A look at the split fairway on the 7th hole at Valhalla Golf Club.
Getty Images
For every great course that made GOLF’s 2020-21 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S., dozens of more must-plays were left on the outside looking in — including at least a handful in your home state. Some of these designs just missed out on a Top 100 nomination, others finished deeper down the ranking, but all are worthy of your time. To shed light on the best courses in every state, we broke out the full results of our Top 100 Courses polling into state-by-state lists. Here’s a closer look at Kentucky.
Kentucky golf by the numbers:
Number of courses and U.S. rank: 283 (21)* Number of golfers per capita rank: 27* Average public-course greens fees: $ out of $$$* Average daily temp and rank: 55.6 (15) Annual precipitation and rank: 48.9 in. (12)
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
Course spotlight: Valhalla Golf Club (Louisville), ranked No. 1 in Kentucky. Jack Nicklaus includes the double-fairway par-5 7th as one of his favorite hole designs. He gives the player choices, with the left shorter fairway having a more challenging approach with a forced carry over water to the green. The green complexes are challenging, but not as devious as some other Nicklaus designs. Valhalla strikes the perfect balance: capable of hosting the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup while still being fun for the average golfer to enjoy as well. — GOLF Top 100 Course Rater
A look at the split fairway on the 7th hole at Valhalla Golf Club.Getty Images
How we rank America’s best golf courses
For the newly released 2020-21 U.S. list, each panelist was provided a list of 489 courses. Beside that list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the country, they ticked that box. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10 in the U.S., they checked that box, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on.
Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot (we had fewer than a handful of such additions in the U.S. vote).
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it invariably produces results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily overcomplicate things.
We empower and hold accountable a group of 97 well-traveled — and well-connected — golfers/aficionados, each capable of expressing their own sense of design excellence at the highest level. The group is seasoned and experienced — we look for raters who know what’s out there, what’s changing and what’s coming down the pike. And from judging posts across four continents, our panelists are positioned to place courses from different regions around the globe into proper context, one of the main reasons GOLF’s Top 100 Courses rankings are the most esteemed in the game.
Other ranking outlets employ thousands of raters. Our less-is-more approach creates a more meaningful and thoughtful list. Think about it: When you plan a golf trip, do you call every golfer you know for their take? No. You contact a handful of people whose opinions you value most.
