To the list of life’s great certainties — death, taxes, my block-slice under pressure — we might add this: Pine Valley’s position in the rankings.
Since 1985, when GOLF first tallied ballots for its Top 100 Courses in the World, the famed New Jersey club has held firmly to the No. 1 spot. The votes, in fact, have been something of a landslide, with the nearest contenders not especially close. This Wednesday, when GOLF releases its newest ranking, it will take a shocker on the scale of Y.E. Yang over Tiger Woods for Pine Valley to be supplanted.
Enter Jim Wagner, our guest on the latest Destination Golf podcast. If you follow course design, you know the name. Wagner is the longtime design partner of Gil Hanse. He’s a shaper’s shaper, and a deeply thoughtful architect whose work, with Hanse, ranges from original courses such as Ohoopee Match Club and Castle Stuart to restorations at Los Angeles Country Club, Fishers Island, Sleepy Hollow and beyond. And with a new Top 100 about to drop, his perspective on what makes a world-class course couldn’t be more timely.
So what does a guy like that think is the best course in the world?
Not Pine Valley.
Wagner acknowledges the place is extraordinary but if you pinned him down for a vote, he’d likely lean toward Merion. Part of what fascinates him about Merion is how much was accomplished on such a compact parcel. And that’s the natural bridge to another course he holds in high regard: Kingston Heath in Australia, built on relatively flat terrain and a small site that demanded an entirely different kind of creativity.
On the podcast, Wagner talks about how the routing at Kingston Heath reflects a special imagination, different from what it took to conjure compelling golf from the dramatic landforms that underpin Pine Valley. The constraints were different, he says, and so was the artistry required to make the course sing.
That’s only a sampling of where the conversation goes. In the full conversation, Wagner ranges widely, touching on everything from the Grateful Dead to the importance of thinking in three dimensions when you’re sketching out golf holes. He also offers candid takes on other big-name courses. Spoiler alert: he’s not exactly bullish on Bethpage Black as it stands.
You can listen to the full episode below and can hear more from Wagner on Pine Valley in the video above.
