I saw a lot this year, but I'll try to put it in perspective:
MOST SURPRISING NEW PLAY COURSE: Barton Hills in Michigan was very unexpected. I didn't appreciate how good it would be, or how hard it would be, because few of the people I know in Michigan have ever said much about it. The restoration work is mostly very good [though it has some issues], but restorations are only as good as what was there to begin with, and that exceeded my expectations big-time.RUNNER -UP: The Loop in Michigan. It sounds silly to say that about a course I designed, but I was so busy building it that I didn't truly appreciate how different it would be playing in one direction vs. the other, or how tough it would be because it lacks some of the usual guideposts.MOST DISAPPOINTING NEW PLAY COURSE: Abama is the highest-rated course in the Canary Islands, and by far the worst of the six I saw there. It's an awful, steep, real-estate driven layout. I am tempted to write that it's just as big a disappointment as Obama was, but that would be mean.BEST NEW PLAY INLAND COURSE: Davenport CC in Iowa. I did not actually play because it was about 40 degrees and windy, but I would peg this as Hugh Alison's best design in America, ahead of Milwaukee CC.RUNNER-UP: Pikewood National, which I also didn't play. It is not to my tastes style-wise, but I thought they got a lot out of a severe site, and I loved a lot of the little touches between green and tee. It's tough to compare this with Cleeve Cloud or Minchinhampton Old, which were more to my tastes.BEST NEW PLAY LINKS: Cape Wickham ... though I think it is overrated by many early visitors. I only played four new links courses this year, three of them on the same small island. Burnham and Berrow was the fourth, and should have been mentioned among Most Surprising Second Visit had I not seen some other cool places this year.RUNNER UP: Ocean Dunes, also on King Island. It's a bit too hilly and the green-to-tee walks suffer as a result; I wish Graeme had made it a bit tighter, but it was probably impossible given the site. There are some great holes here, though. MOST SURPRISING SECOND (third or fourth!): Barwon Heads was great fun and much better than I remembered. I could also give this one to Lawsonia. Or maybe Royal Melbourne (East) -- see below.FAVOURITE NEW PLAY LINKS: Cape Wickham, see above. FAVOURITE NEW PLAY INLAND COURSE: Minchinhampton Old and Cleeve Cloud were both exceptionally fun, with affable playing partners. So was The Loop but of course I would say that.BEST AFFORDABLE COURSE PLAYED THIS YEAR: Either Minchinhampton Old or King Island Golf & Bowling Club. I'm not sure of the green fees at either, honestly. The nine-hole King Island course has three very good holes at the start, then peters out, but with the 40-mph winds the day I saw it, it was very difficult to master.BEST MODERATELY PRICED COURSE PLAYED THIS YEAR: I think it is just above Sean's price point, but I will put in a good word for St. Andrews Beach, which I played with my team from Crystal Downs just before the MacKenzie Cup at Royal Melbourne. It was a bit rough because the couch grass was just starting to wake up after a cold winter there, but it fits the land as well as any course I know.BEST COURSE PLAYED THIS YEAR: I played four "10"s this year and it's silly to try and separate them: Pacific Dunes, Crystal Downs, Barnbougle Dunes, and Royal Melbourne (West). When forced to rank them in order, I usually put Royal Melbourne in my top three overall, and it was in awesome shape for the MacKenzie event, with the greens firm as can be and pretty fast. Fun to play it under those conditions, even if it showed me up to be a hack. In fact, this was the first time I'd played Royal Melbourne (East) since our renovation work a few years ago, and it was pretty awesome, too.FAVOURITE COURSE PLAYED THIS YEAR: I got back to a bunch of my own courses this year, and it was a real pleasure to see some of them after a long absence. Barnbougle Dunes and Rock Creek both looked awfully good.