It occurred to me a couple of years ago that the 100th best Donald Ross course must still be pretty good. Now that I'm jet lagged and can't focus on work for a couple of days, I thought I'd give it a shot, but I haven't seen quite enough to qualify.
Between Volumes 2 & 3 of The Confidential Guide, there were 81 Ross courses which at least one of us rated a 5 on the Doak Scale. It's certainly an imperfect ranking, as many of them are held back by my co-authors' lack of initiative [many have only a single vote]; but it seems like a pretty good start, so I will list what we have below.
I'm listing them in order, based on the highest rating they received from any of the four of us. Here goes:
1. Pinehurst #2 [1x10]
2. Seminole [2x9]
3. Oakland Hills South [1x9]
4. Essex County [3x8]
5. Inverness [2x8]
6-10. Glens Falls, Plainfield, Salem, White Bear Yacht Club, Whitinsville [each with one 8]
11. Aronimink [4x7]
12-16. Franklin Hills, Holston Hills, Oak Hill East, Scioto, Wannamoisett [3x7]
17-21. Beverly, Charlotte CC, Mid Pines, Roaring Gap, Winchester [2x7]
22-34. Bald Peak, Barton Hills, Broadmoor (IN), Charles River, East Lake, French Lick, George Wright, Monroe [NY], Mountain Ridge, Northland, Oyster Harbors, Pine Needles, Skokie [1x7]
35. Highlands (NC) [3x6]
36-39. Augusta CC, Oak Hill West, The Orchards, Teugega [2x6]
40-63. Biltmore Forest, Birmingham (MI) [not a Ross - my mistake], Brae Burn, Brookside (OH), CC of Buffalo, Carolina GC, Cedar Rapids, Cherokee (TN), Detroit GC (South), Essex (ON), Idle Hour (KY), Kahkwa, Linville, Longmeadow, Metacomet, CC of Mobile, Old Elm, Penobscot Valley, Plymouth (MA), Portland (ME), Raleigh, Rhode Island CC, Rolling Rock, Southern Pines, Wilmington GC [all with 1x6]
64-68. Broadmoor East (CO), Detroit GC, Gulph Mills, Wampanoag, Worcester [2x5]
69-81. Cape Fear, Denison, Grosse Ile [corrected omission], Kenosha, Lake Sunapee, Mark Twain, Minikahda, Misquamicut, Mohawk, CC of Rochester (NY), The Sagamore, Sakonnet, Woodhill
Still, this doesn't get us to 100, so I'll ask you all to make suggestions for the list. Please suggest a Doak Scale number so we can place the course accordingly. If you want, you can second someone else's nomination, but two votes on a course should be plenty for these purposes.