Top 100 Rankings and a College Football Playoff

[Ben Voelker]

This probably looks like a topic that should have a big "OT" in front, but let me explain myself.

Every year around this time, a certain segment of the college football fandom in the US starts screaming for a playoff to decide the national champion (I'm one of them).  There are almost always 5-8 undefeated teams left and it appears we are headed for 4 undefeateds going into the bowl season.  Frankly, its ridiculous we don't have one and it should be a 16 team tournament just like Div I-AA.  It would probably be the greatest event in American sports.

This got me thinking.  What would a 16-course, national championship bracket look like for America's greatest golf courses.  How fun would it be to take those courses, do a little match play comparison and see which course is really the best in the land.  Alright, so its not really the best way to truly evaluate courses, but it could lead to some very interesting discussion.  For the hell of it, I compiled the top 16 courses in the US based on an average of the Golf Digest (computer ranking), Golf Magazine (Harris Poll) and Golfweek (AP Poll) scores.  The bracket would look like the following:

1 Pine Valley 8.8 vs. 16 Chicago 7.13
8 Merion (East) 7.8 vs. 9 NGLA 7.74
4 Shinnecock Hills 8.17 vs. 13 Winged Foot (West) 7.17
5 Pebble Beach 7.9 vs. 12 Fishers Island 7.21
3 Augusta National 8.26 vs. 14 Pinehurst (#2) 7.16
6 Oakmont 7.88 vs. 11 Crystal Downs 7.30
7 Sand Hills 7.85 vs. 10 Pacific Dunes 7.46
2 Cypress Point 8.49 vs. 15 Seminole 7.14

Prairie Dunes (7.08) and San Francisco (7.04) were the first two on the outside looking in.  I only included courses which were ranked in all three publications.  I think there would be some very interesting comparisons there and it could be a fun little (okay, maybe big) exercise.

[John_Conley]

Since there is no way for golf courses to play each other (in any sport), won't the higher rated course just win every time?

[Joe_Tucholski]

Or let people vote on the internet to determine the match-up winner like GD for the top public courses...and Wolf Creek wins.

[Mark Chaplin]

The only way you could measure them would be in overall experience from the moment you arrive until you depart the car park. That way somewhere like National could probably beat Pebble Beach for instance. My first trip to PV was golf, beer, sandwich and depart. My last was three days in a cottage, a completely different experience at the same world class club.

Ben the flaw is I doubt more than a handful of people here have played all of them let alone fully experienced them all.

[Mark Saltzman]

I do think that the could be played GCA-style matchplay - one hole at a time.  Biggest issue, as Mark points out, is there are very few people who have played all of these courses.  At a minimum, one must have played both courses in any given match.  I could only participate in two matches in the first round.

[Tim Gavrich]

Based on what I've gleaned about people's preferences on this site, I could see some people taking NGLA and Fishers Island in the only two possible upsets.

[Jim Franklin]

I have played all but one and could see the newly renovated Pinehurst #2 taking down ANGC. ANGC in the winter is not the same course it is in the spring, but #2 is great all year long.

[Mark Saltzman]

Looking at the matchups, it would be really interesting reading a blow-by-blow, especially as someone who is yet to see most of the courses.

Shinny vs. WFW I'd love to hear.

Merion vs NGLA would last 100+ pages

Oakmont vs CD and SH vs PD would both be interesting as well.

[Ben Voelker]

Looking at the matchups, it would be really interesting reading a blow-by-blow, especially as someone who is yet to see most of the courses.

Shinny vs. WFW I'd love to hear.

Merion vs NGLA would last 100+ pages

Oakmont vs CD and SH vs PD would both be interesting as well.

Mark,

That is exactly what I am getting at.  Just like any real sporting event, the "best" team often doesn't win a tournament and there are plenty of upsets.

Everyone has their own preferences and I am not so sure that the "higher seed" would always win.  The result would clearly be quite different depending on the group evaluating the matchups.  Pebble Beach is 10th according to Golf Week, while its 5th for Golf Magazine.  Hell, GD doesn't even have PV #1 and surely there are some that must agree with that assessment.  I just think the compare and contrast of these great courses, head-to-head, would be very interesting.

[Bill McKinley]

Love the concept, great post.  Very thought provoking!

My one problem with it is that I have not played all the courses to truely say which one I would vote for in a matchup.  Best example is that I just played Merion twice last week and just absolutely loved it.  I still get chills just thinking about the expericene of it all.  But, I have a tough time saying that I would vote for Merion over NGLA b/c I have never played the National and would think it is just about as good if not better than Merion (wow I can't believe I actually typed that).

But that being said, I'd like put in votes for Oakmont over CD and Augusta over Pinehurst #2.

[Mac Plumart]

Once again the little guys are getting hosed.  Much like the non-automatic BCS qualifying conference champions the likes of Kingsley, Kiawah Ocean, The Golf Club and Rich Harvest (   ) are getting passed over.

Not too mention the international courses...no Old Course, no North Berwick, no Royal Melbourne...tsk, tsk, tsk!





PS...I do think the idea is kind of cool, I'm just goofin'.

[mike_beene]

before you get it started they will all start changing conferences.

[Jud_T]

What, no Boise State?