Golf Digest's 2013 "100 Greatest" Ranking...

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...arrives a little early! I'm not sure why the change, but what normally comes out three months from now is on newstands or on tablet editions for subscribers (or single issue downloaders).

Pictured is No. 15, The Alotian Club where they appear to have replicated the Great Wall only as a cart parth embankment.

That said, here is the top 20 for online readers where Pine Valley moves back ahead of Augusta National in the top spot.

Great Places In The Game: 4th At Musselburgh And Mrs. Forman's

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This summer I had the privilege of playing a round with hickories at Musselburgh Links, recognized as the oldest course in the world by Guiness. The first documented play was in 1672, though its believed Mary, Queen of Scots whapped something resembling a ball around here in 1567.

I chose to focus in on the fourth hole for now because it's a sensational par-4 that incorporates the surrounding racetrack. There is also the hole's ties to Mrs. Forman's restaurant behind the green. Through the hatch in the wall where she sold refreshments to golfers is now a window, the charming restaurant and pub pays homage to its predecessor with numerous wall photos of the old days along with excellent food. And of course, they still serve golfers on the back patio.

Musselburgh and its race course, to be featured in a separate video and included in a story next July for Golf Digest's Open Championship preview, are must stops for any golfers making the pilgrimmage to East Lothian.

The YouTube video, which I recommend watching at the enlarged size for full effect compared to the embedded version below.

"I can remember walking from campus to Old Town with my golf bag to go play."

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John Dell files a super story on Bill Coore and team restoring Old Town Club, a private Perry Maxwell-designed club course he played while at Wake Forest.

There is also an accompanying video by Dell who interviews superintendent O'Neil Crouch and showing some of the construction process.

In his restoration, Coore used old aerial photos found by club members to get an idea of what the course looked like in 1939. The photos showed the original design, but the course had lost some of its character because of time and change.

This was also encouraging to read:

“He’s so busy and has so many projects that if we would have waited, he wouldn’t have been available until 2016,” said head pro Jim Holt, who has been at Old Town since 1979.

Monty's Induction Sparking Outrage?

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I certainly agree with all of Gary Williams' points about the World Golf Hall of Fame voting and criteria, though I'm a little surprised at the outrage expressed on Twitter over Colin Montgomerie's selection when he at least has on-course successes to point to.

It's the cronyism and overall oy factor behind selections like George H. Bush and now Ken Schofield that I find detrimental to the Hall's street cred.

For those who will scream that no criteria will create total chaos I would point to every other Hall of Fame. Outside of removal from the game for a certain number of years there are no benchmarks that players must hit for eligibility. Many things about golf are not analogous to other sports but in this case it most certainly is and leave it up to the voters to know, or at least feel, when it's time for a player to take his place in St. Augustine.

For the Monty skeptics, Daniel Wexler takes a closer look at his record and can't even get excited about the "superhuman" order of merit success cited by George O'Grady.

Third, while one can surely only beat the competition that's put in front of them, a quick glance inside Monty's halcyon 1993-1999 run indicates that in winning his seven straight Orders of Merit, he averaged exactly 20 official E Tour starts per season.  And what of his primary competition?  Jose Maria Olazabal was next with an average of 18 annual starts - but that's not including the 1995 and '96 campaigns which he missed entirely due to injury.  Seve Ballesteros averaged 17.2 E Tour starts during these years, but was clearly well beyond his elite form before Monty's run even began.  Ian Woosnam also averaged 17.2 starts in this period, while Bernhard Langer weighed in at 16.7.  And then there was Sir Nick Faldo, who was also somewhat on the down side by the time Monty got rolling, but had already largely packed it off to America anyway, averaging only nine annual E Tour starts from 1993-1999.

So while seven consecutive Order of Merit titles is indeed impressive, Monty did manage to time them perfectly (peaking just when much of the competition was somewhat on the wane) and was aided in earning the most money simply by making the most starts.