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

[Ben Malach]

I should mention Kenogamisis too. Stanley Thompson design 3 hours north of Thunder Bay (lol), but nine really, really good golf holes. The Les Furber nine is actually atrocious and downright offensive, but the Thompson nine is probably a Doak 6

On a side note is there a golf architect that has ruined more good sites than Les Furber. I can't think of a single one of his courses that I want to go play, but I can list off a ton that need to be completely rerouted and rebuilt.


Other side of the coin,


Shout out of Picture Butte and Fort Mcleod for being good courses in need of a logging permit.

[James Reader]

Tom


It occurs to me that this is probably both the best and the worst place to ask this question. The bar for a course that “no-one on GCA has heard of” is pretty high! 


Your films are great.  A few thoughts from me of courses in my area that most golfers haven’t heard of that would be worthy of your treatment and deserve to be better known than they are:


Halifax
Huddersfield
Manchester
Baildon
And, without a doubt, Cavendish

[Rees Milikin]

Columbia CC in Columbia, MS (Circa 1931) hasn't ever been mentioned, but aerial pictures and street view lead me to believe there is something worth seeing. Would suspect the either Seymour Dunn or William Langford might have had a hand in this course, but can't find any info pointing to either.

Rees, that photo intrigued the shit out of me and I checked the course aerial out. It looks amazing! I would bet a lot of $ that  has to be Langford- unless Harry Smead made it to Mississippi!  Always looking for more Langfords - thanks for the heads up!

Looking up "golf course" on Google maps and trying to find the needle in the haystack is bit of nerdy and often fruitless hobby. However, every once in a while you stumble upon something like this that makes you wanna hop in the car and go check it out. I know Langford did a course or two in MS and Laurel CC is a Seymour Dunn, but outside of those two, the only other architect that I think has any sort of design style similar to this aerial that worked in that region is Harry Collis. Harry Collis' work at Rhinelander CC in WI looks similar to this.

[Andrew Harvie]

I should mention Kenogamisis too. Stanley Thompson design 3 hours north of Thunder Bay (lol), but nine really, really good golf holes. The Les Furber nine is actually atrocious and downright offensive, but the Thompson nine is probably a Doak 6

On a side note is there a golf architect that has ruined more good sites than Les Furber. I can't think of a single one of his courses that I want to go play, but I can list off a ton that need to be completely rerouted and rebuilt.


Other side of the coin,


Shout out of Picture Butte and Fort Mcleod for being good courses in need of a logging permit.

Probably not, although Fairview Mountain is his best in my eyes. He might be on the short list for the worst architect of all time who made a career out of it!

[Pete_Pittock]

Royal Oaks in Vancouver, WA.
Illahe Hills in Salem, OR

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Because there are so many great courses in metro-NY, quite a few great courses are hidden in plain sight. I was fortunate to play almost every club the 25 years I worked there. Ten courses might be tight, but
Garden City CC
Sands Point
Huntington
Seawane
Glen Head
Siwanoy
Metropolis
Sunningdale
Round Hill
Old Oaks
Tamarack
Silver Spring
Knickerbocker
North Jersey
Rumson

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

The Golden Age was really great for Southern California.  Unfortunately, quite a few great, great courses are NLE.  However, there are a lot of really wonderful courses that emerged from challenging sites.
Woodland Hills
Annandale
Palos Verdes
Redlands
Hacienda
Victoria
Santa Anita

[Duncan Cheslett]

Tom


It occurs to me that this is probably both the best and the worst place to ask this question. The bar for a course that “no-one on GCA has heard of” is pretty high! 


Your films are great.  A few thoughts from me of courses in my area that most golfers haven’t heard of that would be worthy of your treatment and deserve to be better known than they are:


Halifax
Huddersfield
Manchester
Baildon
And, without a doubt, Cavendish

Manchester (Hopwood) is definitely a course of real quality and pedigree which inexplicably flies well under the radar. 100 years ago it was it was one of the better  known and well regarded courses in England.


Cavendish is in danger of no longer being a hidden gem. The latest Golf World rankings place us at #61 in England!

[Jeff Schley]

The Golden Age was really great for Southern California.  Unfortunately, quite a few great, great courses are NLE.  However, there are a lot of really wonderful courses that emerged from challenging sites.
Woodland Hills
Annandale
Palos Verdes
Redlands
Hacienda
Victoria
Santa Anita

Robert,
2 others I'd put in that group:
El CabelleroSan Gabriel CC

[John Mayhugh]

Tom,
Thanks for the reply. I've been fortunate to visit the UK quite a bit for golf, and the places you're profiling add so much to any trip. Glad that you are helping promote them.

I haven't seen Blackwell in several years, but sure looks like Frank is doing some great work there. Seems a great place to call home

[R_Paulis]

In Southern California:


1) Soule Park -- not nearly enough people even know this course exists


2) Rustic Canyon -- A criminal number of good golfers have never played this course from the Inland Empire, OC, San Diego. Many have barely heard of it. It's a 2-hour drive for me and can be 3 hours coming home, which is why I suspect it's that way.

Through the latter part of 2020 a tee time could be easily obtained at Soule, whereas Covid has made it even harder to get a tee time at Rustic. Likewise for Olivas Links, a nifty nearby Ventura public redesigned by Forrest Richardson. Apparently the word is out about Soule as the tee times recently have become harder to obtain.


What a difference Hanse's 2005 remodel has made on Soule. The course was tired and lacked distinction per remod. The green complexes with Rustic type aprons and its bold bunkers have made the course fun and strategically challenging. I recall a couple bunkers being removed due to the "locals" complaining and I wondered what Hanse thought of that.

[A.G._Crockett]

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

Great call on Arrowhead Pointe; even really good golfers in GA who play a lot of courses often haven't heard of it.  If I'm traveling alone between NC and GA, I make it a point to get there on the way down.