Seeing that is April Fools day I think it is a good time to make a confession -- the supposed article The World's Finest Golf Courses was a total fabrication. Actually it wasn't a total fabrication because much of what was in the article was true, which I suppose was why it was believable. For example the magazine it appeared in was an actual magazine, although I believe it went out of print in 1938. And the editors (Grantland Rice and WD Richardson) and contributors of that magazine were accurate, as were the favorite courses of the crack panelists. I found that info in old British golf guides and/or old magazine articles. But there was no panel and the list was conceived by me based on what I thought it would like in 1939.
Originally I had planned on revealing it was a farce a week or two after printing it, in fact I had a follow up essay ready to go at the time it was published, but the article took on a life of its own, including some restoration projects as a result, and I decided to hold off. I have no idea where that follow up essay is right now, I'm on my second computer since.
There were a couple of hints in the article that could have given it away. The first being the golf writer Hesse in the introduction. That was a tribute to Sidd Finch the infamous SI April Fools phenom. Finch got his name from Siddhartha a novel written by Hermann Hesse. To my knowledge Hermann Hesse never wrote for any golf magazine. Admittedly that hint would have been a tough one to find. The other hint was the mysterious Foulpointe. I found a golf course on Madagascar by that name, and it was pretty old if I remember correctly, but it was not world class by any stretch of the imagination. That hint I thought would eventually give it away, and I think it raised doubts with some, but others are still looking for it. You can stop now.