The Best Course in Every State

[J_ Crisham]

In Pennsylvania, Merion > Oakmont.

Jon,  Do you agree/disagree with this assessment ?

[Kyle Henderson]

This list is prime material for GCA'ers wanting to comment on courses they haven't seen before. Lemme take a shot! Muirfield Village is better than Camargo? I would say there's a 99.9% chance that this is not the case.. Castle Pines better than Colorado GC? I would have thought not.

And I put Ballybeal ahead of Colorado GC by a fair margin...

[Jon Cavalier]

In Pennsylvania, Merion > Oakmont.

Jon,  Do you agree/disagree with this assessment ?

I'm making the assessment. The article names Oakmont as the best course in Pennsylvania. I'm respectfully but adamantly disagreeing (and I'm a big fan of Oakmont).

[Ronald Montesano]

In between his duties running the NYSGA (New York State Golf Association) and playing competitive golf, I'll have you know that Bill Moore and Ben Crenshaw get along just fine:  http://www.nysga.org/about-staff-contacts

[Ronald Montesano]

This article is such a joke.  Glad they leveraged Wikipedia for their information.  At least they did get the best course in Michigan right! 

Not such a joke. A few missteps here and there. For example, they included an image of Pinehurst #18, not #2, although #2 is also a cool par four hole.

And I've always found Virginia to be the New Zealand of the USA.

[Carl Nichols]

"BTW, turns out that Pikewood National was designed by Donald Ross and Alister Mackenzie"

Yeah, it's easy to confuse Raese and Ross, but I have no idea of how Mackenzie got involved unless it was a well attended collaborative seance.

From the Pikewood website:

"Pikewood National is designed in the classic tradition of preeminent golf course architects, Donald Ross and Alister MacKenzie."

[Ronald Montesano]

In Pennsylvania, Merion > Oakmont.

Jon,  Do you agree/disagree with this assessment ?

Does he disagree with his own assessment?

[J_ Crisham]

In Pennsylvania, Merion > Oakmont.

Jon,  Do you agree/disagree with this assessment ?

I'm making the assessment. The article names Oakmont as the best course in Pennsylvania. I'm respectfully but adamantly disagreeing (and I'm a big fan of Oakmont).

Why do you adamantly believe Merion is better than Oakmont? After reading thru the list I found the vast majority that were ranked as best to be spot on. I counted about 35 from personal experiences.

[Nigel Islam]

This list is prime material for GCA'ers wanting to comment on courses they haven't seen before. Lemme take a shot! Muirfield Village is better than Camargo? I would say there's a 99.9% chance that this is not the case.. Castle Pines better than Colorado GC? I would have thought not.

And I put Ballybeal ahead of Colorado GC by a fair margin...

What about the Country Club of Ballybeal? Don't forget about that one

[Nigel Islam]

"BTW, turns out that Pikewood National was designed by Donald Ross and Alister Mackenzie"

Yeah, it's easy to confuse Raese and Ross, but I have no idea of how Mackenzie got involved unless it was a well attended collaborative seance.

Donald Ross may have "designed" a course in the last twenty year for real. The story behind Vinny Links, an executive type course in Nashville, is that they found a set of old Ross plans in the trash by accident and constructed the course. I have no knowledge of whether this is true or not, but I read it on the internet so it must be.

[Tim Leahy]

What about Sahalee in Washington?

[Garland Bayley]

What about Sahalee in Washington?

If anything, Washington may be the state where you will find the least disagreement with the list on this site.

[Rick Shefchik]

"ILLINOIS: Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton -- The Chicago Golf Club is home to the oldest golf course in North America and is one of the founding clubs of the USGA. The historic course was designed by Charles Blair Macdonald in 1893."

Dang. Everything I thought I knew about the oldest courses in North America was wrong.

[Ben Hollerbach]

"BTW, turns out that Pikewood National was designed by Donald Ross and Alister Mackenzie"

Yeah, it's easy to confuse Raese and Ross, but I have no idea of how Mackenzie got involved unless it was a well attended collaborative seance.

Donald Ross may have "designed" a course in the last twenty year for real. The story behind Vinny Links, an executive type course in Nashville, is that they found a set of old Ross plans in the trash by accident and constructed the course. I have no knowledge of whether this is true or not, but I read it on the internet so it must be.

I have not heard such a story, this sounds rather fascinating. I found this from the First Tee of Nashville:

"The VinnyLinks' green complexes were modeled after original drawings done by legendary golf course architect Donald Ross for a course he designed for the same area in the early 1920's, but was never built. The drawings were later found in a Metro Parks trash can in 1988 and were rescued by Danny Gibson, the city's director of golf at the time. The drawings are now displayed at Golf House Tennessee. It's in this spirit that the course is labeled a Donald Ross inspired facility."

[Mike_Young]

I think it can be argued that Peachtree is a better golf course than ANGC in GA...

[Dan Moore]

Cribbing grossly oversaturated photos from Wikipedia and Flickr and they couldn't even find one of Chicago Golf Club. 

[Paul Jones]

I think it can be argued that Peachtree is a better golf course than ANGC in GA...

Do you believe it is better ?

[Chris DeToro]

I don't take as much offense to the courses they chose, rather the level of proofing they did in publishing this article

[Paul Jones]

They got most of them correct

[Matthew Essig]

What about Sahalee in Washington?

If anything, Washington may be the state where you will find the least disagreement with the list on this site.

+1

[Mike_Young]

I think it can be argued that Peachtree is a better golf course than ANGC in GA...

Do you believe it is better ?

I do....ANGC may have slightly better conditions at times but Peachtree just seems a better course to me...

[John Kavanaugh]

The author is adorable. Poor thing makes list after list. It's just a tad embarrassing to go all full-nerd on her.

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/lauren-browning

[Philip Caccamise]

In my honest opinion...

Kentucky: Idle Hour is a better course than Valhalla
Ohio: Camargo is a better course than Muirfield Village

...that's not to say that Valhalla or MV are bad courses, however.

I agree for certain, but at least there's an argument to be made either way. Perhaps the titling of this ranking should have been "most famous" rather than "best". Because I can also argue that while Idle Hour and Camargo win the golf course comparisons, Valhalla and Muirfield Village are obviously much higher profile and much more suited to hosting events.

[Ronald Montesano]

The author is adorable. Poor thing makes list after list. It's just a tad embarrassing to go all full-nerd on her.

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/lauren-browning

She interned at the North Pole. One list, but it takes all year to create and is on-the-fly flexible (the list, not her.)

[Bill Brightly]

What about Sahalee in Washington?

If anything, Washington may be the state where you will find the least disagreement with the list on this site.

+1

No, Pine Valley in New Jersey is the easiest lock.