Our list of the Top 100 Courses You Can Play is officially released! And we’re here to help you sift through it with 10 numbers you need to know while checking out the list.
$720 — Maximum greens fee at TPC Sawgrass (No. 10 on our list), the most expensive tee time on our list. Golfers everywhere are eager to live out their Players Championship dreams — so eager, in fact, that they’re more than willing to put their money where their mouths are.
$57 — Maximum greens fee at George Wright, the least expensive tee time on our list. George Wright (No. 59 on our list) is a revitalized Boston-area municipal course with plenty of character and unparalleled value. Oh, and they did 44,000 rounds last year. Shoutout, too, to No. 99 Black Mesa ($60) and No. 42 Wild Horse ($62), neither of which is far behind.
21 — Number of courses on this Top 100 list that are also members of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. And that’s not all! Because our list expanded this year to include the rest of North America, three international courses on the list cracked the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World, too.
5 — Number of courses at Bandon Dunes that cracked the Top 20 on our list. Our Ran Morrissett referred to them as the “impregnable pentagon”: Pacific Dunes, No. 3; Bandon Trails, No. 8; Bandon Dunes, No. 9; Old Macdonald, No. 15; Sheep Ranch, No. 20. Five in the top 20! If you’ve not yet made the pilgrimage to the Oregon Coast, consider this list another reason to get planning.
7 — Number of municipal courses on the list. I manage our weekly Muni Mondays series spotlighting intriguing stories from munis around the country, so I was delighted to see No. 5 Bethpage Black and No. 66 Bethpage Red, revamped Memorial Park (No. 98) in Houston, No. 72 Torrey Pines, No. 37 Chambers Bay, No. 95 Ferry Point and No. 59 George Wright.
6 — Number of courses in Wisconsin that cracked our list’s top 38. Those would be No. 11 Whistling Straits, No. 23 Lawsonia Links, No. 25 Sand Valley, No. 29 Mammoth Dunes, No. 31 Erin Hills and No. 38 Blackwolf Run. Is Wisconsin the most underrated state in the U.S. for public golf?
10 — Number of courses designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw that are on our list, including eight in the top 55. You’ve likely heard of plenty of their works, including Cabot Cliffs, Bandon Trails, Streamsong Red and Sand Valley. Good news for golf fans: They’ve got more courses in the works.
1895 — Original open date for the Old Course at Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Bedford, making it the oldest course on our list. Spencer Oldham designed the original course, and the high-octane duo of A.W. Tillinghast and Donald Ross made significant changes to the course in 1912 and 1923, respectively.
2020 — Original open date for Sheep Ranch, the fifth course at Bandon Dunes and the most recent construction date for a course on our list. Sheep Ranch opened to rave reviews last year and has made trips to Bandon even more head-spinning to plan. Do you still try to play ’em all when there are five 18-hole courses?! (Yes, you do.)
