The complete release:
(New York, Aug. 12, 2008) – Golf Magazine (
www.GOLF.com) celebrates public golf courses in its September issue with the release of the 2008 Top-100 Courses You Can Play – a biennial ranking of the top courses across the country where membership is not a requirement to play. Pacific Dunes, Tom Doak’s Links-style masterpiece in Bandon, Ore., edged out Pebble Beach Golf Links for the top spot on the list, which hits newsstands Aug. 15. (See attached list, which is for reference only, not for publication.)
“What Pacific Dunes has going for it is that it’s totally back to nature,” says Joe Passov, Golf Magazine’s Course Rankings and Architecture Editor. “There are no homes; there are no roads; there are some truly gigantic dunes that occupy holes; various routing quirks that are a lot of fun that you don’t see elsewhere – back-to-back par 3s, four par 3s on the back nine alone – and you’ve got more ocean views there than you do at Pebble Beach.”
The 2008 edition of Top 100 Courses You Can Play has hosted 11 PGA TOUR major championships; 13 courses were designed by Tom Fazio and nine by Pete Dye; 23 of the courses you can play for greens fees less than $50, and if you’re a traveling golfer, California has to be on your list as 10 courses land on the list from The Golden State. Eleven courses were first-time selections to the list, including Chambers Bay, debuting at No. 8. “Chambers Bay is a true collaboration of the RTJII team,” Passov writes of the Robert Trent Jones II design that opened in 2007 and has already been awarded the 2015 U.S. Open. “The course is a strategic masterpiece with wild elevation changes, split fairways, enormous dunes, tattered-edge bunkers and stunning scenery. We can’t wait for the 2015 Open.”
The Top-100 Courses You Can Play was compiled through input from Golf Magazine’s World Course Ranking Panel (which can be found at Golf.com), the Golf Magazine editorial staff, industry insiders and the magazine’s network of “course spies” in the field.
Notes on Top 100 Courses You Can Play:
11 Courses make their debut! In addition to Chambers Bay, the following courses have earned first-time recognition on the Golf Magazine list:
#27 Erin Hills Golf Course, host of the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship
#29 Fallen Oak at Beau Rivage Resort, Tom Fazio’s Gulf Coast design that routes through rolling hills and picturesque tree-lined fairways in the De Soto National Forest
#44 We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw’s 2006 desert design in Fort McDowell, Ariz.
#62 The Highland Course at Primland Resort, Meadows of Dan, Va.
#79 Osprey Meadows at Tamarack Resort, Tamarack, Idaho
#88 Sunday River, Newry, Maine
#93 Circling Raven Golf Club, Worley, Idaho
#96 The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa, Grand Junction, Colo.
#99 Atlantic City Country Club, Northfield, N.J.
#100 Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation, North Myrtle Beach, S.C.
By championship:
· Has hosted 11 Total PGA TOUR Major Championships,
· 8 U.S. Opens,
· 3 PGA Championships,
· 11 U.S. Women’s Opens,
· 11 U.S. Amateurs,
· 3 U.S. Senior Opens,
· 3 Ryder Cups
Note: The top-five courses alone have hosted six U.S. Opens, six U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships, two U.S. Senior Opens and two Ryder Cups. The events span well more than 100 years, from the 1901 U.S. Amateur to the 2008 U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago.
Affordable: 62 of the top 100 courses can be played for $100 or less.
Totals by state:
· 10, California
· 7, South Carolina
· 6, Florida and Arizona
· 5, Nevada and Oregon, including Nos. 1 and 6
By population: Hawaii has the most courses represented on the list per capita, followed by Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota.
By designer:
· Hendersonville, N.C.-based architect Tom Fazio has 13 designs on the list.
· Carmel, Indiana’s Pete Dye, has nine, five of which are inside the top 15 (Nos. 3, 4, 9, 12 and 14).
· 18-time major championship-winner Jack Nicklaus’ prolific hand is represented seven times.