2013 Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play
The number of courses per state varies
based on course supply, population and
level(No. of play; includes daily-fee layouts
and courses accessible via resorts.
(m) modern course; (c) classic course; * new to list)
Alabama
1) FarmLinks at Pursell Farms, Sylacauga (m)
2) Kiva Dunes, Gulf Shores (m)
3) Capstone Club, Brookwood (m)
4) Ross Bridge, Hoover (m)
5) The Shoals (Fighting Joe), Muscle Shoals (m)
6) Limestone Springs, Oneonta (m)
7) Grand National (Lake), Opelika (m)
8) Grand National (Links), Opelika (m)
9) Oxmoor Valley (Ridge), Birmingham (m)*
10) Timberline, Calera (m)
Alaska
1) Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
2) Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
3) Chena Bend GC, Fairbanks (m)
4) Eagleglen, Elmendorf Air Force Base (m)
5) Settlers Bay, Wasilla (m)
Arizona
1) We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Fort McDowell (m)
2) Quintero GC, Peoria (m)*
3) Golf Club at Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita), Marana (m)
4) We-Ko-Pa (Cholla), Fort McDowell (m)
5) Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale (m)
6) Superstition Mountain GC (Prospector), Superstition Mountain (m)
7) Troon North (Pinnacle), Scottsdale, (m)
8) Talking Stick (North), Scottsdale (m)
9) Ventana Canyon (Mountain), Tucson (m)
10) TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Scottsdale (m)
11) Ak-Chin Southern Dunes, Maricopa (m)
12) Boulders Resort (North ...
Hidden gem
FRANKSTON, Texas - It would be reasonable to assume that, upon arriving in this tiny east Texas town, you would be greeted with a billboard bursting with civic pride. The billboard might read something like this: Welcome to Frankston, home of the best golf course in Texas.
But no, there’s no billboard. The closest thing you’ll find is a sign at Pandora’s Box advertising, with no hint of irony: “Outrageously cool junk.”
Even as you drive along State Highway 155, there’s little to suggest that you’re approaching a course that’s often compared to the great Sandhills layouts. Only a couple of hand-painted signs bracket the entrance onto County Road 319, informing guests that they have arrived at Pine Dunes Resort & Golf Club.
Texas, the nation’s second-largest state, has more than 1,000 golf courses. But for the past three years, if you wanted to find the No. 1 course on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Texas, you had to come here to Pine Dunes. It was No. 2 before that.
The story of Pine Dunes is as unlikely as its location, which even owner Jodi Lutz acknowledges is “in the middle ...
2012 Golfweek's Best Courses: State by State
The number of courses per state varies based on course supply, population and level of play; includes daily-fee layouts and courses accessible via resorts.
(m) – modern course; (c) – classic course; * – new to list
Alabama
1) Kiva Dunes, Gulf Shores (m)
2) Farm Links at Pursell Farms, Sylacauga (m)
3) Limestone Springs, Oneonta (m)
4) Capstone Club, Brookwood (m)
5) Ross Bridge, Hoover (m)
6) The Shoals (Fighting Joe), Muscle Shoals (m)
7) Grand National (Lake), Opelika (m)
8) Grand National (Links), Opelika (m)
9) Timberline, Calera (m)
10) Magnolia Grove (The Crossings), Mobile (m)*
Alaska
1) Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
2) Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
3) Chena Bend GC, Fairbanks (m)
4) Eagleglen, Elmendorf Air Force Base (m)
5) Settlers Bay, Wasilla (m)
Arizona
1) We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Fountain Hills (No) 97 m)
2) Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita), Marana (m)
3) We-Ko-Pa (Cholla), Fountain Hills (m)
4) Superstition Mountain GC (Prospector), Superstition Mountain (m)
5) Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale (m)
6) Southern Dunes GC, Maricopa (m)
7) TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Scottsdale (m)
8) Talking Stick (North), Scottsdale (m)
9) Superstition Mountain GC (Lost Gold), Superstition Mountain (m)
10) Boulders Resort (North), Carefree (m)
11) Ventana Canyon ...
Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play
The number of courses per state varies based on course supply, population and level of play; includes daily-fee layouts and courses accessible via resorts.
(m) – modern course; (c) – classic course; * – new to list
Alabama
1.) FarmLinks at Pursell Farms, Sylacauga (m)
2.) Kiva Dunes, Gulf Shores (m)
3.) Limestone Springs, Oneonta (m)
4.) Capstone Club, Brookwood (m)
5.) Ross Bridge, Hoover (m)
6.) Grand National (Lake), Opelika (m)
7.) The Shoals (Fighting Joe), Muscle Shoals (m)
8.) Timberline, Calera (m)
9.) Grand National (Links), Opelika (m)
10.) Cambrian Ridge (Sherling/Canyon), Greenville (m)*
Alaska
1.) Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
2.) Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
3.) Chena Bend GC, Fairbanks (m)
4.) Eagleglen, Elmendorf Air Force Base (m)
5.) Settlers Bay, Wasilla (m)
Arizona
1.) We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Fountain Hills (No. 85 m)
2.) Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale (m)
3.) We-Ko-Pa (Cholla), Fountain Hills (m)
4.) Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita), Marana (m)
5.) Superstition Mountain GC (Prospector), Superstition Mountain (m)
6.) Southern Dunes GC, Maricopa (m)
7.) Tallking Stick (North), Scottsdale (m)
8.) TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Scottsdale (m)
9.) Troon North (Pinnacle), Scottsdale (m)
10.) Boulders Resort (North), Carefree (m)
11.) Ventana Canyon (Mountain), Tucson (m)
12 ...
Public statement
2010 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play
State-by-State 2010
Public-access courses
The number of courses per state varies based on course supply, population and level of play; includes daily-fee and resort courses
(m) – modern course; (c) – classic course; * – new to list
Alabama
- Limestone Springs, Oneonta (m)
- Capstone Club, Brookwood (m)
- Kiva Dunes, Gulf Shores (m)
- Farm Links at Pursell Farms, Sylacagua (m)
- Ross Bridge, Hoover (m)
- The Shoals (Fighting Joe), Muscle Shoals (m)*
- Grand National (Lake), Opelika (m)
- Grand National (Links), Opelika (m)*
- Timberline, Calera (m)*
- Oxmoor Valley (Ridge), Birmingham (m)*
Alaska
- Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
- Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
- Chena Bend GC, Fort Wainwright (m)
- Eagleglen GC, Elmendorf Air Force Base (m)
- Settlers Bay, Wasilla (m)
Arizona
- We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro), Fort McDowell (No. 75 m)
- Ritz-Carlton GC at Dove Mountain (Saguaro/Tortolita), Marana (m)*
- Troon North (Monument), Scottsdale (m)
- We-Ko-Pa (Cholla), Fort McDowell (m)
- TPC Scottsdale (Stadium), Scottsdale (m)
- Ventana Canyon (Mountain), Tucson (m)
- Talking Stick (North), Scottsdale (m)
- Troon North (Pinnacle), Scottsdale (m)
- Southern Dunes GC, Maricopa (m)
- Superstition Mountain (Prospector), Superstition Mountain (m)*
- Boulders Resort (North), Carefree (m)
- La Paloma GC (Ridge/Canyon), Tucson (m)
- Laughlin Ranch, Bullhead City (m)
- Superstition Mountain (Lost Gold), Superstition ...
2005: A Grander Strand
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
The only thing tougher than building a reputation is changing the one you’ve acquired. Myrtle Beach, the self-styled “golf destination of the world,” is widely known as the destination of choice for publinx golfers seeking a busman’s holiday at discount rates. And while there’s some truth to the label, it’s only part of a bigger story. It turns out that there’s plenty of quality, upscale golf, as well as some innovative examples of golf course architecture – plus the hotels, restaurants and entertainment to match. This clearly is not your father’s Myrtle Beach. What used to be used as a road trip for the Ralph Kramdens of the world can also now handle the Ralph Laurens. 333 In that sense, it’s like Las Vegas – only without the casinos, and with more options for accessible quality golf.
Case in point: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island, 20 miles south of downtown Myrtle Beach and ranked No. 71 on Golfweek’s “America’s Best” list of top modern courses. When Caledonia opened in 1995, its designer, Mike Strantz, was known to only a handful of golf course architecture junkies as a onetime protégé of Tom Fazio. Within the narrow confines of 125 acres, Strantz weaved a par-70, 6,526-yard course that darts through century-old live oaks and skirts ponds and intracoastal marshes. Just because it has a 118-yard, par-3 hole doesn’t make it a pushover; witness its 72.1 rating and its 140 slope.
Strantz uses everything – beach bunkers, platform greens, steep banks, even the occasional deep greenside pot bunker – in a powerful but coherent narrative that announces to golfers that their round can be both fun and beautiful. It’s as if George ...
Barona Creek: Picture of patience
The elements of a fine golf course design don’t emerge suddenly; they evolve, and only during repeated site visits and reworking of the original plan. Daily-fee golfers at Barona Creek Golf Club, 25 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, can be excused for thinking that the daily-fee/resort course they play earned its ranking of No. 82 on Golfweek’s America’s Best Modern Courses list thanks to its native site features. But the design team that created the course in the late 1990s knows better.
Veteran architect Gary Roger Baird had some concerns when he first visited the large valley that the Barona Band of Mission Indians had destined for a casino and golf resort.
“I like to see gently undulating terrain,” Baird said. “But that was lacking. What we did see was a lot of exposed rock and good, mature oak trees. But I knew it would not be easy fitting holes into a long, gentle slope that didn’t have interior contours. It was a big canvas to fill.”
The 240-acre parcel of the Barona Valley offered dramatic long views and plenty of slope – almost 200 feet along its northeast to southwest axis.
A creek bed ...
2002: Mirabel: High end of the High End
By Brian Hewitt
Scottsdale, Ariz.
If you are looking for a “second home”; if you like Arizona, golf and Tom Fazio-designed courses; if you are willing to spend between $1 million and $7 million for a house with up to 5,600 square feet; and if you like loads of amenities, keep reading.
Keep reading because you likely will be interested in Mirabel, a “private golf community” in north Scottsdale that was born in controversy; weaned while so much of the milk of the golf real estate
economy was turning sour; and declared healthy when its COO reported that 168 of its first 171 lots had been sold between last Nov. 1 and the end of April 2002.
“An incredible year,” Steve Adelson said.
Mirabel briefly commanded the national golf stage a couple of years ago when San Francisco-based Discovery Land Co. decided the Greg Norman design it had paid $15 million for “wasn’t a good fit.” Those were the exact words of Discovery Land’s boss, Michael Meldman. At that time the course was called “Stonehaven.” At issue was playability and a user-friendly members course.
Meldman brought in Fazio, shelled out another $15 million, renamed the place Mirabel ...
2002: Fall For North Carolina
By Jenna Reiser
Since the Wright Brothers invented the powered flying machine, North Carolina has been first in flight. With the arrival of several master course designers, the Tar Heel State has soared to the top of the nation’s list of most desirable places to stay and play.
This fall, in the pioneering spirit of Orville and Wilbur, golf’s jetset will take off to the sand hills of Pinehurst and the awe-inspiring Peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, attracted by the irresistible charm of the Southeast’s most invigorating resort and community lifestyle.
Pinehurst
Pinehurst’s “Take a Break” fall golf packages include world-class golf, luxurious accommodations, and a $300 gift card – all adding up to an unforgettable North Carolina vacation experience.
At Pinehurst, you can choose from eight challenging courses (including Pinehurst’s famed No. 2) designed by Ross, Maples, Jones and Fazio, and tee off on the very same hallowed greens where legendary greats Ben Hogan, Peggy Kirk Bell and Payne Stewart played tournament golf.
Hotel accommodations at Pinehurst’s signature Carolina Hotel, the newly restored Holly Inn, the quaint Manor Inn, four-bedroom villas, and condominiums await you as well as an array of resort amenities ...
2001: Ambience top feature at the Ranch
Southwick, Mass.
In an intriguing press release, Damian Pascuzzo, American Society of Golf Course Architects president, recently made a plea for course raters not to award bonus points for tradition or walking.
The statement, obviously targeted at how Golf Digest undertakes course rankings, goes on to suggest that modern courses today are hard to compare with classical layouts. They are built under very different conditions than was the case a half century or more ago. Because of the severity of the land or the need for additional revenue, many modern courses require that golfers ride golf cars when they play. That shouldn’t be used to penalize architects when it comes to course ratings, according to Pascuzzo. “We think raters should focus on pure design,” he said.
By those standards, Pascuzzo’s latest work, The Ranch Golf Club, comes up a little short. Perhaps the judgment would be different if the posted in-season green fee (which we didn’t pay) was less than $100. For the record, let us also note that the in-season twilight rate is $60 and that the rates shift to $85/$45 in October and $50 in November - inclusive of optional cart. The par-72 course has ...
