Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses

Subscribe

November 1, 2012 | 10:19 a.m.

Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses 2013

Red Ledges in Heber City, Utah
Golfweek Staff


1. Rock Creek Cattle Company

Deer Lodge, Mont., 2008

Tom Doak

Avg. rating: 7.99


2. Wade Hampton Golf Club

Cashiers, N.C., 1988

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.92


3. Huntsman Springs

Driggs, Idaho, 2009

David McLay Kidd

Avg. rating: 7.60


4. Shooting Star

Teton Village, Wyo., 2009

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.59


5. Gozzer Ranch

Arrowpoint, Idaho, 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.57


6. Colorado Golf Club

Parker, Colo., 2007

Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw

Avg. rating: 7.48


7. Castle Pines

Castle Rock, Colo., 1981

Jack Nicklaus

Avg. rating: 7.47


8. Mayacama

Santa Rosa, Calif., 2001

Jack Nicklaus

Avg. rating: 7.41


9. Mountaintop

Cashiers, N.C., 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.36


10. Oak Tree National

Edmond, Okla., 1975

Pete Dye

Avg. rating: 7.33


11. Patriot Golf Club

Owasso, Okla., 2010

Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Avg. rating: 7.32


12. Martis Camp

Truckee, Calif., 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.31


13. Pronghorn (Fazio)

Bend, Ore., 2006

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.30


14. Diamond Creek

Banner Elk, N.C., 2003

Tom Fazio

Avg. Rating: 7.23


15. Estancia

Scottsdale, Ariz., 1995

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.22


16. Forest Highlands ...

Click here to continue reading


November 1, 2011 | 11:35 p.m.

Solid as a Rock

Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Golfweek Staff

1. Rock Creek Cattle Co.

Deer Lodge, Mont., 2008

Tom Doak

Avg. rating: 7.93


2. Wade Hampton Golf Club

Cashiers, N.C., 1988

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.85


3. Mountaintop

Cashiers, N.C., 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.67


4. Shooting Star

Teton Village, Wyo., 2009

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.67


5. Gozzer Ranch

Arrowpoint, Idaho, 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.64


6. Huntsman Springs

Driggs, Idaho, 2009

David McLay Kidd

Avg. rating: 7.56


7. Colorado Golf Club

Parker, Colo., 2007

Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw

Avg. rating: 7.51


8. Castle Pines

Castle Rock, Colo., 1981

Jack Nicklaus

Avg. rating: 7.49


9. Mayacama

Santa Rosa, Calif., 2001

Jack Nicklaus

Avg. rating: 7.39


10. Diamond Creek

Banner Elk, N.C., 2003

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.35


11. Oak Tree National

Edmond, Okla., 1975

Pete Dye

Avg. rating: 7.34


12. Pronghorn (Fazio)

Bend, Ore., 2006

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.32


13. Patriot Golf Club

Owasso, Okla., 2010

Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Avg. rating: 7.32


14. Martis Camp

Truckee, Calif., 2007

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.32


15. Black Diamond Ranch (Quarry)

Lecanto, Fla., 1988

Tom Fazio

Avg. rating: 7.21 ...

Click here to continue reading


November 2, 2010 | 2:05 p.m.

2011 Golfweek's Best Residential Courses

2011 Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses

1) Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club

Cashiers, N.C.

Tom Fazio

2007

2) Rock Creek Cattle Company

Deer Lodge, Mont.

Tom Doak

2008

3) Wade Hampton Golf Club

Cashiers, N.C.

Tom Fazio

1988

4) Colorado Golf Club

Parker, Colo.

Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw

2007

5) The Patriot

Owasso, Okla.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. & Jay Blasi

2010*

6) Huntsman Springs

Driggs, Idaho

David McLay Kidd

2009*

7) Castle Pines Golf Club

Castle Rock, Colo.

Jack Nicklaus

1981

8) Mayacama Golf Club

Santa Rosa, Calif.

Jack Nicklaus

2001

9) Gozzer Ranch

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Tom Fazio

2007

10) Oak Tree National

Edmond, Okla.

Pete Dye

1976

11) Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club

Sandia Park, N.M.

Ken Dye

2000

12) Pronghorn (Fazio)

Bend, Ore.

Tom Fazio

2006

13) Black Diamond (Quarry)

Lecanto, Fla.

Tom Fazio

1988

14) The Golf Club at Cuscowilla

Eatonton, Ga.

Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw

1998

15) The Preserve

Carmel Valley, Calif.

Tom Fazio

2000

16) Diamond Creek

Banner Elk, N.C.

Tom Fazio

2002

17) Black Rock

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Jim Engh

2003

18) The Concession Golf Club

Bradenton, Fla.

Jack Nicklaus & Tony Jacklin

2006

19) Forest Highlands (Canyon)

Flagstaff, Ariz ...

Click here to continue reading


November 9, 2009 | 11:24 a.m.

2010 Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses


July 7, 2009 | 11:24 a.m.

2009 Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses


July 7, 2008 | 11:25 a.m.

2008 Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses


July 7, 2007 | 11:26 a.m.

2007 Golfweek’s Best Residential Courses


September 7, 2006 | 11:43 a.m.

2006: Red Rock becomes a Rapid success story

Bradley S. Klein

Rapid City, S.D.

In a region that thrives on its connection with the outdoors, there’s not much need here for a guard house or a gated community. The whole point of living in South Dakota’s Black Hills, after all, is to keep in touch with the land. And the good thing about the Estates at Red Rock is that the design and overall plan allow you to live that way, and at a reasonable price.

Rapid City, with 70,000 residents and a metro area of 125,000, is a big small town rather than a city. With Denver 400 miles to the southwest and Minneapolis 620 miles east, the culture here is self-contained, but also surprisingly prosperous, thanks to tourism, agriculture, ranching and the spillover from defense spending at Ellsworth Air Force Base west of town.

Seven years ago, Rapid City natives Kevin Buntrock and Don Ward set out to build something that this modestly burgeoning town didn’t have: a well-planned golf course community. They were playing in a U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier at Powder Horn in “nearby” Sheridan, Wyo., only 250 miles to the west, liked what they saw, and figured a version of ...

Click here to continue reading


July 25, 2006 | 5:31 p.m.

2006: No Bluff: An intimate 20,000-acre plan

Bradley S. Klein

Bluffton, S.C.

It sounds corny – or vaguely New Age. But a basic design principle of smart, ecologically minded community planning these days is to parcel out development in functional segments, creating a clear focal point of town life and dissipating the densities along radial lines so that they influence the farthest reaches of the site. That’s the way to avoid wall-to-wall development and golf courses stuffed chock-a-block with real estate that seemingly overhangs fairways.

How else to explain what’s so engaging about the newly planned and developed community of Palmetto Bluff at May River? Here’s an ecologically rich, 20,000-acre (31-square-mile) parcel along the headwaters of the May River, midway between Savannah, Ga., and Hilton Head Island, S.C. The land is rich with wetlands, intracoastal tidal marsh and a maritime forest teeming with live oaks, palmetto trees and moss. A Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course touches lightly on the land, with homesites set back generously from corridors of play. Only 90 residences are anywhere near the holes, an absurdly low figure compared to regional standards.

The golf, like all of Palmetto Bluff, is elegant and low-key. The course registers about 5,000 rounds per year – by ...

Click here to continue reading


September 6, 2005 | 8:45 p.m.

2005: Isleworth: New look for old pros

Bradley S. Klein

Windermere, Fla.

It’s tough enough taking a pedestrian, slightly dated golf course with real estate on virtually every hole and turning it into a stern championship test for the 21st century. Now do it with resident members Tiger Woods, John Cook, Scott Hoch and Mark O’Meara and others looking over your shoulder the whole way.

That’s the task that confronted veteran course designer Steve Smyers when he was asked by owner Joe Lewis to renovate Isleworth. The course dates to a 1985 layout by Arnold Palmer and his chief associate, Ed Seay. This private club always had panache as an upscale, exclusive location on the west side of Orlando, but the golf course was a basic functional layout, with the emphasis more on home lots fronting fairways than what lay between tee and green. There was little native elevation, and the soil was on the heavy side. Doglegs and fairway bunkers were designed to be a challenge to 250-yard carries off the tee – a booming drive two decades ago, but pedestrian by modern standards.

Smyers, based in Lakeland, Fla., was uniquely qualified for the task. Between his own stellar play and that of his wife (former LPGA ...

Click here to continue reading


August 31, 2005 | 11:42 a.m.

2005: America’s Best

Bradley S. Klein

Las Vegas

Anyone who doesn’t love Las Vegas is either an ascetic or a year-round resident of the place. I cannot imagine spending much time here, but in two- or three-day doses it’s the perfect antidote for urbane sophistication. No place in the world comes close to the crazed neon sensibility of the gaudy Strip. How can anyone not be enamored with a desert oasis (unfit for human habitation) in which three-quarter-sized versions of the Eiffel Tower and the Brooklyn Bridge share space with 2,000 Elvis impersonators?

For years, golf was nothing more than a diversion that kept high rollers busy between long stretches at the casinos. Shadow Creek turned the game into a spectacle – a 250-acre mirage. Now golf is settling in for the long run.

When Southern Highlands opened in 2000, the seven miles between the front gate and downtown was desolate. Now, regional development has brought new homes, shopping malls and Starbucks virtually leapfrogging past the golf grounds.

The Southern Highlands property occupies a 2,300-acre parcel on the west side of Route 15, the main highway into Southern California, and includes 6,200 residential units – everything from two-bedroom townhouses to 15,000-square-foot palaces ...

Click here to continue reading