Best courses in U.S. we can’t play

Planet Golf — 02 May 2013 by Bob Sherwin

Golf Digest has come out with its annual Top 100 Golf Courses in America list. Most of them the average joe can’t get on since most are country clubs – or priced primarily for hedge fund managers.

For the record, of the 100 courses, just 25 percent (25) are out West. That’s not right. Everyone knows that the overall best courses are out here. Everyone but the GD editors. It’s clear they have a prejudice for the old style, traditional country clubs such as Pine Valley, Merion, and Winged Foot, not that they are farm tracts. But the failure to recognize some of the great courses in the West, such as Chambers Bay, Pumpkin Ridge, and just one in Hawaii, one in Nevada and none in New Mexico or Utah is illogical.

There are 11 on the list in California – including No. 7 on the list, Pebble Beach (shown), four in Oregon – can you say Bandon? – three in Colorado, two in Hawaii, two in Arizona and one each in Washington, Hawaii and Nevada.

Here is the story:

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/2013-02/americas-100-greatest-golf-courses-ranking?currentPage=2

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About Author

Bob Sherwin

Bob grew up in Cleveland, an underdog city with perennial underdog teams, and that gave him an appreciation and an affinity for the grinders in golf, guys such as Rocco Mediate, Jhonattan Vegas and star-crossed John Daly. This is the 53rd year for Bob as a sportswriter, the first 34 working for newspapers throughout the west, Tucson (Daily Star), San Francisco (Examiner) and Seattle (Times), and the past 19 years as a freelancer. He has covered just about every sport, including golf tournaments, Tucson Open, Bing Crosby/AT&T Pro-Am, the 1998 PGA Championship, the 2010 U.S. Senior Open, the 2010 U.S. Amateur the 2015 U.S. Open and the annual Champions Tour Boeing Classic. He also writes articles for Cascade Golfer Magazine and Destination Golfer. For most of his 20 years at the Seattle Times his primary beat was the Mariners. He then picked up Washington men's basketball in the winter. He also was the beat writer for the Sonics, including 1996 when they played the Bulls for the NBA title. After a lifetime hacking on public courses, he finally gave in and joined a country club in 2011, Aldarra near Seattle. Despite (or perhaps because) of his 14 handicap, he won the 'Super Senior'' (65 and older) championship in 2017. He has a pair of aces – 37 years apart – and in 2009 came agonizingly close to his ultimate golf goal of scoring in the 70s when he finished with an even 80. He lives in Seattle.