North America UNOFFICIAL TOP 100 (2017)

[Kalen Braley]

Seeing how this has turned into a ski resort thread...


Come to Utah... the resorts, mountains, trails, ease of access and best of all snow conditions are all epic!!   

[Ryan Taylor]

Come to Utah... the resorts, mountains, trails, ease of access and best of all snow conditions are all epic!!

Shhh! Utah sucks go to Colorado. In all seriousness, Utah vs. Colorado would be an interesting ski resort match play.  Alta/Snowbird, Brighton/Solitude, Snowbasin and Pow Mow is a solid line-up. Snowbasin is a Doak 9 and Pow Mow is a hidden gem! Plus the snow's better in Utah and SLC has the Red Iguana.

[Kalen Braley]

Come to Utah... the resorts, mountains, trails, ease of access and best of all snow conditions are all epic!!

Shhh! Utah sucks go to Colorado. In all seriousness, Utah vs. Colorado would be an interesting ski resort match play.  Alta/Snowbird, Brighton/Solitude, Snowbasin and Pow Mow is a solid line-up. Snowbasin is a Doak 9 and Pow Mow is a hidden gem! Plus the snow's better in Utah and SLC has the Red Iguana.

Soz Ryan,


I figured the Utah secret got out after the 2002 Winter Olympics! 


P.S. The Red Iguana is so good, they opened a 2nd location a few blocks away...best Mexican food in Utah hands down.


P.P.S.  A lot of the best stuff in Colorado is a bit of drive from Denver, unlike in SLC where everything is no more than 30 minutes, door to door!

[Mike Bodo]

I've skied Snowbird, Alta, Canyons, PCMR, and Deer Valley in Utah, with my favorite being Snowbird. Here's a shot taken at Alta in 2015.

[Mike Bodo]

Seeing how this has turned into a ski resort thread...


Come to Utah... the resorts, mountains, trails, ease of access and best of all snow conditions are all epic!!   

This looks as though it were taken at Snowbird. Nice POW! 

[Thomas Dai]

Say you produce two Top-100 ranking lists -
- the 1st, as is usual done.
- the 2nd, the Top-100 most photogenic.
I wonder how many courses would appear on both lists.....and what that would tell us about relative course quality, architecture, playability etc?
Atb

[Tom_Doak]

Say you produce two Top-100 ranking lists -
- the 1st, as is usual done.
- the 2nd, the Top-100 most photogenic.
I wonder how many courses would appear on both lists.....and what that would tell us about relative course quality, architecture, playability etc?
Atb

If you're going to do that, go to Mike Nuzzo's suggestion from years ago and give courses THREE ratings:  I think his suggestions were Challenging, Beautiful, and Fun.  Hardly any course would make all three unless you define "challenging" with some sort of governor on it.

[Tim Martin]

I've skied Snowbird, Alta, Canyons, PCMR, and Deer Valley in Utah, with my favorite being Snowbird. Here's a shot taken at Alta in 2015.

Mike-Got any pictures in a speedo doing the crawl or hopping the net in tennis whites? Do you use the "Go Pro" regardless of activity?

[Mike Bodo]

I've skied Snowbird, Alta, Canyons, PCMR, and Deer Valley in Utah, with my favorite being Snowbird. Here's a shot taken at Alta in 2015.

Mike-Got any pictures in a speedo doing the crawl or hopping the net in tennis whites? Do you use the "Go Pro" regardless of activity?

I used to use my Go Pro mountain biking, but I haven't really used it for much else other than skiing. The last time I used it was when my son and I went skiing in Vail/Beaver Creek last January. It's pain to have to charge continually, not to mention you look like a dork with it on, but the video it captures is pretty cool. I'll give it that.

[V_Halyard]

There is so much snow in California now it has been hard to keep ski resorts open... playing golf over water hazards in former desert arroyo (Dry Creek Beds)... It has been fun having to pack rain gear and umbrellas.

[Jim Nugent]

If you're going to do that, go to Mike Nuzzo's suggestion from years ago and give courses THREE ratings:  I think his suggestions were Challenging, Beautiful, and Fun.  Hardly any course would make all three unless you define "challenging" with some sort of governor on it.

Some possibilities that came to mind:

CPC (four leading pro's played it in 2012, and only one broke 70)
Pebble
Banff
Jasper
Rock Creek
Cape Kidnappers
Monterrey Pacific (both?)
Himalayan Golf Course
RCD
Old White
Teeth of the Dog
Cabot Cliffs
Black Mesa (when conditioned)
New South Wales
Tara Iti
Casa de Campo
Sleepy Hollow
Lookout Mountain

[BCowan]

If you're going to do that, go to Mike Nuzzo's suggestion from years ago and give courses THREE ratings:  I think his suggestions were Challenging, Beautiful, and Fun.  Hardly any course would make all three unless you define "challenging" with some sort of governor on it.

Some possibilities that came to mind:

CPC (four leading pro's played it in 2012, and only one broke 70)
Pebble
Banff
Jasper
Rock Creek
Cape Kidnappers
Monterrey Pacific (both?)
Himalayan Golf Course
RCD
Old White
Teeth of the Dog
Cabot Cliffs
Black Mesa (when conditioned)
New South Wales
Tara Iti
Casa de Campo
Sleepy Hollow
Lookout Mountain

Jim and rest,

    I'd like to do one by regions or countries for (larger ones).  I think the lists turn out much better when you have no criteria in evaluating courses.  It is unfortunate that resistance to scoring is drilled into people's minds as better.  Due to technology they can't see how brilliant a 380 yard hole is with natural hazards on it.  For the record I do like torture chambers, but only when the Architecture is good-great.  Beautiful is a poor criteria and I think fun is poor for it lacks Architectural merit.   

   I think Modern and Classic should be combined in one list.  Would anyone like to do a US list or North American list?  Ran okayed this list. 

[Sean_A]

Ben


If you aren't stipulating criteria, you will get aspects like fun and beauty featuring in rankings because these things matter to golfers. Bottom line, we are all looking for different things in architecture so as you said earlier, its probably best to let folks go their own way.  You will likely get the same 20 of 25 courses listed as the best no matter what your do...maybe there are good reasons why the same courses pop up high and people are suspicious when more than 1 or 2 don't. 


It will be far easier to take the current GCA unofficial list, update possible candidates and those which failed to obtain the minimum votes and go from there.  If you go a few hundred deep, a top 100 USA come from it anyway.  No need to reinvent the wheel. I just looked at the list...there are 308 courses rated...plenty to sift out a top 100 US.


Ciao

[BCowan]

Sean,

     I think 2-3 other lists should be generated by others (Southern Hemisphere, Europe, Asia & Russia, The Islands)?

In order to vote you need to have played 30 or more on the list.  10 plays needed for course to get included.  Throw out low and high.  Use the Doak Scale. 

I have 310 courses to start out with, please let me know if I should add ones?  Please IM me your list with rankings.  Hopefully we can get 50+ people to contribute to the NA list.

Does anyone want to get this thing started?  Bueller?  We could make all entries due Nov 1st! 

[Sean_A]

Sean,

     I think 2-3 other lists should be generated by others (Southern Hemisphere, Europe, Asia & Russia, The Islands)?

In order to vote you need to have played 30 or more on the list.  10 plays needed for course to get included.  Throw out low and high.  Use the Doak Scale. 

I have 310 courses to start out with, please let me know if I should add ones?  Please IM me your list with rankings.  Hopefully we can get 50+ people to contribute to the NA list.

Does anyone want to get this thing started?  Bueller?  We could make all entries due Nov 1st!

Ben

You may be able to find the original list of add ons to the ranking lists which was used for voting.  There are probably only another 10 or so courses that would need to be added.  Search for the original threads using the crack GCA.com search engine (TM Rihc).


I don't think a single course which was added to the mag ranking lists made the top 100!  Today that may be different!!

Ciao

[BCowan]

Sean,


   I listed courses in opening post. If everyone who is interested can start compiling their Doak Ranking for courses on this list, would appreciate it.  I'm sure many people will play 3-10 new plays that are on this list by Nov 1st.  Please suggest courses that are Doak 5's or 6's or greater to add to list. 

[Stewart Abramson]

Love that the Berkshire Red and Berkshire Blue made the list

[Sean_A]

Sean,


   I listed courses in opening post. If everyone who is interested can start compiling their Doak Ranking for courses on this list, would appreciate it.  I'm sure many people will play 3-10 new plays that are on this list by Nov 1st.  Please suggest courses that are Doak 5's or 6's or greater to add to list.

Okay.  I have only played about 20ish of the listed courses once you sift out all the British courses which are mistakeningly on the list...so I don't qualify. 


Ciao

[BCowan]

What courses are from across the pond that I left on?  Berkshire is a WPJ in Reading, PA.  Sean, you need to play more on this side of the pond.

[Mark Saltzman]

Ben there are quite a few courses left on the list from outside North America. More importantly though, I think Capilano and Cabot Links should be added as candidates.

[Joey Chase]

What courses are from across the pond that I left on?  Berkshire is a WPJ in Reading, PA.  Sean, you need to play more on this side of the pond.

Hankley Common, Hillside, Mount Juliet, Remedy Oak, St. Mellion, Kasumigaseki, Kennemer, Berkshire Red and Blue, Wexford, Druid's Glen, Kingston Heath, Little Aston, Metropolitan, and Rosapenna...  from a quick glance.

[BCowan]

Joey,

Thanks for those names.  I can't see Berkshire Red and Blue on the list? 

Mark,

    I hope we get all the Canadian ones you and Ian recommend.  Anymore? 

[Sean_A]

Joey,

Thanks for those names.  I can't see Berkshire Red and Blue on the list? 

Mark,

    I hope we get all the Canadian ones you and Ian recommend.  Anymore?

Look under The Berkshire...


Ciao

[BCowan]

Sean,

   Thanks.

Rest,

   Please feel free to post courses from Canada and Mexico that you deem worthy! 

[Peter Pratt]

Ben,


I'm in. It's time for an update of the 2011 (?) list.