[Steve Salmen]

Matt, Tim, Tom, John,

I'll let you have a laugh at me.  I'm from Northern California and have not idea WTF the Institute is???  Helpa brother out.

[Leo Barber]

[/quote]

There are so many courses that are knocking on the door of that list: Paraparaumu Beach (watched 2002 NZ Open there, was meant to play on the Monday after but it was too wet...), Morfontaine, Riviera, Muirfield, Fishers Island...

[/quote]

There is a game waiting for you Scott when you are next down - Maybe after the 2012 NZ Open?  I guess NZ Golf should decide on the 2011 venue first.

Top 5 Played

Royal County Down
Royal Melbourne Composite
The Old Course
Barnbougle Dunes
Ballybunion

Top 5 To play Rest of World

Cypress Pt - have walked it and seen enough to really want to play it
Royal Dornoch - Links of the highest caliber
Pine Valley - A course so rarely exposed yet it tops all the lists
Augusta - The most hyped course in the world.
NGLA - A links course and located in the US - ticks a couple of boxes to fill both a gap in my US golfing pedigree and love of the Links

Top 5 Still to play in NZ

Oreti Sands - the southern most links course in the world
Titirangi - Mackenzies only routing in NZ and a wonderful setting for golf
Waipu - Never heard a bad word about the course in fact it pops up regularly on favourite lists - remarkable for a small out of the way track
Muriwai - Keen to see if this Auckland Links is a pretender or a contender, links by name or links by nature.
The Hills - A kind of exclusivity has been created around this course rarely seen in this part of the world which in itself creates a desire to want to play it.

[Kenny Baer]

Sean as a foreigner I may accept that.  But foreigners are weird.

Thanks man.
Now only if I could get an invite there.  You think Pine Valley and Augusta are tough nuts to crack?

Top 5 experience for sure. Especially the with Cougar Den and the halfway house on the back nine...

[Jim Nugent]

My list is a little far fetched but...
1. Apache Stronghold circa 2000 (IMO, among Doak's finest and the best desert golf course ever built)
2. High Point circa 1990 (should have been an model for great affordable golf)...

Expanding the criteria even more, I'll add:

1.  Lido
2.  Biarritz in France: what were the chasm hole and its green really like?
3.  Lasker's estate course in Chicago
4.  ANGC in 1934, to compare with today's rendition
5.  Merion pre/during-construction, to hopefully put to rest the question about who designed it.

[James Boon]

I've been thinking this one over for a while and have decided to list the top 5 courses I want to play in GB & I, however, and this may sound crazy, but I could only get to 3 courses.

The Old Course, St. Andrews
I should have played here when I was younger but a migraine got in the way. Since then I've been back several times and watched The Open there but never managed to get on the course myself.

Royal St. Georges
I've heard too many good things from people whose opinions I rate, to not have this on my list!

Prestwick
Its full of history and looks to have more character per hole than virtually any other course except perhaps North Berwick (or Painswick, completing the quirky '...wicks')

After that I just cant choose. Rye, St Georges Hill, Sunnindale Old and New, The Addington, Alwoodley, Formby, Silloth, Machrihanish, Cruden Bay, aaargh! All courses I really want to play but to differentiate is just too tricky, though at the moment I'm probably swinging towards The Addington and Silloth, but that may have something to do with the guys I played with recently...

The thing which you may find suprising is that of the courses I've not played from The Open rota, they don't really feature. I would love to play Muirfield or Carnoustie, but not ahead of those listed above, and the likes of Troon and Royal Lytham just dont seem to register...

Cheers,

James

[astavrides]

Cypress Point
Olympic-Lake
Monterey Penisula-Dunes
San Francisco CC
Riviera

[Ivan Lipko]

I would write two TOP5s (free-access and restricted).

TOP5 free:

1. Disney World Magnolia
1. Royal County Down
2. Ballybunion (Old)
3. Bandon Dunes (all 4 courses)
4. Turnberry Ailsa
5. Sunningdale (Old)

TOP5 (restricted)

1. Pine Valley
2. Cypress Point
3. Augusta National
4. Sand Hills
5. Shinnecock Hills

[Tom Birkert]

I would write two TOP5s (public and private).

TOP5 public:

1. Disney World Magnolia
1. Royal County Down
2. Ballybunion (Old)
3. Bandon Dunes (all 4 courses)
4. Turnberry Ailsa
5. Sunningdale (Old)

TOP5 (private)

1. Pine Valley
2. Cypress Point
3. Augusta National
4. Sand Hills
5. Shinnecock Hills

Ivan,

Royal County Down, Ballybunion and Sunningdale are all private clubs. However, as per the UK golfing model, visitors are allowed to play on specific days if they arrange in advance. I believe Turnberry also has members, although it is part of the hotel and as such much more a public course (someone with more knowledge can confirm).

Bandon is the only one on your list that I consider to be a pure public course.

Cheers,

Tom

[Ivan Lipko]

Oh, well, I am just being dyslexic!

I in my own little world consider (ok, used to consider) public any course I can come to, pay the green fee and play.
On the other hand, private is a club where only the members and their guests can play.

So, that's just a misconception by me.

[Tom Birkert]

Ivan,

Not a misconception, I guess the UK courses are sort of a halfway house between the US model of private clubs and the US model of public courses.

At most UK private clubs, visitors are restricted to certain tees, at certain times, on certain days. Try calling up and getting on Royal County Down or Sunningdale on a Saturday or Sunday!

[Scott Warren]

Tom,

County Down actually bucks the trend by offering a choice of tees and welcoming visitors on Sundays, but your point stands true for many top clubs.

[Tom Birkert]

Tom,

County Down actually bucks the trend by offering a choice of tees and welcoming visitors on Sundays, but your point stands true for many top clubs.

Like a man in orthopaedic shoes, I stand corrected

[Greg Tallman]

  WOW!! Can't believe all you guys have already played Cruden Bay.


   Anthony

Was going to be tops on my list until I met a certain guy who talks about it non-stop.... I feel as though I grew up there.

[Scott Warren]

Like a man in orthopaedic shoes, I stand corrected

[Rob Swift]

1/ Royal Dornoch
2/ The Old Course
3/ Royal County Down
4/ Ballybunion
5/ Cypress point

[Fred Yanni]

1) Cypress
2) Royal County Down
3) Anything at Bandon
4) The place that hosts the Masters
5) Sand Hills/Oakmont

[Tim Leahy]

Matt, Tim, Tom, John,

I'll let you have a laugh at me.  I'm from Northern California and have not idea WTF the Institute is???  Helpa brother out.

Here's the background on the Institute:

http://www.greenfoothills.org/news/2003/10-2003_Golf%20Course.html

[Wade Schueneman]

1. Pine Valley
2. Cypress Point
3. NGLA
4. Sand Hills
5. Crystal Downs

[Richard Choi]

I find this type of thread kinda pointless. Sure, I want unicorns and rainbows everywhere and Jennifer Aniston giving me foot rubs, but that hardly means I will get it, and I am not sure what good it will do to talk about it.

If I want to play a course and I have the means to do so, I have already done it. If I have not played it, it just means I don't want to play it (badly enough) or do not have the means to do so and I am not going to waste my time pining over it.

And if you have a course you want to play and you have the means to do so, why haven't you?

[Tony_Chapman]

1. The Horse Course (with Tom Huckaby and my Yahoo! hat)
2. CommonGround
3. Pine Needles
4. Lawsonia Links
5. Bethpage Black

I'm a man of the people....

[Mac Plumart]

I find this type of thread kinda pointless.

Richard, funny you posted that on this particular thread.

Also, I like how Fred got 9 courses in his Top 5 list.  Nice work!!

[Richard Hetzel]

Not in order:

1. Royal County Down
2. Shinnecock
3.  Seminole
4. Monterrey Peninsula
5. Cypress Point

[Kevin Pallier]

I find this type of thread kinda pointless.

<snip>

If I want to play a course and I have the means to do so, I have already done it. If I have not played it, it just means I don't want to play it (badly enough) or do not have the means to do so and I am not going to waste my time pining over it.

And if you have a course you want to play and you have the means to do so, why haven't you?

Richard

Time & money & access are the obvious normal reasons why.......

Nothing wrong with dreaming: in my personal experience if I have never dreamed of seeing the likes of TOC, Dornoch, NGLA, Merion etc I would never have gotten there.

[John Mayhugh]

I find this type of thread kinda pointless. Sure, I want unicorns and rainbows everywhere and Jennifer Aniston giving me foot rubs, but that hardly means I will get it, and I am not sure what good it will do to talk about it.

If I want to play a course and I have the means to do so, I have already done it. If I have not played it, it just means I don't want to play it (badly enough) or do not have the means to do so and I am not going to waste my time pining over it.

And if you have a course you want to play and you have the means to do so, why haven't you?

Oh, come on Choi.  You've seriously played every course you wanted to and had the means to do so?  Which is your favorite sandbelt course?  Do you prefer Deal or Rye?  Is lunch at Muirfield as good as they say?  How do you think Colt's courses in the Netherlands compare to the ones in the UK?

[Richard Choi]

John, I said I have played every course that I want to play that I had the means to do so. Muirfield, TOC, and other great courses in UK would be nice, but the time and money required to do so have precluded me from doing so.

If I REALLY wanted to play those courses, I think I would have done it. I have already travelled around the world. But comparing the cost and time involved, I have always found an excuse or found other places to play instead. That, for me at least, says I don't want to play them bad enough.

What exactly is the difference between this list and just listing top 5 courses on the magazine rankings that you have not played?

It is one thing to create a list of the 100 sexiest women in the world. It is another to list the top 5 women you want to have sex with.

The first list is kinda interesting, the second list is kinda sad.

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