MY TOP 10 (Pac Dunes > Sand Hills!)

[John_Conley]

One of my gripes with the G.D. list (pun intended) is that the arbitrary "Tradition" category can pollute otherwise valid data.  (Mucci shares this as it is even hard to define what constitutes tradition.)

I don't have the time Vegis did 2 years ago, but here is my comment about the Top 10, subtracting out the category I think is pointless.

I took the Top 10, Sand Hills, and Pacific Dunes and netted out Tradition.  Obviously I oversimplified things, but the point holds.

Pine Valley - 64.65 : stays at 1
Shinnecock - 63.30 : up from 6
Augusta - 63.03 : was 2
Cypress - 62.74 : was 3
Pebble - 61.55
Oakmont - 61.27 : had highest Tradition score, why?
Merion - 60.51
PACIFIC DUNES - 59.80 : up from 47
SAND HILLS - 59.78 : was 38
Winged Foot - 59.52 : falls from 9 to 10
Oak Hill - 59.06 : falls from 10 to 11
Oakland Hills - 58.63 : had more Tradition than Pebble?

[Mike_Cirba]

John;

That's a great post.  What's that word again that comes to mind???  Gerrymandering?



  

[Mike_Cirba]

Interesting due to our recent Pacific/Bandon Dunes discussion, without tradition, Bandon Dunes scores 58.48, which narrowly misses the top 10.

[JDoyle]

JC - I was just thinking the same thing - strip out the "Tradition" scores and you are probably left with a much better list.

To continue your list:  

11. Muirfield Village - 59.49
12. Wade Hampton - 59.47  (37 with Tradition)
13. Victoria National - 59.17  (49 with Tradition)
14. Oak Hill East - 59.06
15. Seminole - 58.92
16. Pinehurst #2 - 58.73
17. Oakland Hills - 58.56
18. Bethpage Black - 58.56 (vs. #30)
19. Medinah - 58.52
20. Shadow Creek - 58.42 (vs. 48)
21. Bandon Dunes - 58.40 (vs. 62)
22. Fishers Island - 58.27 (vs. 34)

I think their rankings makes much more sense without the Tradition category.

[John_Conley]

Only a matter of time before Mike Vegis does the entire 100 - or at least down to Kiawah!