Sunday, October 09, 2011

The Top 10 Golf Courses in the World

In addition to Golf Digest, Golf Magazine also rank the top 100 golf courses in the world. Here is the 2011 rankings of Golf Magazine's world top 10 golf courses:


1 Pine Valley
George Crump, H.S. Colt, 1918 Pine Valley, N.J. US 95.99

2 Cypress Point
Alister MacKenzie, 1928 Pebble Beach, Calif. US 91.06

3 Augusta National
Alister MacKenzie, Bobby Jones, 1933 Augusta, Ga. US 87.95

4 St. Andrews (Old Course)
Nature, 1400 St. Andrews Scotland 86.27

5 Royal County Down
Old Tom Morris, 1889 Newcastle N. Ireland 82.92

6 Shinnecock Hills
William Flynn, 1931 Southampton, N.Y. US 82.63

7 Pebble Beach
Jack Neville, Douglas Grant, 1919 Pebble Beach, Calif. US 80.49

8 Oakmont
Henry Fownes, 1903 Oakmont, Pa. US 77.36

9 Muirfield
Old Tom Morris, 1891
H.S. Colt, 1925 Gullane Scotland 76.22

10 Merion (East)
Hugh Wilson, 1912 Ardmore, Pa. US 75.22

This top 10 is in fact similar to Golf Digest's top 10 as it is dominated by US golf courses. Approximately half of the overall rankings are US golf courses. However, Augusta is not rated the top golf course, and instead Pine Valley takes top spot. St Andrews, Muirfield and Royal County Down are the three best non-American golf courses included in the top 10.

Again, it is interesting to note that all the golf courses included in the top 10 are older golf courses that predate 1950. They have remained the best golf courses in the game for decades, regardless of the more recent course designs from architects such as Dye and Trent Jones.

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