Rankings From 1 to 100

[Mark_Fine]

Tom,
I still have that same list from 25 years ago (I think we all ranked our Top 250 golf courses that we had seen and gave them each a Doak Scale ranking.  Ran listed all his courses in order 


Maybe what would be interesting is to take a few courses and talk about why one should be #57 and another #72.  I do think this kind of thing is debated as a result of these lists.  Generally when a new ranking comes out the threads all pop up and they go on for pages.  I try to stay out of the fray as much as possible as it is only win lose to participate. 

[Don Mahaffey]

All these lists just prove there are a lot of really good golf courses. At the end of the day the top 100 lists have helped improve the overall quality of golf courses much more than they’ve hurt.   Sone may argue the lists promote reproduction as designers chase trends but I don’t see that as much as those striving to stand on their own merits. You may not agree with my top 100 but chances are mine are all in your top 300 which still makes then pretty darn good golf courses. Not having one list or process as a standard is working just fine.

[Sean_A]

I can't understand how mags successfully sell essentially the same list each year. Its bloody dull and provides virtually no new courses of interest to possibly go play. Even if a new course makes the list everybody knows all about it beforehand.

Ciao

Ratings and lists are simply a part of the game-like Top 100 Teachers. Just another way to glean content.

Three things.
1.Top 100 box tickers tend to travel more and spend more $,so therefore their eyeballs are more worthwhile for Magazines than say an afficionado of the Top 100 under 60 pounds-which may well be more of a local/day trip crowd.
 2.$1300 x 1000+ raters is real revenue-the Top 200(and the State lists) is a virtual menu/Travel Guide for raters, and a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy.
3.Most raters take it pretty seriously-we may not agree with their results or methodology, but then you can't expect someone to know what they don't know-or perhaps we just have different tastes(or biases).

Jeff

I ain't knockin raters, but I am knockin the process. So far as I know, only Golf allows raters to rate without a checklist, but I could be wrong. The rating to a checklist and the prescribed list of course candidates were two issues I found very limiting about Golfweek. It just means their top 100 lists remain stagnated. Some of the categories on the checklist were idiotic.

I look at lists for one reason only, to find courses to play. Hence, the oddball lists are far more valuable to me.

Ciao

[V_Halyard]

The irony here is that in my day job, we are consumed by rankings determined by math. “Hit” records and “Top Charting” films are determined by people voting with both digital pocketbooks, subjective categorization, and math so arcane and detailed, we hire folks from the NSA looking for “a career change”.
Our current business model is based on quantitative data analysis and manipulation.
“Ratings” drive network tv decisions except when “buzz” intercedes... or an executive with a family member in the production company. It is serious business. I have been shot at trying to recruit talent in NY and Tennessee.

(That said, I've been shot at playing golf at course where a neighbor didn't necessarily think that black guys should be playing golf adjacent to his property, so this Top 100 chatter is easy listening background noise to me.)

As a “golf chair” with a background in creative production, digital media, computer science, I repeat that find the Top 100 “Lists” useful. Additionally, this is exactly how the Billboard Top 100 became the juggernaut in the pre-digital music days. A way to track popularity. That “list” tracked creative product judged by mysterious formulae defined by a blend of retailers and radio manipulating math shrouded in graft and secrecy.
Flash to today, still fewer than 100 folks really know how a movie wins the Golden Globe for best costume, and hit songs are determined by charts built on algorithms likely built by folks that don’t like music.

In comparison, GCA lists are mostly analog collections. They built on an eclectic economy driven by a mix of committees, golf chairs, clubs, municipalities, mayors, billionaires, rich donors, Sunday afternoon TV and some GoFundMe pages. No two projects are the same. One project may have a golf Archie that consults and cares, others are built by a hit and run team that bombs and gouges the scampers like a traveling carnival.

List makers send teams to explore and proxy for the lay golfer at large and deliver a qualitative opinions to sell ads, gain eyeballs and in some cases membership on the list panel.

Judging ALL of it is subjective. This is not unlike judging Olympic Ice Skating and Best Picture. That’s part of the excitement. Yes the list or controversial and imperfect, but they are presently old-school and emotionally biased mad by humans.
They are flawed and could be better like everything else. You can enjoy it, argue over it, be disgusted, or just don’t watch. If you are in here, this is the place to fire up and enjoy the debate.

[Mark_Fine]

I wonder if anyone here has done any overlap comparison of the major lists?  How many courses show up on all three (GM, GD and GW) Top 100/200 lists?  GD ranks the Top 200 courses, GW ranks the Too 100 classic and Too 100 modern courses and GM ranks the Top 100 so potentially 500 different course in total.  What is the actual number of different courses on the combined lists?  The minimum would be 200. 


And by the way, maybe all the Top 100 lists should just be alphabetical.  If you are on the Top 100 list you are on the Top 100!  Who cares if you are 67 or 89?  But that wouldn’t lead to as much debate 

[BCrosby]

All these lists just prove there are a lot of really good golf courses. At the end of the day the top 100 lists have helped improve the overall quality of golf courses much more than they’ve hurt.   Sone may argue the lists promote reproduction as designers chase trends but I don’t see that as much as those striving to stand on their own merits. You may not agree with my top 100 but chances are mine are all in your top 300 which still makes then pretty darn good golf courses. Not having one list or process as a standard is working just fine.

Well said.

[Jeff_Brauer]

All these lists just prove there are a lot of really good golf courses. At the end of the day the top 100 lists have helped improve the overall quality of golf courses much more than they’ve hurt.   Sone may argue the lists promote reproduction as designers chase trends but I don’t see that as much as those striving to stand on their own merits. You may not agree with my top 100 but chances are mine are all in your top 300 which still makes then pretty darn good golf courses. Not having one list or process as a standard is working just fine.

Don, good point. I guess human nature (perhaps spurred on by the news media) is to look at the negative side of everything.


As to reproduction, I guess we have always followed the leader in one sense, while always trying to do something unique in another, resulting in most cases in a gradual evolution of thought. I saw some pics this morning of that new King-Collins course in NE.  What quickly struck me was that they seem to be combining the rugged minimalism of the last 20 years (appropriate for that site) with the massive earthmoving of the 1990's.  Is that enough borrowing of eclectic elements to constitute a new style?  At first glance, I thought so.


And more importantly, if so, what can the gca media give it as a name?

[Matthew Petersen]

I wonder if anyone here has done any overlap comparison of the major lists?  How many courses show up on all three (GM, GD and GW) Top 100/200 lists?  GD ranks the Top 200 courses, GW ranks the Too 100 classic and Too 100 modern courses and GM ranks the Top 100 so potentially 500 different course in total.  What is the actual number of different courses on the combined lists?  The minimum would be 200. 


And by the way, maybe all the Top 100 lists should just be alphabetical.  If you are on the Top 100 list you are on the Top 100!  Who cares if you are 67 or 89?  But that wouldn’t lead to as much debate 

Mark, where's the GD 101-200 ranking? I don't see it online. Magazine only?

[Brian Finn]

I wonder if anyone here has done any overlap comparison of the major lists?  How many courses show up on all three (GM, GD and GW) Top 100/200 lists?  GD ranks the Top 200 courses, GW ranks the Too 100 classic and Too 100 modern courses and GM ranks the Top 100 so potentially 500 different course in total.  What is the actual number of different courses on the combined lists?  The minimum would be 200. 

And by the way, maybe all the Top 100 lists should just be alphabetical.  If you are on the Top 100 list you are on the Top 100!  Who cares if you are 67 or 89?  But that wouldn’t lead to as much debate 

I took the top 100 US courses from GM, GW, and GD.  For GolfWeek, I combined the classic and modern lists, and sorted by rating to arrive at combined top 100 US.

There were 137 courses that appeared on the 3 lists.  68 courses appeared on all 3, 27 appeared on 2 lists, and 42 appeared on only 1 list.  I also assigned points by rank on each list - 100 points for first place all the way down to 1 point for 100th place (e.g. Pine Valley was #1 on all 3, so received 300 points).  It is far from a perfect method, but was quick and easy.  The results won't really surprise anyone.  I will post the list (because we definitely need lists of lists) when I remember how to format a table in here.

Edit...Among the 42 courses that were on only one of the three lists...
      - 19 were GD only (Highest:  Alotian 35, Erin Hills 46)
      - 15 were GM only (Highest:  The Creek 62, Moraine 65)
      - 8 were GW only (Highest:  Philly Cricket 58, Colorado GC 81)

[Brian Finn]

Overall Rank	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	Count	GD Points	GM Points	GW Points	Total Points
1	PINE VALLEY	1	1	1	3	100	100	100	300
2	CYPRESS POINT	3	2	3	3	98	99	98	295
3	AUGUSTA NATIONAL G.C.	2	6	2	3	99	95	99	293
4	SHINNECOCK HILLS	4	3	4	3	97	98	97	292
5	NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA	7	4	5	3	94	97	96	287
6	OAKMONT	5	5	7	3	96	96	94	286
7	MERION G.C. (East)	6	8	8	3	95	93	93	281
8	SAND HILLS	10	7	6	3	91	94	95	280
9	PEBBLE BEACH	8	10	10	3	93	91	91	275
10	FISHERS ISLAND	9	9	12	3	92	92	89	273
11	CHICAGO G.C.	13	14	9	3	88	87	92	267
12	FRIAR'S HEAD	16	13	13	3	85	88	88	261
13	WINGED FOOT G.C. (West)	12	15	18	3	89	86	83	258
14	CRYSTAL DOWNS	14	16	16	3	87	85	85	257
14	SEMINOLE	11	20	15	3	90	81	86	257
16	LOS ANGELES C.C. (North)	19	12	17	3	82	89	84	255
16	PACIFIC DUNES	18	19	11	3	83	82	90	255
18	PRAIRIE DUNES	25	18	14	3	76	83	87	246
19	Pinehurst No 2	29	11	20	3	72	90	81	243
20	RIVIERA	22	17	25	3	79	84	76	239
21	THE COUNTRY CLUB (Clyde/Squirrel)	17	22	38	3	84	79	63	226
22	SAN FRANCISCO G.C.	36	21	24	3	65	80	77	222
23	OAKLAND HILLS (South)	21	35	37	3	80	66	64	210
24	KIAWAH OCEAN	24	31	40	3	77	70	61	208
25	BALLYNEAL	44	34	19	3	57	67	82	206
26	MUIRFIELD VILLAGE G.C.	15	51	32	3	86	50	69	205
26	WHISTLING STRAITS (Straits)	23	49	26	3	78	52	75	205
28	PEACHTREE	30	37	34	3	71	64	67	202
29	CAMARGO	42	26	36	3	59	75	65	199
29	SOMERSET HILLS	50	23	31	3	51	78	70	199
31	SHOREACRES	54	24	27	3	47	77	74	198
32	WADE HAMPTON G.C.	26	50	30	3	75	51	71	197
33	BANDON DUNES	37	44	28	3	64	57	73	194
34	BETHPAGE (Black)	40	30	46	3	61	71	55	187
35	SOUTHERN HILLS	32	28	62	3	69	73	39	181
36	GARDEN CITY G.C.	61	25	44	3	40	76	57	173
36	THE GOLF CLUB	43	42	45	3	58	59	56	173
38	MAIDSTONE	64	29	39	3	37	72	62	171
39	WINGED FOOT G.C. (East)	41	46	47	3	60	55	54	169
40	SHADOW CREEK	27	81	29	3	74	20	72	166
41	OLD MACDONALD	56	66	21	3	45	35	80	160
41	THE OLYMPIC CLUB (Lake)	34	54	55	3	67	47	46	160
43	BANDON TRAILS	67	38	41	3	34	63	60	157
44	THE HONORS COURSE	28	63	61	3	73	38	40	151
45	TPC SAWGRASS (Players Stadium)	52	45	56	3	49	56	45	150
46	OAK HILL (East)	20	40	94	3	81	61	7	149
47	Ohoopee	0	32	23	2	0	69	78	147
48	PIKEWOOD NATIONAL	33	60	64	3	68	41	37	146
48	SEBONACK	38	97	22	3	63	4	79	146
50	QUAKER RIDGE	76	39	43	3	25	62	58	145

[Brian Finn]

Overall Rank	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	Count	GD Points	GM Points	GW Points	Total Points
51	MYOPIA HUNT CLUB	69	43	49	3	32	58	52	142
52	OLD SANDWICH	58	52	52	3	43	49	49	141
53	OLD TOWN	92	41	33	3	9	60	68	137
54	SLEEPY HOLLOW	62	36	70	3	39	65	31	135
55	PLAINFIELD	75	57	42	3	26	44	59	129
56	INVERNESS	65	33	79	3	36	68	22	126
57	California Golf Club	0	27	50	2	0	74	51	125
58	Congaree	39	72	73	3	62	29	28	119
59	GOZZER RANCH	31	70	84	3	70	31	17	118
59	MONTEREY PENINSULA C.C. (Shore)	53	67	65	3	48	34	36	118
61	Rock Creek Cattle Co.	81	48	60	3	20	53	41	114
62	VALLEY CLUB OF MONTECITO	78	55	59	3	23	46	42	111
63	BALTUSROL (Lower)	45	69	88	3	56	32	13	101
64	WHISPERING PINES G.C.	55	0	53	2	46	0	48	94
65	ESSEX COUNTY CLUB	79	64	67	3	22	37	34	93
66	Pasatiempo	98	59	54	3	3	42	47	92
67	KITTANSETT CLUB	77	58	78	3	24	43	23	90
68	YEAMANS HALL CLUB	99	47	69	3	2	54	32	88
69	SHEEP RANCH	0	80	35	2	0	21	66	87
70	MILWAUKEE C.C.	70	71	76	3	31	30	25	86
71	THE ESTANCIA CLUB	72	0	48	2	29	0	53	82
72	Eastward Ho!	0	53	74	2	0	48	27	75
73	Piping Rock	0	56	72	2	0	45	29	74
73	SPYGLASS HILL	51	0	77	2	50	0	24	74
75	Kingsley Club	0	79	51	2	0	22	50	72
76	KINLOCH G.C.	66	0	66	2	35	0	35	70
77	CALUSA PINES	74	98	63	3	27	3	38	68
78	THE ALOTIAN CLUB	35	0	0	1	66	0	0	66
79	BOSTON G.C.	84	0	57	2	17	0	44	61
80	Baltimore CC (East)	0	75	68	2	0	26	33	59
81	BUTLER NATIONAL	49	0	96	2	52	0	5	57
82	ERIN HILLS	46	0	0	1	55	0	0	55
82	OAK TREE NATIONAL	57	0	90	2	44	0	11	55
84	VICTORIA NATIONAL G.C.	47	0	0	1	54	0	0	54
85	CASTLE PINES	48	0	0	1	53	0	0	53
86	Gamble Sands	0	61	91	2	0	40	10	50
87	Saint Louis CC	0	78	75	2	0	23	26	49
88	Ridgewood CC	0	74	83	2	0	27	18	45
89	DALLAS NATIONAL	71	0	87	2	30	0	14	44
90	Philadelphia Cricket Wissahickon	0	0	58	1	0	0	43	43
91	INTERLACHEN	59	0	0	1	42	0	0	42
91	SCIOTO	68	0	92	2	33	0	9	42
93	MEDINAH C.C. (No. 3)	60	0	0	1	41	0	0	41
94	BALTUSROL (Upper)	63	99	0	2	38	2	0	40
95	MONTEREY PENINSULA C.C. (Dunes)	80	85	99	3	21	16	2	39
95	Streamsong Red	0	77	86	2	0	24	15	39
95	The Creek	0	62	0	1	0	39	0	39
98	Moraine	0	65	0	1	0	36	0	36
99	Mammoth Dunes	0	96	71	2	0	5	30	35
100	Bel-Air CC	0	68	0	1	0	33	0	33
100	PETE DYE G.C.	87	0	82	2	14	0	19	33

   

[Brian Finn]

Overall Rank	Course	GD Rank	GM Rank	GW Rank	Count	GD Points	GM Points	GW Points	Total Points
102	Sand Valley	0	91	80	2	0	10	21	31
103	CHERRY HILLS C.C.	73	100	0	2	28	1	0	29
103	Newport CC	0	84	89	2	0	17	12	29
105	Harbour Town	0	73	0	1	0	28	0	28
106	White Bear YC	0	76	0	1	0	25	0	25
107	Colorado GC	0	0	81	1	0	0	20	20
108	ARONIMINK	94	89	0	2	7	12	0	19
108	CANYATA	82	0	0	1	19	0	0	19
108	Prairie Club (Dunes)	0	82	0	1	0	19	0	19
111	ARCADIA BLUFFS	83	0	0	1	18	0	0	18
111	Hollywood	0	83	0	1	0	18	0	18
113	Dismal River (Doak)	0	0	85	1	0	0	16	16
113	THE QUARRY AT LA QUINTA	85	0	0	1	16	0	0	16
115	DIAMOND CREEK	86	0	0	1	15	0	0	15
115	Glen Falls	0	86	0	1	0	15	0	15
117	Lawsonia Links	0	87	0	1	0	14	0	14
118	OLYMPIA FIELDS C.C. (North)	88	0	0	1	13	0	0	13
118	Wolf Point Ranch	0	88	0	1	0	13	0	13
120	HUDSON NATIONAL	89	0	0	1	12	0	0	12
121	Mountain Ridge	0	90	0	1	0	11	0	11
121	RICH HARVEST FARMS	90	0	0	1	11	0	0	11
123	CONGRESSIONAL C.C. (Blue)	91	0	0	1	10	0	0	10
124	Pinehurst No 4	0	92	0	1	0	9	0	9
125	Kapalua Plantation	0	0	93	1	0	0	8	8
125	Palmetto	0	93	0	1	0	8	0	8
125	VALHALLA G.C.	93	0	0	1	8	0	0	8
128	Nanea	0	94	0	1	0	7	0	7
129	BLACKWOLF RUN (River)	95	0	0	1	6	0	0	6
129	Streamsong Blue	0	95	0	1	0	6	0	6
129	Wannamoisett	0	0	95	1	0	0	6	6
132	DOUBLE EAGLE	96	0	0	1	5	0	0	5
133	Galloway National	0	0	97	1	0	0	4	4
133	Quail Hollow	97	0	0	1	4	0	0	4
135	Yale Golf Course	0	0	98	1	0	0	3	3
136	SPRING HILL G.C.	100	0	0	1	1	0	0	1
136	Streamsong Black	0	0	100	1	0	0	1	1

   

[Mark_Fine]

Brian,
Great work!  I will have to set aside some time to study it.  I didn’t look but didn’t realize the GD Top 101-200 is not on line?  There is likely even more overlap if you take those courses along with the ones from GW that didn’t make your combined GW Top 100.  Showing up anywhere on any of those lists is something to be said.  Thanks again for compiling all of this. 

[Garland Bayley]

  “Most of us know a member of Sand Hills.” Really?

I know the Huckster. Unfortunately, he hasn't invited me to play there even though he is one of the few people I am nice to.

[Dunlop_White]

Interesting to see. Great work! Thanks for this. May need a separate thread...

[Brian Finn]

I’m glad at least a few people found this interesting. I did this very quickly, just out of my own curiosity, and didn’t necessarily plan to post. I will put a bit more work into it and share further data and findings.

I am going to add in top100golfcourses.com because I think their list is as strong and legitimate as the other publications.  That should strengthen the dataset somewhat, making “outliers” (only 1 out of 4) even more interesting. On that note, I’ll also post the outliers lists. While you can find them in the tables I posted, the table on this format is tough to make clean, and i couldn’t do much with formatting to make it easier to review.

Any other suggestions, let me know. Thanks.

[Brian Finn]

Brian,
Great work!  I will have to set aside some time to study it.  I didn’t look but didn’t realize the GD Top 101-200 is not on line?  There is likely even more overlap if you take those courses along with the ones from GW that didn’t make your combined GW Top 100.  Showing up anywhere on any of those lists is something to be said.  Thanks again for compiling all of this.

I agree with you. Having 400 courses available from GW makes me want to go deeper. Id love to include at least the top 200 from each publication, but if I don’t have 200 from any one source, it wouldn’t be as worthwhile. If anyone has data they want to email me, I can use it to extend the list. For now, I’ll stick with 100 from each.

[Ira Fishman]

Brian,


Thanks for doing this. I would have guessed that there would be more courses that made at least one list. I guess tastes have converged because my impression is that 10 or 15 years ago there would have been more divergence.


I agree that adding Top100courses would be useful and that it is a good list as far as rankings go.


Ira

[Phil Burr]

								With the U.S. Open some six weeks away, I have taken Brian's great work and broken it down into courses that have hosted the event.  All courses included in this list appear on the most recent GM, GD or GW rankings.  Because the GolfWeek rankings go 400 courses deep (as noted below), their inclusion allows us to put 15 courses that fall outside of a consolidated Top 100 list into some sort of context, at least from from GW's perspective.  What jumps out at me is how poorly the west coast fares, and how the USGA must be hoping desperately that LACC will step up and accept the US Open on a regular basis.  Pebble is obviously a great venue.  Olympic has the requisite room for infrastructure, but architecturally its rankings put it above only Congressional & Hazeltine among venues that have hosted 2+ Opens in the last 30 years.  Torrey comes in at a lowly #38 of 44 among US Open venues by this methodology.  Another takeaway is that apart from Shinnecock and Oakmont, all of the top venues have additional courses/land onsite or nearby (Pebble) that allow them to meet the USGA's infrastructure requirements.
Overall		GD	GM	GW	GD	GM	GW	Total
Rank	Course	Rank	Rank	Rank	Points	Points	Points	Points
1	Shinnecock Hills	4	3	4	97	98	97	292
2	Oakmont	5	5	7	96	96	94	286
3	Merion (East)	6	8	8	95	93	93	281
4	Pebble Beach	8	10	10	93	91	91	275
5	Chicago GC	13	14	9	88	87	92	267
6	Winged Foot (West)	12	15	18	89	86	83	258
7	Los Angeles CC (North)	19	12	17	82	89	84	255
8	Pinehurst (No. 2)	29	11	19	72	90	82	244
9	Riviera	22	17	25	79	84	76	239
10	The Country Club (Composite)	17	22	38	84	79	63	226
11	Oakland Hills (South)	21	35	36	80	66	65	211
12	Bethpage (Black)	40	30	45	61	71	56	188
13	Southern Hills	32	28	61	69	73	40	182
14	Garden City GC	61	25	44	40	76	57	173
15	Olympic Club (Lakeside)	34	54	52	67	47	49	163
16	Oak Hill (East)	20	40	93	81	61	8	150
17	Myopia Hunt Club	69	43	48	32	58	53	143
18	Inverness	65	33	77	36	68	24	128
19	Baltusrol (Lower)	45	69	88	56	32	13	101
20	Baltimore CC (East)	--	75	57	--	26	34	60
21	Erin Hills	46	--	--	55	--	--	55
22	St Louis CC	--	78	75	--	23	26	49
23	Scioto	68	--	91	33	--	10	43
24	Interlachen	59	--	--	42	--	--	42
25	Medinah (No. 3)	60	--	--	41	--	--	41
26	Newport GC	--	84	89	--	17	12	29
27	Cherry Hills	73	--	--	28	--	--	28
28	Olympia Fields (North)	88	--	--	13	--	--	13
29	Congressional (Blue)	91	--	--	10	--	--	10
		Honorable Mention (GolfWeek 2nd 100)
	Chambers Bay, 7.34
	Canterbury, 7.25
	Hazeltine, 7.17
	Colonial, 7.16
	Skokie, 7.14
	Minikhada, 7.11
		Atlanta AC (Highlands), 6.89
	CC of Buffalo, 7.07
	Torrey (South), 6.97
	Bellerive, 6.84
	Worcester CC, 6.73
	Brae Burn, 6.55
	Onwentsia Club, 6.49
	Columbia CC, 6.40
		Champions (Cypress), 6.40

[Tom_Doak]

I am going to add in top100golfcourses.com because I think their list is as strong and legitimate as the other publications.

Isn't the baseline for the top100 website's rankings, in fact, a composite of other rankings like you have already been doing?


It's never been clear to me how much weight their panelists' votes actually have on their list . . . if any.

[Phil Burr]

I meangt to add that Oak Hill was the lowest ranked course from GW to make a composite top 100 from all three lists.  Oak Hill's score was 7.65.  To give an idea of how close or how far the "honorable mentions were, Chambers Bay was highest at 7.34, with (by my count) 39 courses coming after Oak Hill but before Chambers.

[Brent Carlson]

@ Brian & Phil,


Thanks for putting those lists together.  Very enlightening and interesting data, especially on the US Open venues

[Brian Finn]

I am going to add in top100golfcourses.com because I think their list is as strong and legitimate as the other publications.

Isn't the baseline for the top100 website's rankings, in fact, a composite of other rankings like you have already been doing?

It's never been clear to me how much weight their panelists' votes actually have on their list . . . if any.

If so, then obviously I won’t add them in. I will have to look at their criteria and method. I assumed they were based on votes from their contributors.

[Dunlop_White]

..... correspondents at The Top 100 have an impact on their results.  I don’t know how much influence they have, but I know it isn’t just an average of all the magazines.

Old Town has hosted more than a dozen correspondents from their panel recently.

-- Brian Finn's magazine data averages OTC at 53, while Top 100 has us at 29.

-- For Cal Club, Brian Finn's magazine data averages them at 57, while Top 100 has them at 28.

[Tom_Doak]

..... correspondents at The Top 100 have an impact on their results.  I don’t know how much influence they have, but I know it isn’t just an average of all the magazines.

Old Town has hosted more than a dozen correspondents from their panel recently.

-- Brian Finn's magazine data averages OTC at 53, while Top 100 has us at 29.

-- For Cal Club, Brian Finn's magazine data averages them at 57, while Top 100 has them at 28.

I believe they also average in the grades from The Confidential Guide, somehow.


But based on your two examples above, perhaps they are not using the GOLF DIGEST ranking as a source?  That's the one driving down the position of OTC and the Cal Club.