Pete Dye’s top 10 golf courses, ranked!

Pete Dye creation Whistling Straits will host this year's Ryder Cup.

Built on the heels of his TPC Sawgrass, Dye toned it down a notch here, creating a lovely, playable, but still provocative layout that edges Broad Creek in the middle of the back nine. Mounds, semi-blind shots, risk/reward options, bulkheaded hazards, pot bunkers-all of the familiar Dye design gambits are in place, along with an appealing Lowcountry aesthetic that includes marsh grasses and live oak trees.

Dye's earliest masterwork is more than 50 years old, but better than ever. This Indianapolis-area spread is where he first expressed his design aesthetic and philosophy in a major way, with his innovative strategies and railroad tie bulkeading that he borrowed from Great Britain. The watery 16th and 18th holes here set the stage for future Dye aqua-dramatics, but it's John Daly who will forever be associated with Crooked Stick, due to his come-from-nowhere amazing performance to win the 1991 PGA Championship.

Kohler, Wisc., Pete Dye, 1988

Pete Dye’s typically penal hard edges along water hazards, ligament-snapping rough and nasty, steep, grass-faced bunkers are angst-inducing, but memorable holes abound, such as the remarkable short par-4 9th, with three legitimate options off the tee and the handsome, if brutal closing stretch of 16-18 that incorporates a twisting arm of the Sheboygan River.

Ooltewah, Tenn., Pete Dye, 1983

One of Pete Dye’s less celebrated, yet greatest creations, this 1983 design in the northeast suburbs of Chattanooga is wooded, wetland-infused tract that might be the tightest 7,450 yards you’ll ever play. Tiger Woods captured the individual title at the 1996 NCAA Championship here, despite a final-round 80, which attests to the difficulty.

A favorite of PGA Tour pros for more than 40 years, Harbour Town boasts the iconic candy cane-striped lighthouse that backdrops the 18th hole-and so much more. A place of subtle beauty, this is a shotmaker's paradise where power takes a backseat to precision. Mixing live oaks, lagoons, tiny greens, bunkers banked by railroad ties and a closing stretch along the Calibogue Sound, this Pete Dye/Jack Nicklaus collaboration delights and terrorizes at every turn.

One of Dye's early masterworks, circa 1967, this men-only domain in suburban Columbus was where Jack Nicklaus got his introduction to design, as an unpaid consultant. With bunkers and water hazards framed by railroad ties and tall native grasses scattered throughout, the distinctive Dye style began to take hold. A superb set of par-5s is a highlight.

Venue for the PGA Tour's Players Championship since 1982, Dye's imaginatively-designed, variety-filled and occasionally terror-inducing track has crowned winners such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Greg Norman and Adam Scott. One of the wildest finishes took place in 2013, when Sergio Garcia, tied with Woods, splashed two tee shots at the infamous island-green 17th, made quadruple-bogey, and sunk to eighth place. Some sniff at its artificiality, yet for shotmaking options and memorable individual holes that require a blend of power and finesse, TPC Sawgrass has few peers.

Venue for the 2004, 2010 and 2015 PGA Championships, this 1998 Dye creation on Lake Michigan was once a poker table-flat military training base in World War II. Eventually it became a site for illegal dumping of toxic waste. Dye and owner Herb Kohler engineered a mind-boggling cleanup, moved 3 million cubic yards of dirt, trucked in 7,000 loads of sand to create the hills and bunkers and relocated the bluffs farther back from the shore. All Kohler told Dye was "I want the course to look like it's in Ireland." Mission accomplished.

Kiawah Island, S.C., Pete Dye, 1991

A blend of tidal marsh carries, scrub-topped dunes and wildly undulating greens pair with 7,600 muscular yards to form a relentless mix of beauty and brawn. The Ocean Course remains among the toughest tests in the country.

Pete Dye's personal favorite of all of his designs, Teeth of the Dog is flat-out gorgeous, with seven holes practically sunk into the Caribbean Sea. Yet the design itself stands up to the aesthetics. Despite its intimidating name, Teeth of the Dog entrances, starting with its superior collection of par-3s. Its wide, level fairways, flattish, if imaginatively configured bunkers, its sensibly paced greens and its paucity of forced carries encourage quick play.