Best University Golf Course

[PCCraig]

I know much has been discussed here about Yale being the best in the country, however, with so many University's now having there own golf courses, anyone here have a favorite?

I have spent a lot of time on Indiana's Course, which has some really good land, but a school that really doesnt care much for putting any money into it.

In terms of the best I've played, I would have to vote for Notre Dame's...it's rare for me to be jealous of anything Notre Dame, however at about $15 a round for students on a coore course isnt too bad.

[Brad Tufts]

I've played Yale and Taconic as far as college courses go (not including the Middlebury course), and barring a restoration of epic proportions, Taconic gets my vote for now of the two as a great playable/sneaky hard venue.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

See the Golf Digest Rankings:

The usual suspects are ranked:

1. Karsten Creek @ OSU
2. The Orchards @ Mt. Holyoke
3. U of Michigan

http://tinyurl.com/9f9yp

www.golfdigest.com/features/index.ssf?/features/gd200509collegegolf2.html

[PCCraig]

I forgot about it, but I have played Michigan's Course, and I did think it was surprisingly great. A wonderful set of short par-4's and overall very hard greens.

While I was there, someone had told me that they used to park cars on the course for football games, and the place was a bit of a mess. However they fixed and restored the course, and is much much better now.

[Dan_Callahan]

Of the Yale, Orchards, Taconic college triumverate, ranking should be based on how recently you've played the three courses.

5 years ago: 1) Taconic 2) Yale 3) Orchards

2 years ago: 1) Orchards 2) Taconic 3) Yale

1 year ago: 1) Yale 2) Orchards 3) Taconic

Purely my opinion, of course, but the recent improvements at Yale have transformed the course. Similarly, the work accomplished at the Orchards prior to the Women's Open brought life back to a rapidly decaying layout. Taconic has been consistently good, but doesn''t have quite as many interesting features as the other two courses. I'm also not a big fan of some of Taconic's tight routing areas.

[Chris Neff]

The U of Florida has a very nice facilty that was renovated recently by Bobby Weed. It was the old Gainesville CC. Good Donald Ross with simple features.

[Dave Schmanke]

UNC Finley. Always in great shape.

[JNC Lyon]

Orchards, South Hadley, MA

Great old Ross, a few dud holes, but several outstanding/quirky/fun features.  Holes 2,5,7,11,13,14,16,18 stand out in my mind as being great examples of Ross's great work and greens.

[Dave Kemp]

Some friends went to a Michigan football game this past fall and said they parked on a golf course for the tail gate party!!!!!

Would it have been *the* golf course?

[Gerry B]

yale

[Tim Gavrich]

I've played Duke and Yale, and Yale gets the nod by a lot, but I still really like Duke.  I don't understand all the derision towards the Joneses, because I believe Duke is a very good test of golf, with its weaknesses being a few mundane holes on the front.  But I think the par 5s are fun, and I really like the 12th and 15th holes as par 3s.

[JLahrman]

Pat,

How recently have you been playing IU's course?  They were sprucing it up back in 2003 when I finished grad school.  I thought it was a good layout (except for #2 ant #15), and while as you mentioned it could use some more attention, the $12 student rate was hard to beat.

I used to play at OSU Scarlet quite a bit, does anyone have an update on the work going on there?

[Jordan Wall]

Heres the Golf Digest survey of the best college courses.  

1. *#Karsten Creek (Oklahoma State), Stillwater, Okla., 405-743-1658, karstencreek.net. Green fee: $250. Tom Fazio, 1994. Par 72, 7,408 yards. 62.62.
2. *Orchards G.C. (Mount Holyoke), South Hadley, Mass., 413-534-3806, orchardsgolf.com. Green fee: $25-$100. Donald Ross, 1922. Par 71, 6,575 yards. 60.27.
3. *University of Michigan Golf Cse., Ann Arbor, Mich., 734-615-4653, mgoblue.com/umgc. Green fee: $25-$50. Alister Mackenzie, 1931. Par 71, 6,687 yards. 59.12.
4. *#The Rawls Course at Texas Tech, Lubbock, Tex., 806-742-4653, texastechgolf.ttu.edu. Green fee: $27-$42. Tom Doak, 2003. Par 72, 7,207 yards. 58.92.
5. *The Course at Yale U., New Haven, Conn., 203-392-2376, yalebulldogs.collegeports.com/facilities/facgolf.html. $25-$120. C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor, 1926. Par 70, 6,749 yards. 58.15.
6. *#University Ridge Golf Cse. (Wisconsin), Verona, Wis., 608-845-7700, universityridge.com. Green fee: $25-$73. Robert Trent Jones Jr., 1991. Par 72, 6,888 yards. 57.90.
7. *Ohio State University G.C. (Scarlet Cse.), Columbus, Ohio, 614-459-4653, ohiostategolfclub.com. Green fee: $18-$60. Alister Mackenzie, 1938. Course closed for renovation by Jack Nicklaus. Opening in Spring 2006. Par 71, 7,468 yards. 57.02.
8. *Eisenhower G.C. (Blue Cse), Air Force, Colorado Springs, 719-333-4735, eisenhowergolfclub.com. Green fee: $12-$55. Robert Trent Jones Sr., 1963. Par 72, 7,301 yards. 57.01.
9. *Stanford (Calif.) U. Golf Cse., 650-323-0944, stanfordgolfcourse.com. Green fee: $25-$150. Billy Bell, 1930. Par 70, 6,721 yards. 56.23.
10. #Colbert Hills G.C. (Kansas State), Manhattan, Kan., 785-776-6475, colberthills.com. Green fee: $45-$79. Jim Colbert and Jeffrey Brauer, 2000. Par 72, 7,525 yards. 56.10.
11. #Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (Kampen Cse.), Purdue, West Lafayette, Ind., 765-494-3216, purdue.edu/golf. Green fee: $24-$45. Pete Dye, 1998. Par 72, 7,382 yards. 55.99.
12. *#Duke University G.C., Durham, N.C., 919-681-2288, washingtondukeinn.com. Green fee: $40-$85. Robert Trent Jones Sr., 1957; Rees Jones, 1993. Par 72, 7,127 yards. 55.95.
13. *The U. Club of Baton Rouge (LSU), Baton Rouge, La., 225-819-0800, universityclubbr.com. Jim Lipe, 1998. Par 72, 7,274 yards. 55.88.
14. *#UNC Finley Golf Cse., Chapel Hill, N.C., 919-962-2349, uncfinley.com. Green fee: $45-$77. Tom Fazio, 1999. Par 72, 7,349 yards. 55.85.
15. *#Warren Golf Cse. at Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., 574-631-4653, warrengolfcourse.com. Green fee: $22-$49. Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, 2000. Par 71, 7,011 yards. 54.85.

[hick]

Taconic Has a new web site and has the GCA profile under course layout. Hope to play Taconic and the orchards this spring.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I've only played three, Yale, Taconic and Orchards. I haven't played Yale or Taconic in the past two seasons and only played the Orchards once, about 8 years ago. I have no idea about the quality of the other courses on the list but I would be extremely happy having the above on a weekly rotation for life.  

 

[Ryan Williams]

I'm gonna have to go with Forest Akers @ Michigan State University.  The East Course resembles a cow grazing pasture and I think there might be a few of them on the maintenance payroll.  However, the West Course is a great track and is maintained extremely well.  It's unfortunate we only hold a couple of collegiate tournaments there the entire year, mainly due to the weather conditions.  What's even better is the practice facility that is on the G.R.A.A.'s Top 100 ranges list every year.  The course was originally designed by MSU graduate Bruce Matthews in 1958 and then redesigned in 1992 by former Spartan Golfer Arthur Hills.  To top things off they re-routed the course a couple of years ago and built a brand new clubhouse which is quite a sight to see.

GO SPARTANS !!!

[Jay Cox]

In my opinion, Yale is head and shoulders above the other main competitors I've played -- OSU Scarlet, Stanford, Taconic, Orchards, Duke.  To be fair, that opinion is quite biased, since I played there in college.  But even between 1999 and 2003 -- hardly the course's high point -- it had an aura of greatness about it that none of the others shared.  Every time I teed it up, I felt like I was playing somewhere special.  

I haven't played another college course that had that same aura, though I've been told that Michigan might be the closest.  Among the ones I've played, I tentatively would rank them:

2. Taconic
3. Orchards
4. OSU Scarlet
5. Stanford (though I haven't played it since they screwed it up, I mean, renovated it)
6. Hanover (Dartmouth's golf course, post-2001 renovation by Ron Pritchard)
7. Duke (I played four rounds there and, while I liked it well enough at the time, I can remember maybe three holes now)
8. OSU Gray

Re: Orchards, I'm inclined to agree with Tom Doak's statement in the confidential guide that it's a great course if you just happen to stumble onto it but a disappointment if you expect something fantastic.  I'd gotten my hopes up too much, and was a bit disappointed.  Still, I agree with Jim Kennedy that a weekly rotation of Yale, Taconic, Orchards would make me quite happy -- though I admit I'd try to play Yale twice for every round at the other two.

[Kyle Harris]

With some work, PSU White could break that list... if just for the 9-10 Willie Park holes that exist.

I present to the PGM class and other University officials on March 15th regarding my research. Hopefully that will kick start something.  

[Brad Klein]

Karsten Creek is a public course, not university course, since it's not on or near the OSU campus; students, alumni and facuty get no break on fees or acess; it's run by a private corporation, not a public/university entity and was built with privately-raised funds, not public money. The OSU golf teams plays there, but otherwise it is not a university course.

[T_MacWood]

Yale is the best I have played by a long shot. Followed by Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame in that order. I suspect the new Ohio State will rocket up the lists, it appears to have everything GD raters appreciate - length, difficulty, and visually spectacular hazards.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Brad

If Karsten Creek is not a "university course," then why does GD continue to rank it #1?

I can't find GW's rankings on the website. Do you include Karsten Creek in your rankings?

By the way, I wanna stay in the Boone Pickens Lodge when I visit Stillwater.

www.karstencreek.net

Steve

[Craig Van Egmond]

Steve,

         GD doesn't list their criteria so it would be hard to distinguish between the 2 lists.  GW does not rank Karsten in its University courses but under resort courses or something like that.  Karsten used to be owned by the University but 2 years ago it was transferred over to a private foundation of which Boone Pickens is on the board.

         Karsten Creek is an excellent golf course, a great recruiting tool for bringing in golfers but it has little benefit to those of us who work for OSU.

         Boone Pickens lodge is a very nice place to stay. If you do make it to Stillwater let me know.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Craig

I think I'll write to Ron Whitten and make him aware of Brad Klein's views and the facts. This will open a spot on the Top 10 list for Penn State's White Course when Kyle Harris' project is finished at my alma mater.

I've always liked Red Lawrence's U of New Mexico course which used to be highly ranked in this category.

Steve

[Brad Tufts]

I don't know who is in favor/who is against the bifurcation of rankings, but perhaps we need to split this ranking between classic and modern.  I cannot seem to get my head around comparing a Karsten Creek (have not played there) at 7,408, and Taconic at around 6,600.  Those two numbers are not even in the same ballpark challenge-wise, and god only knows what my former D3 compatriots would fire over 7408 yards....

[Brad Klein]

Steve, I cannot account for what GD does. Two years ago I wrote an article in GW explaining why and how Karsten Creek was not considered a university course and why we didn't rank it as such. It's simply a daily-fee layout. We have never heard a peep of criticism from the OSU folks about it since.