TOC in part because we are told its sacrilege not to.

Ciao

[Philippe Binette]

Maybe the raters are getting older so they get tires of tough courses

[Philippe Binette]

About Dornoch, i think it’s a great course and it gets a lot of love because the tee shots are a) demanding and b) relatively fair and straightforward...
There are some quirky bounce here and there.. but players get more frustration out of a seemingly good drive that end up in trouble than by a slightly off approach that dies in a bunker... they blame themselves instead of the course for the latter...