By BRADLEY S. KLEIN
Senior WriterTurns out that the country’s top professional golfers are a lot like everyday golfers when it comes to where they play. The schedules of the major American tours are chock-full of public-access courses – so many, in fact, that we decided to put together our inaugural list of Golfweek’s Best Tour Courses You Can Play.
We culled this list of 40 courses from the 2007-08 schedules – excluding offseason events and Q-School sites – of the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Nationwide tours. We included venues for regular tour events and, in a few cases, majors. The list comes direct from our national team of 450 course raters.
Not surprisingly, Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links heads our list. The annual celebrity silliness at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am might grow tiresome, but not the oceanfront views. The course actually does double duty, as it’s also home to the Champions Tour’s Wal-Mart First Tee Open.
Tour players may have cursed Pete Dye’s designs from time to time through the years, but our raters haven’t. In fact, while architect Rees Jones often is called the “Open Doctor,” Dye’s original designs have become major championship staples. Five Dye designs cracked the top 10, including two – the Straits Course at Whistling Straits and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island – that hosted Champions Tour majors in 2007. Dye’s 10-year-old Bulle Rock Golf Club, home of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, holds the No. 10 spot. And let’s not forget the near-major Players Championship, contested annually on our No. 3 layout, the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
During 2007-08, the PGA Tour will play on 22 layouts that are open to the public. One of those regular Tour stops, Torrey Pines’ South Course, also will be the site of the U.S. Open in June.
Davis Love III has the distinction of being the only active PGA Tour player with a design on our list. Kinderlou Forest Golf Club, which Love co-designed with John McKenzie, comes in at No. 14. The Nationwide Tour’s South Georgia Classic is held at Kinderlou Forest.
The LPGA’s Ginn Open is held on a composite course drawn from the front nines of Reunion Resort’s Legacy and Independence courses near Orlando, Fla. Its ranking, No. 20, represents an average of the two courses. When judged separately, the courses posted nearly identical rankings: the Legacy’s was 6.0, the Independence’s was 5.86. If resort officials balk at letting you play the combined tournament layout, our suggestion is to play each 18-hole course. They’re equally worthy.
Our roster of 40 accessible, quality layouts actually comprises a formidable annual circuit for an itinerant, ambitious public golfer. Best of all, there’s no need to go through Q-School to get your card for this tour.
• • •
Bradley S. Klein is a
Golfweek senior writer. To reach him e-mail
bklein@golfweek.com.
Golfweek’s Best Tour Courses You Can Play (2007-08)
| No. Course |
Tour/Event |
| 1. Pebble Beach GL |
PGA/AT&T Pebble Beach National |
| 2. Whistling Straits – Straits |
CT/U.S. Senior Open |
| 3. Spyglass Hill GC |
PGA/AT&T Pebble Beach National |
| 4. TPC Sawgrass – Players Stadium |
PGA/The Players |
| 5. Kiawah Island – Ocean |
CT/Senior PGA |
| 6. Harbour Town GL |
PGA/Verizon Heritage |
| 7. Pine Needles |
LPGA/U.S. Women’s Open |
| 8. Kapalua Resort – Plantation |
PGA/Mercedes-Benz Championship |
| 9. Sunriver Resort – Crosswater |
CT/Jeld-Wen Tradition |
| 10. Bulle Rock GC |
LPGA/McDonald’s LPGA Champ. |
| 11. Barona Creek GC |
Nationwide/Tour Championship |
| 12. Cog Hill No. 4 – Dubsdread |
PGA/BMW Championship |
| 13. Sonoma GC |
CT/Charles Schwab Cup Championship |
| 14. Kinderlou Forest GC |
Nationwide/South Georgia Classic |
| 15. Bay Hill Club |
PGA/Arnold Palmer Invitational |
| 16. The Classic Club |
PGA/Bob Hope Chrysler Classic |
| 17. Ginn Hammock Beach – Ocean |
CT/Ginn Championship |
| 18. Torrey Pines – South |
PGA/Buick Invitational, U.S. Open |
| 19. The Club at Savannah Harbor |
CT/Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf |
| 20. Reunion Resort* |
LPGA/Ginn Open |
| 21. Ross Bridge |
CT/Regions Charity Classic |
| 22. Turning Stone Resort – Atunyote |
PGA/Turning Stone Resort |
| 23. Grayhawk GC – Raptor |
PGA/Frys.com Open |
| T24. Innisbrook Resort – Copperhead |
PGA/PODS Championship |
| T24. The Glen Club |
Nationwide/Bank of America Open |
| 26. Doral Resort – Blue |
PGA/WGC-CA CThip |
| 27. PGA National – Champion |
PGA/Honda Classic |
| 28. Kingsmill Resort – River |
LPGA/Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill |
| 29. TPC Las Colinas |
PGA/EDS Byron Nelson Championship |
| 30. TPC Deere Run |
PGA/John Deere Classic |
| T31. Torrey Pines – North |
PGA/Buick Invitational |
| T31. TPC Scottsdale – Stadium |
PGA/FBR Open |
| 33. La Cantera GC |
PGA/Valero Texas Open |
| T34. TPC Tampa Bay |
CT/Outback Steakhouse |
| T34. Hammock Beach – Conservatory |
PGA/Ginn sur Mer Classic |
| 36. TPC Louisiana |
PGA/Zurich Classic of New Orleans |
| 37. Rock Barn Resort – Jones |
CT/Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn |
| 38. Brown Deer GC |
PGA/U.S. Bank Championship |
| 39. Sandestin Resort – Raven |
CT/Boeing CThip at Sandestin |
| 40. Poppy Hills GC |
PGA/AT&T Pebble Beach National |
Note: CT = Champions Tour
* Average rating for composite tournament course (Legacy/Independence).
Posted: 4/28/2008
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