Golf Magazine Panel 2005 v. 2003

The 2005 Golf Magazine lists are up at Golfonline. Still working out the kinks. They have a photo of Sand Hills on the homepage with a caption that reads "Torrey Pines, No. 60 on the list."  

Since there's very little going on in the golf world, I'm going to take my time dissecting this a bit more.

Posted online is the 2005 panel, the lists, the criteria, etc. The article on panelist Leon Wentz is also posted, but I have been assured that Wentz (who recently finished playing the 2003 Top 100 World) did not see the current list early because he was trying to finish off the 2003 list. The article did not mention which list Wentz was trying to play, I'm told we were supposed to know it was the 2003 list.  But this being the 2005 rankings issue, naturally I (and many other readers who emailed) assumed that the article was on Wentz conquering the current list.

Anyhow, it's worth looking at the panel because there is a bizarre mix of non-golf industry architecture aficionados and golf establishment types with conflicts-of-interest ranging from minor to raging (architects, developers, photographers, PR rep, magazine staff, USGA, golf association execs, etc...).

I see several of the people on the list who are not connected to the golf industry. They really make an effort to study and contemplate their votes, discuss the architecture with their peers or the architects themselves, and in general take the list very seriously. Which makes me wonder why they can't just have non-golf industry aficionados.  Because let's be honest here, how many courses other than their own or those they played in tournaments did Jack, Arnold, Gary, Annika and Karrie rate last year?

Anyhow, I've underlined the new panelists for 2005.

George Bedard, Canada
Judy Bell, Colorado
Prakash Bhandari, India
Michael Bonallack, Scotland
Niall M. Cameron, Bahamas
Malcolm Campbell, Scotland
Steve Carr, England
Paul D. Caruso, Jr., Montana
Bob Charles, New Zealand
David M. Clarke, New York
Tom Clasby, California
Tom Crow, California
Robert E. Cupp, Georgia
Bob Currey, Massachusetts
Gordon Dalgleish, Georgia
Michael R. Davis, New Jersey
John R. Dempsey, North Carolina
Tom Doak, Michigan
Luke Donald, England
Joann Dost, California
James J. Dunne III, New York
Pete Dye, Florida
David B. Fay, New Jersey
Jim Finegan, Pennsylvania
Marvin A. French, Arizona
Dana Fry, Ohio
Jim Furyk, Florida
Gary A. Galyean, Florida
Sergio Garcia, Spain
Christopher Goodwin, Canada
Kendra Graham, New Jersey
John Harris, Minnesota
Gary Hart, Arizona
Philippe P. Hermann, Switzerland
Alan Heuer, New York
Arthur Hills, Ohio
Richard Hills, England
Bill Hogan, Texas
John Hopkins, Wales
Tony Jacklin, England
Peter Jacobsen, Oregon
Terry Jastrow, California
Rees Jones, New Jersey
Bill Jones III, Georgia
Sunil Kappagoda, Connecticut
Taizo Kawata, Japan
James Keegan, Colorado
Ortwin Klang, Germany
Norman Klaparda, California
Samm Klaparda, California
Mike Klemme, Oklahoma
Herbert V. Kohler, Jr., Wisconsin
Laurence C. Lambrecht, Rhode Island
Jeffrey Lewis, New York
David Mackintosh, Argentina
Joe Marengi, Texas
Peter G. Mathieson, England
Thomas McBroom, Canada
Peter McEvoy, England
Thomas J. Meeks, Indiana
Brian Morgan, Scotland
Ran Morrissett, North Carolina
Jay Mottola, New York
Jack Nicklaus, Florida
Frank Nobilo, New Zealand
David S. Nolan, New York
Michael O'Bryon, Florida
Kazuyuki Ohashi, Japan
Kazunori Ohtsuka, Japan
Peter Oosterhuis, Arizona
Arnold Palmer, Pennsylvania
John Paramor, England
Harrie P.W. Perkins, Texas
Hal Phillips, Maine
Gary Player, South Africa
Tom Ramsey, Australia
Luke Reese, Illinois
Ron Riemer, Illinois
Cabell Robinson, Spain
Justin Rose, England
Michael C. Roseto, New Jersey
Lorne Rubenstein, Canada
Pat Ruddy, Ireland
Mitsutaka Sado, Japan
Isao Sato, Japan
Bill Shean, Illinois
David V. Smith, California
Annika Sorenstam, Sweden
Donald Steel, England
George Sweda, Ohio
Charles H. Tadge, Ohio
Oliver A. Thompson, Ohio
Sho Tobari, Japan
Daniel C. Ulmer, Jr., Kentucky
Fred Vuich, Pennsylvania
Karrie Webb, Australia
Tom Weiskopf, Arizona
Christopher P. Wightman, New Jersey
Michael Wolveridge, Australia
Walter Woods, Scotland

2003 panelists not on the 2005 list: Robert Trent Jones Jr., Henry Kravis, Joe Luigs, Masa Nishijima.

Final count: panel is up to 100 (still not nearly enough). 5 women, 4 on USGA payroll, 18 architects (including photo-op player architects) and 3 free lance photographers.