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Steve Lapper died in his sleep last week — a quiet passing for a beloved husband, father, unreformed golf junkie and friend to many in the game, none of whom would have described him as quiet.

I first met Steve some 15 years ago in the grill room of a hidebound Boston-area club. He was seated at the next table over, holding forth in a voluble stage whisper on the work of the Golden Age architect William Flynn. Someone made an introduction and we got to talking, first about courses, but soon about work and kids and where to get the best dim sum nearby. Within no time, he was giving me the kind of good-natured grief I only expect from people I have known and liked for years.

That was Steve. He made your acquaintance quickly. He was drawn to golf as an art form and a pastime, but even more as a catalyst for social connections, which he seemed to forge wherever he went. Busting chops was just one of his ways of expressing fondness. He relished his relationships in the game, with an understanding that the places golf took him and the people he met through it were its richest rewards.

Steve was born and raised in New Rochelle, N.Y., and grew up caddying at Wykagyl and Winged Foot. One of his cherished memories was walking Winged Foot as a standard bearer in the 1974 U.S. Open, an experience he’d happily recount to anyone who’d listen.

Both his parents played, his mother well enough to win her club championship. Steve could get his ball airborne, too. Sometimes, he even hit it with power and precision. But he never deluded himself into thinking he might do it for a living. Golf instead became a near-constant companion through a career that spanned trading floors in Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

It was in Manhattan where he met his wife, Melissa. They later moved to New Jersey, where they raised two daughters, Sydney and Whitney.

Like New York, Steve had an outsize personality and stories to match. Friends sometimes accused him of taking poetic license with his anecdotes, including the one about playing golf and poker with Michael Jordan when Jordan was a rookie. Steve’s pal, Mike Policano, was among the amiable doubters until a few years ago, when he wound up at dinner with Steve and two friends, one of whom mentioned he’d just bumped into Jordan in a hotel lobby. “He then described the two of them playing poker and golf with Jordan,” Policano told me. “I stammered, ‘You mean, that story was true?'”

Along with good yarns, Steve brimmed with interests and opinions. He read voraciously. He collected art. He could speak on high-brow topics without sounding pretentious and on low-brow matters without coming off as a knucklehead. Aside from his wife and daughters, few subjects delighted him more than golf design.

He was an early and forceful voice in online architecture forums. Debates on those platforms can be like academic feuds in which people care so much because the stakes are so small. At times, Steve ruffled feathers and had his ruffled back. But he never lost touch with the point of those exchanges, which was to swap ideas and insights with fellow obsessives, or their ultimate importance, which was minimal. He could disagree heatedly and laugh about it an hour later. And he was never too proud to admit when he was wrong.

“Steve could be a lot,” one of his friends told me, tenderly. I’ve always thought that’s better than being a little. To engage with Steve was to understand that he expected you to go all in. You could count on him to show you the same respect in return.

Steve served as a GOLF Magazine course rater for more than a decade. But his deepest involvement in the game was as a course operator and developer. He was president of Paramount Golf Club in New York and co-owner of Fox Hollow Golf Course in New Jersey, and he was working toward a real-estate project at nearby Spring Brook GC when he died.

Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel and NBC Sports analyst, first encountered Steve over lunch at Paramount under circumstances not unlike my own. Steve was seated nearby and “he was not inconspicuous,” Chamblee said. “He also knew more about architecture than anyone I’d ever met. It was like talking to George Thomas, Alister MacKenzie, Bill Coore and Gil Hanse all in one.”

Steve and Chamblee became friends, though not because they agreed on everything. “Politically, we couldn’t have been more opposite,” Chamblee said. “But with Steve, you could have an argument without animosity. He would listen to you. He was open to having his mind changed. Even on fraught topics, conversations with Steve were always civil. It reminded me of the way the world used to be. Of the way the world should be.”

They eventually partnered on a golf development project that fell into limbo. The friendship didn’t.

Steve will be remembered for his gregariousness but also for his generosity. He was giving with his time as well as with his contacts. Whether I was writing about design, agronomy, the business of golf development or legal issues around the Tour-LIV war, he topped my call list. If I needed a source, he had a reference. The Kevin Bacon of the golf world, he was rarely more than a few degrees removed from a notable figure. Often that figure was someone he knew well enough to bust their chops.

The golf course photographer Jon Cavalier experienced this firsthand. Steve was a big booster in Cavalier’s launch of LinksGems, the now-prominent Instagram account he runs. “When I was starting out, I didn’t know much about great architecture or private clubs,” Cavalier told me. “I didn’t know who to contact or how to conduct myself.” Steve liked Cavalier’s work, reached out to say so, and became both a friend and mentor, educating him about design, showing him how to navigate the industry. “If I’ve got 1,000 great relationships in golf,” Cavalier said, “I probably owe 950 of them to Steve.”

Steve shared his love of golf at home. He inspired Melissa to take up the game and taught both daughters to play. Before his death, Whitney had been planning to host a tournament at her college in Wisconsin to raise money for one of the campus clubs. That event is in April. Steve and Sydney had planned to attend. Now, Sydney and her mom will go. “But my dad will be there in spirit,” Sydney said. “His idea of heaven was a golf course.”

Steve would have turned 69 this year. The last time we spoke, he’d been scraping it around. His game had seen better days and he was the first to say so but without complaint. He knew that was the bargain every lifelong golfer strikes. He had trips planned and a clear sense of how he hoped to spend his time. He had played 99 of GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World, Augusta National being the exception. He would have thrilled to play it, but he wasn’t going to break his back to try to make that happen. Getting out with friends and family was the main thing. The cachet of the course concerned him less than the company he kept.

In 2022, one of Steve’s close friends, a fellow course rater named David Baum, was killed in a car accident in New Jersey. In a tribute on GOLF.com, Steve wrote: “Like so many of us, David took lessons and worked on his swing, yet his goal wasn’t as much to shoot a lower score as it was to enjoy the walk. . . He also saw the game as a portal to adventure and discovery.”

I count myself among the many who feel similarly about golf, and whose world was widened because of Steve.

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When Jack Nicklaus calls a course’s first hole “the best opening hole of golf in the world,” you can bet the place belongs in the World Top 100 conversation. At Machrihanish Golf Club, the opener — Battery — is risk‑reward golf at its purest: play conservatively and you’re left with a demanding second; take the bold line over a long sweep of white sand and the hole can turn into a short‑iron — or even wedge — approach.

That one tee shot gets the fame, but Machrihanish’s ranking isn’t built on a single postcard moment. It’s the run of holes — especially a front nine that unfolds like a masterclass in classic links design — that makes the course more than a pilgrimage for architecture devotees. Machrihanish proves itself over and over, hole after hole, in every wind.

On the cusp of its 150th anniversary, Machrihanish has an origin story that reads like a Scottish golf primer. Like many clubs, it began with less than a full 18. The original course was 10 holes and known as the Kintyre Club, after the peninsula it occupies. A few years later, the club brought in Old Tom Morris, who fleshed out the routing into a full 18 while establishing that unforgettable first tee position, tucked between what is now the pro shop and the Atlantic.

Part of the charm of Machrihanish is the setting — and the effort it takes to reach it. On the map, the course sits closer to Northern Ireland’s great links than it does to many of Scotland’s marquee courses, and getting to this corner of Argyll still feels like something of an expedition. That remoteness has long appealed to those looking for an escape. Paul McCartney found his own version of it here during the height of Beatlemania in the 1960s.

Even the club’s identity fits the place. If there were a World Top 100 for logos, Machrihanish would have a case: its badge is a simple oystercatcher — black and white, with a bright orange beak — native to these shores. Like the course itself, it’s understated, unmistakable, and perfectly at home on the edge of the Atlantic.

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GOLF’s latest ranking of Top 100 Courses in the World features plenty of familiar names, from Augusta National and Pine Valley to Cypress Point and Pebble Beach. But tucked amid those icons are lesser-known layouts with compelling designs and rich histories of their own. In this ongoing series, we’ll introduce you to them.

The same rule that governs books and their covers applies to golf courses and their scorecards. You can’t judge one by the other.

Shoreacres illustrates the point.

This alluring layout on Chicago’s North Side tips out at just over 6,300 yards, making it the shortest of GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the World. (Yes, some holes at Shoreacres can be stretched back for competitions, but we’re going by daily-play setup and the distance printed on the card.)

Its story, though, is more than a tale of the tape.

Shoreacres is the work of Seth Raynor, the engineer-turned-architect who was tutored in the trade by the father of American architecture, C.B. Macdonald. Like his mentor, Raynor incorporated templates into his designs, archetypal features that he adapted to suit each site. If you’ve played a Raynor course — this can be a challenge, as most are private — you’ve probably heard the terms: Biarritz, Redan and Eden. Shoreacres has them all, on an intimate site beside Lake Michigan.

Shoreacres starts benignly, with a gettable par-5 and a pair of short par-4s. Bank some birdies while you can. The front nine is relatively flat, but the land grows more dramatic as you make the turn, with a particularly thrilling stretch from holes 11-15 that plays over and round ravines. From start to finish, the layout’s main defense comes on and around its greens. At some point during an outing here, you’re apt to hear the phrase, “You’ve been Raynored,” which can happen in all kinds of ways. An approach shot, for instance, defied by a false front or shrugged off by a green-side shoulder. A putt that breaks in some confounding fashion. A ball that glides past the cup… and down into a bunker.

Classic courses filled with templates are often describes as architecture “museums.” Really, they’re more like interactive exhibits. In that regard, Shoreacres demands your full engagement, without requiring you to play the power game. Strategy and shot-making are priorities here. 

All the more impressive is that Raynor pulled this off without having access to what many regard as the property’s best land. The clubhouse occupies that acreage, on a bluff overlooking the lake. It’s an idyllic place to soak in views while recounting your highlights from the day. Self-glorification is fair game in golf. Just do your friends a favor and keep those stories like the golf course: short.

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GOLF’s latest ranking of Top 100 Courses in the World features plenty of familiar names, from Augusta National and Pine Valley to Cypress Point and Pebble Beach. But tucked amid those icons are lesser-known layouts with compelling designs and rich histories of their own. In this ongoing series, we’ll introduce you to them.

In 1930, English architect Charles Alison stepped ashore in Tokyo from the steamer Asama Maru for a three-month visit. In that brief time, he ignited Japan’s golfing soul. Alison left his signature on four prominent courses around Tokyo — Tokyo Golf Club, Hirono, Naruo, and Kasumigaseki.

But his true masterpiece unfurls two hours south of the capital: the Fuji Course at Kawana, draped across storm-sculpted cliffs that mirror Big Sur’s savage beauty, with sacred Mount Fuji itself rising above the clouds and visible throughout the course.

Of the many fine holes, two stand out for their mix of natural beauty and strategy.

The 7th, a mere 393-yard par-4, tumbles toward a pulpit green kissed by dappled light reflected off the ocean. From the tee, the hole seduces with the promise of driving the putting surface, yet Alison’s deep bunkers slash the fairway in two, demanding a decision: the generous right side grants a straightforward approach, albeit from a severely sloped lie; the more daring angle up the left rewards with a level lie but a delicate pitch over flashed bunkers.

The 15th, a 480-yard par-5, plunges from a sky-high tee to a fairway that abuts towering bluffs along the Pacific. Wind and slope make eagle a possibility, but bunkers right push play left toward the cliffs. The rippled fairway climbs to a narrow, two-tiered green, where par is a strong score.

Kawana must be played to be fully appreciated. And that’s the thing: anyone can. Unlike most of Japan’s top courses, Kawana is accessible to the public. It’s part of a resort. Its sibling Oshima Course (measuring a modest 5,711 yards) shares similar strategic demands on a smaller scale and serves as an ideal warm-up or twilight companion to the Fuji, making for an all world 36-hole adventure.

Noel Freeman is a course rater for GOLF and Golf.com.

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This just in: golf is hard. It was meant to be. Its challenges are central to its charm, but they aren’t constant. Difficulties shift by the day, shot, player and course. Not all designs are equally demanding.

GOLF’s latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the World casts a broad lens, capturing a wide swath of architectural styles that are meant to be enjoyed by golfers of all stripes. But stretch them to the tips and let them show their teeth, and some courses in the ranking become especially exacting.

Here are 5 of the toughest from our latest list.

Oakmont

Oakmont, Pa.

On Thursday at the 2025 U.S. Open, Oakmont played to a 74.64 scoring average — the highest opening-round number since a wind-whipped Shinnecock in 2018. For this place, that wasn’t an aberration. The venerable Pittsburgh brute has been punishing golfers for generations with its mix of lightning greens, brute length and bunkers, like the Church Pews, that allow for little more than a wing and prayer. Johnny Miller’s 63 at the rain-softened 1973 U.S. Open remains the outlier that proves the rule. Want another hard figure? This summer the USGA stamped Oakmont’s championship setup with a 78.1 course rating and a 150 slope. Sounds about right.

Pine Valley

Pine Valley, N.J.

True to its name, the Devils’ A-hole — the deep pot bunker guarding the par-3 10th — is not a place you want to be. But it’s just one of countless unpleasant spots to wind up at the world’s No. 1–ranked course. George Crump set out to build a beast, and with help from leading architects of the day, he succeeded so thoroughly that there was once a standing wager no one would break 80 on a first visit. Though modern equipment has softened some of the original bite, Pine Valley still rattles you with its visuals: vast sandy wastes, heroic carries like the one required over Hell’s Half Acre, a purgatorial sandy stretch on the par-5 7th. The bunkers, by the way, aren’t raked — players smooth their footprints with their feet — making them hazards in the truest sense.

Carnoustie

Carnoustie, Scotland

“Carn-nasty” isn’t the most imaginative nickname, but it earns its keep. The course draws blood with its length, its snarling rough, its fickle North Sea winds and its bunkers that seem to multiply in the corner of your eye. And then there’s the Barry Burn, the snaking channel where Jean Van de Velde’s 1999 Open hopes washed away. In his defense, Carnoustie has long been the sternest test on the rota, and in ’99 it was at its absolute worst — gusts howling, scoring brutal. Plus-6 made a playoff. Enough said.

Royal Portrush

Portrush, N. Ireland

Don’t let Scottie Scheffler’s 17-under romp at the 2025 Open fool you. Conditions were benign, and he’s Scottie Scheffler. On a normal day, Portrush offers a steady procession of stout asks: an opening tee shot flanked by out of bounds on both sides; a middle stretch of bruising par-4s; and the long par-3 16th known as Calamity, which is not the only place scorecards come to ruin. When the weather turns — and here, it often does — the entire place grows fangs.

Bethpage Black

Farmingdale, N.Y.

A.W. Tillinghast envisioned Bethpage Black as a public-access answer to Pine Valley (see above!), a municipal monster. Mission accomplished. The opener lulls you in, but the routing quickly hardens into a string of long, punishing holes that call for long irons and hybrids on par-4s that play closer to par-4½s. That famous warning sign by the first tee? It’s there for a reason.

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Forty years ago, the Chicago Bears ruled the NFL. Carl Lewis was the fastest man alive. And in the golf universe, El Saler, in Valencia, Spain, ranked ahead of Riviera. So said GOLF’s inaugural World Top 100 list in 1985. Times change, tastes evolve, and the rankings evolve along with them. Here are six other curiosities from that first-ever list.

The Dawn of Doak

In 1985, GOLF’s rankings were overseen by a recent Cornell graduate and rising architect named Tom Doak. Today, Doak is the designer of 10 original courses on GOLF’s World Top 100 — more than any other living architect.

Assigning Letter Grades

Today, GOLF’s course raters work within numbered buckets (1–3, 4–10, 11–25, and so on). Forty years ago, Doak went with what he knew: a school-style system in which raters assigned letter grades.

Some Stunning Shifts

Some things never change. Pine Valley, the top-rated course in 1985, has held that position in every ranking since. Elsewhere, the reshuffling has been dramatic. In 1985, Royal Dar es Salam in Morocco ranked 57th, one spot ahead of National Golf Links of America, which today sits at No. 6; Royal Dar es Salam now doesn’t crack the Top 200. That year, Pevero, in Italy, placed 51st, one ahead of Sunningdale Old. Today, Sunningdale Old is 22nd. Pevero isn’t even on the ballot.

Pebble in Perspective

In 1985, Pebble Beach Golf Links ranked 2nd in the world, sandwiched between Pine Valley and Muirfield. In the current 2025–26 ranking, Pebble sits at No. 15, down one spot from two years ago.

The Glow of the Golden Age

In 1985, courses from the Golden Age and earlier dominated the World Top 100. The highest-rated modern design was Muirfield Village, at No. 20. In the 2025–26 ranking, Muirfield Village has slipped just outside the Top 100. Golden Age courses still lead the way, but modern designs now climb higher. Of them, Sand Hills ranks highest at No. 10, followed by Tara Iti at No. 19.

A Global Representation

Golf has grown more global — no doubt about it. But you might not know it from the rankings. In 1985, 17 countries appeared in the World Top 100. Today? Sixteen. And eight countries represented in 1985 — Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, Colombia, Mexico and Morocco — no longer have a single course on the list. Meanwhile, seven countries in the 2025–26 Top 100 did not appear on the inaugural ranking: China, Korea, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and St. Lucia.

When Tour Stops Carried More Weight

PGA Tour venues once held a more prominent place on the list. GOLF’s architecture buffs now view many of them through a different lens. Among regular Tour stops, Pebble Beach and Riviera remain. But gone are the likes of Bay Hill, Butler National, Doral, Firestone and Harbour Town.

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“Lido at 48 is INSANE. It’s the 4th best course at Sand Valley.” — Social-media commenter reacting to our latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the World 

This may be my own bias speaking, but given the potential for furious backlash, I thought our new World list largely was well-received. Even so, you can’t whittle a planet’s worth of golf down to 100 spots without irking someone. And the responses, in turn, never fail to reveal the stubborn biases that shape how many golfers see the game.

One of the most persistent is the tendency to conflate championship pedigree with architectural merit.

“How is Olympic Club not on the list?” one commenter asked.

“No Adare Manor on here is wiiild,” another said.

Strong courses, sure. But if we reshuffled the ballots and focused strictly on design, I’m not convinced our panel would place Olympic Club inside the top 10 in California, or Adare Manor inside the top 10 in Ireland.

That same tilt toward professional golf showed up in comments marveling that Florida and Arizona were so leanly represented. Between the two states, only Seminole made the list. To some readers, this was hard to fathom given how many Tour pros live in those sunbelt enclaves — as if architectural brilliance is what brought them there, rather than the weather and tax breaks.

Other familiar refrains surfaced. The list is too U.S.-centric, some argued, and too New York–centric within that tunnel view. Others expressed disbelief that South Africa wasn’t represented. Someone made a heartfelt case for Cape Breton Highlands Links (a sentiment I share). Stretching farther west in the Great White North, I might make a case for Jasper Park, too.

Then there were the critiques aimed at the very top. Pine Valley, No. 1 since our inaugural Top 100 in 1985, drew this gem: “Kick Pine Valley way down. No one even knows what the course looks like…how are we going to rank it 1 just out of prestige?” In reality, roughly 100 of our 127 course raters have played it.

Travel

Then again, that’s the beauty of the exercise. It’s subjective. We get to agree to disagree. And while the stakes aren’t truly small — rankings do drive business — the passions they ignite still bring to mind that line about feuds in niche academic circles: people care so much because the stakes feel so small. Golfers bring the same fervor to their arguments, which are most persuasive when they’re infused with a sense of perspective.

I look forward to our next Top 100, which will focus on the best courses in the U.S. Then people can rightly accuse us of ignoring the rest of the world.

3 things I’m thinking

New bite at Teeth of the Dog: In other Top 100 news, Teeth of the Dog finished No. 75 in our ranking, an impressive achievement for a course that has been closed all year for renovations overseen by Jerry Pate Design. That’s about to change. The famed Pete Dye layout at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic is slated to reopen to the public on Dec. 7. A friend who owns a home at the resort tells me that the two days prior have been set aside for residents and their guests.

Another Pebble refresh: Then there are the goings-on in Monterey, where the Lodge at Pebble Beach reopened earlier this month following an ambitious redo. The changes include a reimagined Stillwater restaurant, which has emerged from the work with a wraparound dining room, floor-to-ceiling windows and a central bar that offers views of the ocean and (sticking with the Top 100 theme) the 15th-ranked course in the world. All of this is part of resort-wide work aimed at spiffing up amenities and public spaces, headlined most recently by the reopening of the Tap Room, Pebble’s famous 19th hole.

Checking my own list: It’s a common topic in post-round conversations: Which courses on the Top 100 have you played? Depending on your tone, ticking off such lists can come off as either obsessive or obnoxious, or some combination of the two. Personally, I’d never bothered to tally up my number. But pressed by a friend after the release of our newest ranking, I finally counted: I’ve played 62 of the 100. My takeaway from this is two part: though I haven’t been deprived, I clearly have a lot more traveling to do.

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When it comes to celebrating the world’s best courses, it’s common to think that the oldest and most historically established courses are recognized more frequently, but a deep dive into GOLF’s latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the World reveals that the list is actually pretty evenly split. There are an impressive 45 courses on the list that were built in the last quarter-century, including one, the Upper Course at Childress Hall in Texas, that made its debut this year.

The Old Course at St. Andrews is, of course, the oldest ranked course of them all, dating back 625 years. The next batch of oldest courses predictably comes from the UK and Ireland, with opening dates in the mid- to late-1800s. The oldest U.S. course on the list is venerable Chicago, which opened in 1895.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most prolific decades for courses on this year’s ranking are the 1920s and the 1930s — the game’s golden age of architecture, when Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie, and A.W. Tillinghast delivered classic tracks like Seminole (Ross); Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne (MacKenzie) and Winged Foot and Baltusrol (Tillinghast). A grand total of 36 courses on the list hail from these two decades.

Take in the extensive history of our Top 100 World list below, by browsing the course names sorted from oldest to newest. To view the original Top 100 Courses in the World list in its entirety, click here.

GOLF’s Top 100 list by year built, oldest to newest

1. St. Andrews (Old Course) — St. Andrews, Scotland — 1400 (Rank 3)

2. Carnoustie (Championship) — Carnoustie, Scotland — 1842 (Rank 39)

3. Prestwick — Prestwick, Scotland — 1851 (Rank 58)

4. Royal Liverpool — Hoylake, England — 1869 (Rank 95)

5. Machrihanish (Championship) — Campbeltown, Scotland — 1879 (Rank 92)

6. Royal Dornoch — Dornoch, Scotland — 1886 (Rank 12)

7. Royal Troon (Old) — Troon, Scotland — 1887 (Rank 53)

8. Royal County Down — Newcastle, Northern Ireland — 1889 (Rank 4)

9. Muirfield — Gullane, Scotland — 1891 (Rank 11)

10. Chicago — Wheaton, IL — 1895 (Rank 17)

11. North Berwick (West) — North Berwick, Scotland — 1895 (Rank 25)

12. Rye (Old) — Rye, England — 1895 (Rank 90)

13. Portmarnock (Old) — Dublin, Ireland — 1896 (Rank 54)

14. Royal Lytham & St. Annes — Lytham St Annes, England — 1897 (Rank 68)

15. Myopia Hunt Club — South Hamilton, MA — 1898 (Rank 86)

16. The Country Club (Clyde/Squirrel) — Brookline, MA — 1899 (Rank 37)

17. Garden City — Garden City, NY — 1899 (Rank 52)

18. Oakmont — Oakmont, PA — 1903 (Rank 9)

19. Pinehurst No. 2 — Pinehurst, NC — 1907 (Rank 20)

20. Swinley Forest — South Ascot, England — 1910 (Rank 50)

21. National Golf Links of America — Southampton, NY — 1911 (Rank 6)

22. Merion (East) — Ardmore, PA — 1912 (Rank 13)

23. St. George’s Hill (A & B) — Weybridge, England — 1913 (Rank 57)

24. Sleepy Hollow — Briarcliff Manor, NY — 1913 (Rank 77)

25. Oakland Hills (South) — Bloomfield Hills, MI — 1917 (Rank 36)

26. Pine Valley — Pine Valley, NJ — 1918 (Rank 1)

27. San Francisco — San Francisco, CA — 1918 (Rank 40)

28. Somerset Hills — Bernardsville, NJ — 1918 (Rank 51)

29. Pebble Beach — Pebble Beach, CA — 1919 (Rank 15)

30. Inverness — Toledo, OH — 1919 (Rank 67)

31. Shoreacres — Lake Bluff, IL — 1921 (Rank 47)

32. Oak Hill (East) — Rochester, NY — 1921 (Rank 60)

33. Sunningdale (Old) — Sunningdale, England — 1922 (Rank 22)

34. Royal St. George’s — Sandwich, England — 1922 (Rank 30)

35. Maidstone — East Hampton, NY — 1922 (Rank 49)

36. Sunningdale (New) — Sunningdale, England — 1922 (Rank 55)

37. Baltusrol (Lower) — Springfield, NJ — 1922 (Rank 70)

38. Winged Foot (West) — Mamaroneck, NY — 1923 (Rank 33)

39. Winged Foot (East) — Mamaroneck, NY — 1923 (Rank 91)

40. Fishers Island — Fishers Island, NY — 1926 (Rank 16)

41. California Golf Club of San Francisco — South San Francisco, CA — 1926 (Rank 45)

42. Camargo — Cincinnati, OH — 1926 (Rank 59)

43. Cruden Bay — Cruden Bay, Scotland — 1926 (Rank 61)

44. Woodhall Spa (Hotchkin) — Woodhall Spa, England — 1926 (Rank 74)

45. Los Angeles (North) — Los Angeles, CA — 1927 (Rank 21)

46. Riviera — Pacific Palisades, CA — 1927 (Rank 26)

47. Lahinch (Old) — Lahinch, Ireland — 1927 (Rank 34)

48. Morfontaine — Morfontaine, France — 1927 (Rank 38)

49. Victoria — Cheltenham, Australia — 1927 (Rank 93)

50. Cypress Point — Pebble Beach, CA — 1928 (Rank 2)

51. Kingston Heath — Cheltenham, Australia — 1928 (Rank 24)

52. New South Wales — La Perouse, Australia — 1928 (Rank 46)

53. Royal Portrush (Dunluce) — Portrush, Northern Ireland — 1929 (Rank 14)

54. Seminole — Juno Beach, FL — 1929 (Rank 32)

55. Shinnecock Hills — Southampton, NY — 1931 (Rank 5)

56. Royal Melbourne (West) — Black Rock, Australia — 1931 (Rank 7)

57. Hirono — Miki-Chi, Japan — 1932 (Rank 28)

58. Crystal Downs — Frankfort, MI — 1932 (Rank 31)

59. Royal Birkdale — Southport, England — 1932 (Rank 42)

60. Royal Melbourne (East) — Black Rock, Australia — 1932 (Rank 82)

61. Utrecht de Pan — Bosch en Duin, Netherlands — 1932 (Rank 89)

62. Augusta National — Augusta, GA — 1933 (Rank 8)

63. Bethpage (Black) — Farmingdale, NY — 1935 (Rank 56)

64. Ballybunion (Old) — Ballybunion, Ireland — 1936 (Rank 29)

65. Southern Hills — Tulsa, OK — 1936 (Rank 43)

66. Kawana (Fuji) — Ito-shi, Japan — 1936 (Rank 62)

67. Prairie Dunes — Hutchinson, KS — 1937 (Rank 27)

68. Royal Hague — Wassenaar, Netherlands — 1938 (Rank 81)

69. Old Town — Winston-Salem, NC — 1939 (Rank 80)

70. Trump Turnberry (Ailsa) — Turnberry, Scotland — 1946 (Rank 18)

71. Peachtree — Atlanta, GA — 1947 (Rank 75)

72. Casa de Campo (Teeth of the Dog) — La Romana, DR — 1971 (Rank 83)

73. Kiawah Island (Ocean) — Kiawah Island, SC — 1991 (Rank 71)

74. Sand Hills — Mullen, NE — 1995 (Rank 10)

75. Bandon Dunes — Bandon, OR — 1999 (Rank 85)

76. Kingsbarns — Kingsbarns, Scotland — 1999 (Rank 94)

77. Pacific Dunes — Bandon, OR — 2001 (Rank 35)

78. Nine Bridges — Jeju-do, South Korea — 2001 (Rank 87)

79. Friar’s Head — Riverhead, NY — 2003 (Rank 23)

80. Barnbougle Dunes — Bridport, Australia — 2004 (Rank 41)

81. Cape Kidnappers — Te Awanga, New Zealand — 2004 (Rank 65)

82. Bandon Trails — Bandon, OR — 2005 (Rank 76)

83. Ballyneal — Holyoke, CO — 2006 (Rank 63)

84. Rock Creek Cattle Company — Deer Lodge, MT — 2008 (Rank 88)

85. Cabot Highlands (Castle Stuart) — Inverness, Scotland — 2009 (Rank 97)

86. Shanqin Bay — Hainan, China — 2012 (Rank 64)

87. Cabot Cape Breton (Cabot Links) — Inverness, Canada — 2012 (Rank 96)

88. Tara Iti — Te Arai, New Zealand — 2015 (Rank 19)

89. Lofoten Links — Gimsøysand, Norway — 2015 (Rank 66)

90. Cape Wickham — Wickham, Australia — 2015 (Rank 100)

91. Cabot Cape Breton (Cabot Cliffs) — Inverness, Canada — 2016 (Rank 78)

92. Ardfin — Isle of Jura, UK — 2017 (Rank 72)

93. Ohoopee Match Club — Cobbtown, GA — 2018 (Rank 99)

94. St. Patrick’s Links — Rosapenna, Ireland — 2021 (Rank 44)

95. CapRock Ranch — Valentine, NE — 2021 (Rank 84)

96. Te Arai (South) — Te Arai, New Zealand — 2022 (Rank 79)

97. Sand Valley (The Lido) — Rome, WI — 2023 (Rank 48)

98. Cabot Saint Lucia (Point Hardy Golf Club) — Gros Islet, St. Lucia — 2023 (Rank 69)

99. Te Arai (North) — Tomarata, New Zealand — 2023 (Rank 98)

100. Childress Hall (Upper) — Childress, TX — 2025 (Rank 73)

LINKS: Full methodology: How we rate courses | 2025-26 World list sorted by country | 2025-26 World list courses you can play

To hear our ratings experts break down our latest rankings, check out our travel podcast Destination GOLF. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: APPLE | SPOTIFY | IHEART | AMAZON

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The post How this Netherlands gem cracked our World Top 100 ranking appeared first on Golf.

The post How this Netherlands gem cracked our World Top 100 ranking appeared first on Golf.

GOLF released its latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the World (2025-26), and while Pine Valley again took the top spot, there were three newcomers and two returnees to the ranking. Here, we’ll introduce you to them.

The Netherlands rarely comes up first when golfers daydream about must-visit destinations. But the country is quietly loaded with great designs, including several by Golden Age masters. One of them — Utrecht de Pan — has returned to GOLF Magazine’s World Top 100 list, a worthwhile reminder of just how rich Dutch golf really is.

Set on sandy soil and tucked deep in a forest, De Pan is a heathlands course with a look, feel and playability that echo Harry Colt’s more famous work around London. The experience begins with a long, winding drive through the trees to a quintessential thatched-roof clubhouse. Beyond it, the course unfolds as a walk in a sylvan park, its holes meandering from grove to grove beneath tall pines.

Courses

Colt used the land to full advantage, creating a routing dotted with blind shots — sometimes more than one on the same hole. Word is Tom Doak borrowed inspiration from De Pan’s 6th when designing what has become the signature 8th at the new Pinehurst No. 10: a blind tee shot followed by a blind approach, which add to the sense of excitement and surprise.

In an era defined by wide fairways and aggressive tree-removal campaigns, De Pan is a throwback: shorter, tighter off the tee, yet no less demanding than the brawnier modern layouts that dominate rankings.

Its return to the World Top 100 underscores a truth long appreciated by those in the know: some of Europe’s finest golf is found in the Netherlands. A loop of De Pan, Royal Hague, Kennemer and Eindhoven won’t come with tour buses of Americans — just the quiet satisfaction of discovering world-class, underrated golf.

Pete Phipps is a course rater for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com.

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The post Tour Confidential: Jeeno Thitikul greatness, Tour changes, Top 100 courses appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: Jeeno Thitikul greatness, Tour changes, Top 100 courses appeared first on Golf.

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Jeeno Thitikul, Craig Kessler, PGA Tour changes and more.

1. World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship, her third victory of the season, which also locked up LPGA Player of the Year honors and set a record for the lowest single-season scoring mark in LPGA history (her 68.681 bests Annika Sorenstam’s 68.696 from 2002). Still just 22, did this season get as much credit as it deserved?

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Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): If we’re asking that question, that should go to show how much work is in front of new commish Craig Kessler. Because averaging — averaging! — 68 is pretty damn good. That said, that also illustrates just how deep the LPGA was this year. I’ll definitely be interested to see what Thitikul does next year. There doesn’t appear to be anything that will slow her down, and a few majors could be next. 

Josh Schrock, news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): I think it went under the radar because she won only three times. Had she not four-putted to lose the Kroger and been run down by Grace Kim at the Evian, we probably would have talked about it more. Think Nick makes a good point, though, about the task ahead of Craig Kessler. There was a lot of talk this week in Naples about the LPGA “building stars.” Jeeno’s talent is undeniable. The LPGA needs to make sure more people know about her. 

Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Compounding all of these hurdles for Thitikul was that her incredible season came in the wake of Nelly’s seven-win 2024. How do you possibly follow that? It’s like taking the podium after Churchill or the stage after a Springsteen set. Tough acts to follow. I thought it was telling that Jeeno had no idea she’d broken Sorenstam’s scoring record. Shows you she’s laser-focused on the only thing that really matters: winning titles. As Nick says, Jeeno’s next mission: add some majors to her c.v.   

Zephyr Melton, associate game-improvement editor (@zephyrmelton): Unbelievable consistency to own a stroke average that low, but the win total is a bit light. Annika won 11 (!) times in her record-setting year, and while the depth of competition is much better these days, it still feels like Jeeno left some meat on the bone. You’ve got to rack up trophies to garner attention in the mainstream. 

2. Craig Kessler has been the LPGA’s commissioner for less than a year but has already made some big moves for the league. Just recently he helped finalize a stronger partnership with Golf Saudi and, in the past few days, announced that beginning next year every LPGA round and tournament will be broadcast live on TV across the U.S. How would you assess what Kessler’s done so far, and what’s his biggest challenge come 2026?

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Piastowski: Kessler has set the table. Now he just has to get people to sit down. (Hey, it’s Thanksgiving week.) The TV deal can’t be overstated — exposure is key. But the job now will be to give viewers a reason to watch. Interestingly, this is pretty much the same issue the PGA Tour faces — both are battling the interest game. But if you present the stories well — be it the tournament itself, a rivalry, a personality — folks will stay. The LPGA product is a very good one.

Schrock: He has been commissioner for 120 days and has hit the ground running. The broadcast deal is massive for the LPGA. If they want to have their breakthrough moment, people have to be able to watch it live and be able to follow it when they can’t tune in. His biggest challenge is finding a way to elevate women’s golf to a broader audience and building the stars who do that. I think that starts with a dominant star or stars winning and winning a lot to grab eyeballs the LPGA wouldn’t normally get. Kessler can’t make Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, Lydia Ko or anyone else win 10 times, but it would help! Kessler lauded Korda and Hull for showing up outside the ropes and becoming cultural figures. The LPGA certainly needs more of that, but if they want people who aren’t watching to watch, they need a transcendent star or stars to do their part inside the ropes. 

Bastable: Right, Josh, it’s pretty clear Kessler doesn’t just want talent — he wants talent that is willing to put in the extra hours off the course to help amplify everything that’s happening on the course. Having every round of every event televised is huge (even if CNBC isn’t exactly NBC), and I’m especially enthused by the efforts to improve the broadcasts themselves, with more cameras and better storytelling. The biggest challenge, as ever, will be finding ways to better bridge the divide between fans and players. Fans need to feel like they genuinely know the players. That’s how you grow engagement and loyalty and ratings.       

Melton: I’m impressed by what he’s done so far, but there’s a long way to go. It’ll take more than a little more air time to bring in new fans. 

3. Sami Valimaki won the RSM Classic as the PGA Tour put a bow on the Fall Series. We now know the top 100 players who earned PGA Tour cards for next season (and Nos. 101-150, who received conditional status). This was the first fall the Tour shrunk cards from 125 to 100. Now that you’ve seen how it shook out (and who got in and who didn’t), what are your thoughts on the change?

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Piastowski: Can I say I still want to wait? I think we need to see how smaller fields and less cards will play out. Will we like the emphasis on the bigger names that could come now? Or will we be robbed of a few out-of-nowhere players? The drama on Sunday, where players battled to finish in the top 100, was good theater — 100 is a tighter window than 125, of course, so some talented players were scrambling. 

Schrock: I like the trim to 100 and honestly would like to see it trimmed a little more. It made the fall season have real stakes, but I think the PGA Tour needs to continue to tweak it so that zero players who are exempt can tee it up and the fall season becomes just for those truly playing for their jobs. 

Piastowski: Dang, I like Josh’s idea. 

Bastable: As a fan/spectating experience, I’m not sure it matters much whether the guys are playing for 125 spots or 75. The hook is that there’s something critically important on the line: the players’ livelihoods. Also, whether or not you like the reduction, you best get used to it, because this is where the Tour is headed: fewer cards, smaller fields and, most likely, fewer events. It all ladders up to Commish Rolapp’s scarcity plan: keep the fans wanting more.   

Melton: I love the idea of churning out under-performing players. If you aren’t playing well, you shouldn’t be guaranteed a place to play. Golf is the only sport where you can coast off your accomplishments from a decade before. We need a little more ‘what have you done for me lately’ mentality in pro golf. 

4. GOLF released its latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the World, a long-standing biennial celebration of the greatest designs around the globe. Pine Valley again led the way and 48 U.S. courses found their way onto the ranking. What’s your takeaway from this list?

Courses

Piastowski: That the pros tore up the list’s 56th course at the Ryder Cup. Kidding. Sort of. Fifty-two worldwide courses and 48 American ones — that’s a nice split. But really it’s confirming that I want to play round-the-clock golf at Lofoten Links. Or watch the Northern Lights after a round. Or both. [Emails editor, waits for response to stay a year in Norway.]

Schrock: The variety in style, location and design. There are just so many great golf courses. From Lake Bluff, Ill. (shoutout to Shoreacres) to Te Arai, New Zealand to the Old Course. I got to get out more. 

Bastable: I was shocked — shocked! — to see Pine Valley nab the top spot again. (I jest. I was not.) As ever with these lists, we didn’t see a ton of turnover, so I’m most interested in which courses make the biggest leap forward. This time around, that honor went to Shanquin Bay (up 31 spots to No. 64); Nick’s beloved Lofoten Links (up 22 to No. 66); and the Lido (up 20 to No. 48). That trio is now officially on my bucket list. Also, how ’bout spanking-new Childress Hall debuting at 73. Talk about a rookie of the year.  

Melton: My takeaway? I’m thankful to have played 10 of them — but I’d love to check the other 90 off the list. Maybe some day …

5. While most readers might never get an invite to play Augusta National or Shinnecock Hills, more than half the courses on the list welcome outside play. Based on your experiences, which accessible bucket-list destinations would you most recommend to our readers?

Piastowski: I’ll put on my native-of-Wisconsin hat here and say that the whole Sand Valley experience is great. Try to get on the Lido. Try to play all of the other ones. The whole complex is wonderful. 

Schrock: Nick goes native, and so will I. Just go play every course at Bandon. You won’t be disappointed. 

Bastable: C’mon now, gents, you both know the best public-access trips require a passport. Spend four or five days on any stretch of coastline in Great Britain and Ireland, and you’ll come with a whole new appreciation for the game.    

Melton: I’ve never returned from a trip to Pinehurst without a smile on my face. No. 2 may be the crown jewel, but with other gems like Nos. 4 and 10, along with The Cradle, it’s got a heck of a lineup.

6. It’s almost Black Friday! Please tell our dear readers one golfy item you love and are certain they will too. (And if they’re lucky, it’s on sale somewhere.)

Piastowski: On a deep, deep, deep level, the answer here is my health, and I’ll tell more about that at some point in the near future. But on the extreme comfortability level, go get yourself a Radmor Higgins 2.0 Hoodie. I’ve bought three over the past few years. Best sweatshirt I’ve ever owned. 

Schrock: I will also go the hoodie route (aren’t we an exciting group?) and suggest a Puma Cloudspun Golf Hoodie. It’s the most comfortable thing I own.

Bastable: This is a bit of a cop out because I don’t yet own the item I’m recommending, but I do know I desperately need a garage organizer for all my golf stuff. Currently my clubs, shoes, balls and other assorted golfy items are scattered around my garage like Solo cups and pizza boxes after a frat party. I need a solution (maybe you do, too?) and intend to find one soon!     

Melton: The Grooveit Mini Club Brush! Makes for a great stocking stuffer and a great addition to anyone’s golf bag.

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