[Parker Page]

The headline of the new rankings was that Pine Valley was the new #1, which is disingenuous because even Ron Whitten himself says that Pine Valley and Augusta are 1A and 1B.


So, if you were writing/editing, what should have been the real headlines (or at least noteworthy developments)?  And let's try to keep this thread focused on architecture, even if you think that the Golf Digest list itself is not focused on architecture.  Here are a few to start:


1. The courses that are still absent from the Top 200 list (most likely because of insufficient ballots): Nanea, Myopia Hunt Club, Old Town, CC of Fairfield, Mountain Lake, Skokie, Salem, Piping Rock, Quail Hollow, Lawsonia
2. Courses that dropped off entirely (most of these are probably because of insufficient ballots)
    1. Ridgewood
    2. Atlantic CC
    3. Dormie Club
    4. CC of North Carolina
    5. Both Carlton Woods courses
    6. Baltimore (East)
    7. Sherwood
    8. Canterbury
    9. Stone Eagle
    10. Trump Bedminster
    11. Forest Creek (North)
    12. Saucon Valley (Old)
    13. Cascata
    14. Greenville CC (Chanticleer)
    15. Monterey Peninsula (Dunes)
    16. Chechessee Creek
    17. Tullymore
3. Pinehurst did not move up in the rankings, even though others did who benefitted from renovations/restorations – Shoreacres, Maidstone, Aronimink.
4. A number of courses continued their ascension:
    1. Peachtree #33 – #87 in 2007-08
    2. Ballyneal #50 – started at #95 in 2011-12
    3. Whispering Pines #55 – started at #75 in 2013-14
    4. Old Sandwich #56 – started at #89 in 2011-12
    5. Cal Club #110 – started at #147 in 2013-14
5. A number of courses continued their precipitous drop (see separate post for a more detailed look at why so many courses are dropping).
6. A few big names dropped out of the Top 100:
    1. Mountaintop
    2. Hazeltine
    3. Streamsong (Red)
    4. French Lick (Dye)
7. Neither Streamsong course moved up, and in fact both dropped a couple of spots.  I haven’t played there yet, but this surprised me based upon the reviews I’d heard.
8. Spring Hill and Essex County Club rightly received praise for being the only true debuts in the Top 100, but there were some big names that debuted in the Second 100 – Philly Cricket, Shooting Star, Dismal River (Red), Huntsman Springs, Fox Chapel, Mauna Kea (not a true debut), GC of Tennessee, CC of Birmingham, Kiawah (River), Ballyhack, Prairie Club, White Bear Yacht Club, et al.
9. Someone in Washington State is submitting some high rankings.  Sahalee jumped back into the Top 100 after years of falling, and Aldarra jumped 19 spots to #153.


Any other interesting developments?

[Mike Sweeney]

Jim Colton posted an interesting Blog on the "Shot Values":



http://www.wegoblogger31.com/2017/01/golf-digest-2017-18-rankings-food-for.html


Shot Values is defined as "How well do the holes pose a variety of risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?". As noted, it's worth twice as much as the other categories so is obviously viewed as the most important characteristic. But what if it were the only category for ranking golf courses? Could Shot Values alone produce a better list, in your opinion? Since Shot Values is difficult to define and even more difficult to quantify, might it be akin to a raters overall view of the course quality anyways?The list below shows that a Shot Values only approach would bring Hazeltine National, Harbour Town, Pasatiempo, Streamsong Red, Chambers Bay, Galloway National, The Course at Yale (up from 177 to 90!), Colorado Golf Club, Cal Club and Shoal Creek into the top 100 at the expense of Monterey Peninsula Shore, Laurel Valley, Flint Hills National, Hudson National, The Course at Black Rock, The Preserve, Double Eagle, Mayacama, Diamond Creek and The Quarry at La Quinta (down from 83 to 144).

And my response to his BLOG was:

Yale and Bethpage make pretty big jumps up as expected as BB greens and Yale conditioning drops them on the overall numbers, I think. Kittansett, Pacific Dunes (not played) and MPCC Shore drop as they have less green side bunkering, and are arguably flatter ground game courses. My quick take is build raised greens with dramatic bunkering to get higher on "shot values" on GD. Yale has one fairway bunker on the first hole. If it had more, would it go higher? Probably, which is kind of sad as the land forms there make it a more dramatic driving course than many higher ranked courses where the fairway bunkering is now 10 yards deep into the rough with the much narrower fairway lines. See Quaker Ridge. (A 60 was shot at Yale this fall - http://www.yalebulldogs.com/.../releases/20161009t7xtsc )

PS - Posted with Jim's permission and he sent me this:

Out of the top 200 courses, Yale is 90th in shot values, 40th on design variety, 62nd in memorability, 138th in resistance to scoring, 196th in aesthetics, 197th in ambience and 200th in conditioning.

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