New Golf Magazine U.S. Top 100 Sees Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Olympic And Muirfield Village Drop
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The best of the existing course rankings—Golf Magazine’s World Top 100 came out strong last year under Ran Morrissett’s fine-tuning to present a strong international list rewarding architecture over some obvious oddball inclusions.
The new U.S. Top 100 is coming out any day now and they’re already discussing it on GolfClubAtlas.com and is eye-opening.
The obvious theme of panelists from my first glimpse: restorations rooted in historical accuracy and fun are sending courses up the rankings, while half-hearted-or-worse-redos took big hits with the elite panel.
At first glimpse it’s hard not to notice the fall of name-brand, legendary layouts that present the golfer a mixed bag of design changes.
Since the last Golf U.S. list in 2018:
No. 6 Augusta National fell three spots.
No. 10 Pebble Beach fell three spots.
No. 51 Muirfield Village fell 22 spots.
No. 54 Olympic Club (Lake) fell 21 spots.
The one outlier: No. 20 Seminole falling six spots despite the loving hand of Coore and Crenshaw.
While three spots might not seem like a big deal to Augusta National and Pebble Beach, it’s telling that America’s two most iconic courses have resisted pure (or even modified) restoration and are falling behind.
Maybe even more newsworthy for longtime rankings watchers, the following have fallen out of the top 100 altogether: Medinah, Spyglass, Yale, East Lake, Erin Hills, Interlachen, Congressional, Scioto, Torrey Pines, Colonial and Hazeltine.
On the new course front, congrats to Ohoopee Match Club (No. 32) and new entrants Gamble Sands, Congaree, Sheep Ranch, Prairie Club (Dunes), Wolf Point, Pinehurst #4, and Sand Valley (Mammoth Dunes) on joining the list.
