The 25 best golf courses in America in 2019, ranked
- Pine Valley Golf Club, Pine Valley, New Jersey.
- Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia.
- Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, California.
- Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Southampton, New York.
- Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
- Merion Golf Club (East), Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
- Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California.
Full Answer
What are the best golf courses in the United States?
May 05, 2021 · Golfweek’s Best 2021 Modern Courses: From Bandon Dunes to Shadow Creek, these are the top 200 courses that were built after 1960 Nos. 1-25 Pebble Beach Golf Links in California (Harry How/Getty...
What are the 50 best golf courses in the US?
Jan 14, 2020 · The Old Guard dominates the top 10. There’s No. 3 Muirfield, created in 1891, No. 4 Royal Dornoch (1892) and No. 6 Old Course at St. Andrews (1848). Royal …
What state has the best golf courses?
Nov 20, 2019 · Pine Valley excels at all three, with many contending it has the most formidable hazards and sophisticated green complexes in golf. Throw in a wonderful routing that hopscotches from one island of...
Which country has the most golf courses?
May 11, 2021 · May 11, 2021 Here are the top-ranked courses for 2021-2022, as scored in our seven scoring criteria by Golf Digest’s course-ranking panelists. (1) Seminole G.C. (pictured above), Juno Beach • (2)...
What was the first 18 hole golf course in the US?
One of the five founding members of the United States Golf Association in 1894, Chicago Golf was the site of the nation's first 18-hole course; it also was the first course outside of the Northeast to play host to the U.S. Open. Seth Raynor retooled his mentor C.B. Macdonald’s course in 1923 and not much has changed since as its slew of exemplary template holes make it just as relevant today as it was in the age of hickory golf. Holes 1 through 3, which include a Road and Biarritz template, represent one of the game’s great starts. (Photo: Andy Johnson/The Fried Egg)
Who designed Augusta National Golf Course?
Augusta National is the vision of Bobby Jones and his chosen architect, Alister MacKenzie. Both intended for Augusta National to reflect the spirit and strategic options of the Old Course at St. Andrews, the course that they admired most. Nearly every hole at St. Andrews and Augusta National provides a safe route to the green and also a riskier one. Recent tree-planting and narrowing of corridors stands in contrast to that shared vision and is at odds with what has transpired at other Golden Age cornerstone designs this century, proving what a tough position ANGC finds itself in continuing to test the world’s best players in golf’s most anticipated event. Regardless, the course’s staggering beauty and Masters tradition remain unlike any other. (Photo: Joann Dost)
What makes Merion so special?
What makes Merion so distinctive is its remarkable variety. Some par-4s are short, others are monsters. One par-3 is tiny, at 115 yards; the others measure 236, 246 and 256 yards. The famous par-4 11th, where Bobby Jones clinched the 1930 Grand Slam, is slashed by a creek, while the par-4 16th demands a shot over an abandoned stone quarry. In short, Merion has everything, including newly installed sub-air and irrigation systems that lend more control over the firmness and speed of the playing surfaces. The recently expanded greens have created a plethora of new hole locations around the greens’ perimeters, and the player’s chess match with the clever design is more intense than ever. (Photo: Larry Lambrecht)
How long has Somerset Hills been restored?
Thanks to a 25-year-long restoration effort with meticulous attention to detail, Somerset Hills has reached the point where it joins Winged Foot and San Francisco GC as exemplars of Tillinghast's enormous talent. Some even trumpet it as Tilly’s finest design for regular play. Its two nines are quite diverse, the first being on more open land while the second jumps into the woods where Tillinghast incorporated natural water features to perfection. A die-hard New Yorker remarked, “It’s enough to make one want to live New Jersey.” (Photo: Russell Kirk)
When was Pine Valley Golf Course built?
YEAR BUILT. 1918. To state perhaps the obvious, one simple but effective way to judge a design is by the quality of the course’s property, its hazards and greens. Pine Valley excels at all three, with many contending it has the most formidable hazards and sophisticated green complexes in golf.
Is Pikewood National a good golf course?
Built by two mining executives with no previous design experience, Pikewood National is pure golf for serious players. Walking is required here, and a round covers nearly nine miles with major elevation changes. But the hike is more than worth it to experience one of game’s most scenic and best conditioned layouts. Highlights include the massive horseshoe 8th hole and the par-3 5th, backed by a natural waterfall. The relative paucity of bunkers adds to the design’s distinctiveness. (Photo: Pikewood National)
How many US Opens has Baltusrol won?
Jack Nicklaus has called Baltusrol one of his favorite courses, and it’s easy to see why — he won two U.S. Opens there. The layout is a Tillinghast classic, with undulating fairways, challenging greens and back-to-back par-5 beasts that close out the round. Over the years, the Lower has played host to four U.S. Opens (Balty’s other three Opens were on the Upper course) and two PGAs, but with no more Opens on the schedule, some wonder if the course has fallen off the USGA’s unofficial rota. Gil Hanse’s current renovation should fix that. (Photo: Getty Images)
Who designed Royal County Down?
No. 1 Royal County Down, originally routed by Old Tom Morris and subsequently tinkered with by a half a dozen designers (most recently Donald Steel), is being challenged by Tari Iti in New Zealand, a dazzling Tom Doak design from 2015 that made its debut at No. 6 in 2018 and jumps to No. 2 on this survey.
Is the King's Course still king?
But to golf architecture fans, and Golf Digest panelists, the King’s is still king, (Braid, by the way, always considered King’s to be his best work.) The course meanders along novel topography, full of odd elephant-shaped mounds, humps and abrupt gulches, lined with pine, fir, heather and bracken.
Who designed the 2009 golf course?
GOLF Magazine's Top New International Course of 2009 has maintained its early lofty results thanks to a brilliant Gil Hanse/Mark Parsinen design that was effusively praised by Phil Mickelson — and that was before he won the 2013 Scottish Open here. Highlights include wide fairways, wild and woolly bunkers and panoramic views of Moray Firth and the Scottish Highlands. (Up 5)
What is the only Irish course to host the Open?
The only Irish course to host The Open is perennially ranked in the world's top-15 courses, thanks to a superior 1929 H.S. Colt design that maximizes its setting in the high dunes along the Irish Sea.
What is the appeal of Alister MacKenzie's Golden Age masterpiece?
The appeal of Alister MacKenzie's Golden Age masterpiece is best explained by former world Number 1 Sir Nick Faldo. "I love the way it plays firm and fast-running, the way the bunkering frames and almost intrudes into the putting surfaces and the brilliance of the bunkering style with the native scrubby look. I'm also a fan of the often very wide fairways that reward positioning and of the mix of long and short par-4s. Add to this the splendid contouring of the greens and the rich variety of approach shots that you play into those greens."
Does England have a phobia of par 70?
Unlike in America, England doesn't have a phobia about courses with par under 70. Seeing a 6,431-yard, par-69 course like Swinley Forest be embraced as an epitome of great design is a powerful message. Like Rye, its quintet of one-shotters and tight sub-70 par make it more of a complete test than a quick glance at its scorecard might indicate. The more the world speeds up, the more people appreciate clubs like Swinley where calm reigns supreme. (Up 32)
What is the most famous hole in Cape Kidnappers?
The course’s most famous hole is also its most feared, the 650-yard, par-5 15th which falls away on both sides of the fairway and which sports a horizon green perched precariously on a bluff overlooking the sea. Architecture buffs are likely to be just as captivated by the playing angles at the short two shot 14th with its Road Hole green complex. (No change)
What makes Merion so special?
What makes Merion so distinctive is its remarkable variety. Some par-4s are short, others are monsters. One par-3 is tiny, at 115 yards; the others measure 236, 246 and 256 yards. The famous par-4 11th, where Bobby Jones clinched the 1930 Grand Slam, is slashed by a creek, while the par-4 16th demands a shot over an abandoned stone quarry. In short, Merion has everything, including newly installed sub-air and irrigation systems that lend more control over the firmness and speed of the playing surfaces. The recently expanded greens have created a plethora of new hole locations around the greens’ perimeters, and the player’s chess match with the clever design is more intense than ever. (Photo: Larry Lambrecht)
How long has Somerset Hills been restored?
Thanks to a 25-year-long restoration effort with meticulous attention to detail, Somerset Hills has reached the point where it joins Winged Foot and San Francisco GC as exemplars of Tillinghast's enormous talent. Some even trumpet it as Tilly’s finest design for regular play. Its two nines are quite diverse, the first being on more open land while the second jumps into the woods where Tillinghast incorporated natural water features to perfection. A die-hard New Yorker remarked, “It’s enough to make one want to live New Jersey.” (Photo: Russell Kirk)
