The US publication, GOLF Magazine, is seen by many in the world of golf architecture as the ultimate authority when it comes to ranking the World’s Top 100 golf courses. I have written before about the strength of the list and why I like it so much.
Well, that esteemed panel has now turned its attention to the UK & Ireland and produced, for the first time, a Top 100 ranking.
To give it some context, I have shown below how the courses in this ranking compare to the average position of courses in the four, established UK listings - Today’s Golfer/Golf World, Golf Monthly, Top100golfcourses.com and National Club Golfer. (Courses need to be ranked in at least two to have an average created.)
A few observations -
THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL VIEW OF UK AND IRISH COURSES
First off, some notes on the methodology. The panel who rated these courses is, overwhelmingly, based away from these shores. As it stood last November, the panel had103 members, 78 of whom were based in North America and only 7 in the UK and Ireland. It may have changed a little since then, but this make-up is important to keep in mind when looking at the results.
Panel members are asked to only rate courses of which they have relevant knowledge - so if a course has changed significantly since they played it, they are not supposed to submit a rating. But, given Covid, I assume that many of the raters are basing their views on visits from some time ago.
This panel is also made up of members with a more architectural bent (including Tom Doak and Gil Hanse) than those of the UK magazines which have a tendency towards broader, ‘amateur’ panels.
THE TOP END OF THE LIST LOOKS PRETTY FAMILIAR
As you would expect there are no real differences at the top end of the list. The Old Course and Royal County Down are either 1 or 2 in all of the rankings. There is more love for Dornoch than in some of the other lists, although it did well in the recent Golf World ranking too.
Turnberry is a funny one. The UK magazines have consistently rated it higher in recent years than the international lists. There are still a lot of people who just haven’t seen the course since the new changes, which means they can’t rank it yet and that could be one factor. But, more generally, the course just doesn’t seem to get quite the same level of love from the architecture world as it does from the more average punter who may be beguiled by the fantastic views rather than some of the technical tie-ins.
MODERN COURSES REALLY SUFFER
It’s interesting to look at the fate of more recently-built courses. Here’s how they do compared to the average of the other magazines -
13 (Up 5) Rosapenna St Patrick’s (Doak)
25 (Up 6) Ardfin (Harrison)
26 (Down 15) Kingsbarns (Phillips)
30 (Down 5) Castle Stuart (Hanse)
37 (Down 16) Trump International (Hawtree)
47 (Down 6) Loch Lomond (Weiskopf)
64 (Down 6) Trump Doonbeg (Norman)
68 (Down 18) Adare Manor (Trent Jones/Fazio)
77 (Up 10) The Renaissance (Doak)
79 (Down 44) The European Club (Ruddy)
83 (Down 21) Old Head (Kirby)
88 (Down 19) Rosapenna Sandy Hills (Ruddy)
90 (Down 10) Machrihansih Dunes (McLay Kidd)
91 (Down 53) Carnegie Club - Skibo (Steel/Mackenzie)
93 (Down 40) Dumbarnie (Clark)
OUT (Other lists’ average is 70) Ballyliffin Glashedy (Ruddy)
OUT (Others 90) Queenwood (McLay Kidd)
OUT (Others 94) JCB (Hiseman)
OUT (Others 96) St Andrews Castle Course (McLay Kidd)
It’s pretty stark when you look at it like this and it is clear that this panel prefers old, historic courses to the more recent attempts. But Pat Ruddy and David McLay Kidd’s modern links have a very different feel to the established courses when you are playing them. They are a grander scale, with more self-contained holes and often requiring tougher drives and approaches than a traditional links.
THERE ARE SOME BOLD CALLS…
One of the things I like about rankings is that they can help you discover new courses and put new places on your radar. You normally see the differences between lists around positions 80-100 and in some ways that is also seen here. Fraserburgh, Cleeve, Delamare etc may not make it into all the other lists but them being on this list will pique some people’s interest.
However, while it is relatively rare to get massive differences between the lists, GOLF magazine seems to have a significantly different viewpoint on a couple of places. For example, everything I hear about The Addington restoration is great, but having it straight in at 51 is quite something considering only one of the other magazines has it in their top 100 at all.
Askernish at 36th is incredible. None of the other lists have it in their top 100 at all. Golf World have it as 49th best in Scotland. I can’t comment much more as I’ve not made the trip there yet but, if you have played, I’d love to hear what you think of this bold and courageous call.
…AND THERE’S LOTS TO LIKE
I like that this list is introducing some new places and brings a slightly different perspective to things. The courses it celebrates tend to be similar to ones I like, courses where you can play the ground game and your enjoyment is not dominated by how well you are playing on a given day.
Prestwick at 19 and Cruden Bay at 20 particularly please me. For some reason I just can’t fathom, Golf Monthly really doesn’t like Prestwick (they have it at 44th) or Cruden Bay (69th!) which really drags them down in the aggregate list. These are the kind of courses I love and it’s great to see them rewarded here.
BUT IS IT TOO WOKE?
One friend messaged me this morning and asked me if I had seen ‘The Woke 100’ yet. He felt that this list was going a little niche and trying to promote some ‘undiscovered’ courses at the expense of better places. I can see where he was coming from to an extent. Is Machrihanish really better than Castle Stuart or Royal Porthcawl for example?
Well, for this panel those were the right decisions, and at the end of the day that’s really all this list is doing - it’s telling you which golf courses the people who sit on this panel like the most.
It is incredibly easy to throw brickbats at golf ranking lists. Some are easy targets, like the most recent Top 100 in the World from Golf Digest. However, I think this list from GOLF is good. It introduces the reader to some new places and has a clear point of view.
If you played every one of the courses on this list you would have seen most of the best the UK and Ireland have to offer. Sure, you may have ended up missing a few special places (where’s the Queen’s at Gleneagles or West Lancs for goodness sake?!) but I’m sure you’d discover some new ones too.