[Richard Choi]

Damn, I gotta hang out with Jim...

[Rob Peterson]

New to the forum...it is pretty fun to read everyone's lists!  My list isn't necessarily just about the golf course as a lot of it has to do with the experience.  For example sleeping in the parking lot at Bethpage is worth a huge amount of "experience" factor.  Or...eating lunch at Muirfield in a coat and tie and then going back out for a second round of golf is also an amazing experience.

1. Whistling Straits – Straits
2. Pebble Beach
3. The Old Course at St Andrews
4. Harbour Town
5. Bethpage – Black
6. Kapalua – Plantation
7. Muirfield (Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers)
8. North Berwick West Links
9. Kiawah Island  – Ocean Course
10. Medinah #3
11. Pasatiempo
12. Cog Hill #4
13. Kingsbarns
14. Pinehurst #2
15. Spyglass Hill
16. Rancho Santa Fe Country Club
17. World Woods – Pine Barrens
18. The Castle Course at St Andrews
19. The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe (more about the setting than the actual golf course)
20. Torrey Pines – South
21. Finkbine Golf Course (Iowa City)
22. Wolf Creek
23. Troon North – Pinnacle
24. The Challenge at Manele
25. TPC Deere Run

In the spirit of college football…here are my others receiving votes (in no particular order):
Troon North – Monument, Blackwolf Run – River, Rancho Santa Fe Farms, Weaver Ridge, The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, TPC Myrtle Beach, Long Cove Club

[Matt OBrien]

Pine Valley
Sand Hills
Shinnecock
National Golf Links
Oakmont
Merion
Fishers Island
Chicago Golf Club
Pacific Dunes
Bandon Dunes
Bandon Trails
Aronomink
Hidden Creek
Huntingdon Valley
Bayonne
Philadephia Cricket Club
Yale
Lookout Mountain
Lost Dunes
Beverly
Olympia
Shoreacres
Philadelphia Country Club
Rolling Green
Atlantic City Country Club

[Mark Chaplin]

Matt time to get the passport out!

[Matt OBrien]

Matt time to get the passport out!

Just applied for it!!!!!

[Matt OBrien]

Geez, Ari.  That adds up to approximately 1000 rounds played at your favorite 25 courses.  How many rounds do you play each year?

John,

I have never actually counted the number of rounds that I play in a year.  These days I dont play much during the week when I am home but my son and I play atleast once early in the morning on the weekend and sometimes twice.  But that is only when I am in town which I am often not.  When I am out of town I try to play every chance that I get and that usually means working during the day and getting in a round at a local course in the afternoon.  Occasionally I will take a long weekend and just play golf without working but only a few times a year. 

MUST BE NICE!!!! I NEED A JOB WHERE I CAN DO THE SAME !!!!   

[Rob Miller]

'Whipping it out' and trying to keep it interesting, here are my 5 favorites anywhere ranked by the very subjective, yet honest - if I could wake up tomorrow and replay any course -  

Pebble Beach
Royal County Down
Old Macdonald
Royal Portrush
Banff Springs

And here are the remainder from Asia.  Note that it gets a bit rough near the bottom.  I was tempted to do an Asia hall of shame list as well, but maybe I'll reserve that for another thread.  

Kawana (Fuji), Japan
Nauro, Japan
Nirwana Bali, Indonesia
Dalat Palace, Vietnam
Shanghai Links, China
Spring City (Lake), China
Spring City (Mountain), China
Sheshan International, China
Nine Dragons, China
Nine Bridges, Korea
Ria Bintan (Ocean), Indonesia
Blue Canyon, Thailand
Montgomerie Links, Vietnam
Ocean Dunes, Vietnam
Suzhou Sun Island, China
Bears Paw, Japan
Nansha Golf, China
Tianma, China
Jagorawi Golf, Indonesia

[Andrew Bertram]

I have an update from my japan journey in May, my regular travel buddy has hassled to update so here it is.

 1. Cypress Point
2. Shinnecock Hills
3. Royal Dornoch
4. Royal melbourne West
5. The Old Course

6. Royal County Down
7. Merion
8. National Golf Links
9. Oakmont
10. Ballybunion Old

11. Kingston Heath
12. San Francisco
13. Morfontaine
14. Hirono
15. Muirfield

16. Barnbougle Dunes
17. Swinley Forest
18. Pacific Dunes
19. Pinehurst No 2
20. Turnberry

21. Kawana
22. California Club
23. Sunningdale Old
24. Riviera
25. Cruden Bay

Winged Foot west and Royal Portrush dropped out

I mentioned previuosly that Victoria in melbourne just missed out. It keeps getting better and better with Clayts doing work and it will knock the socks off our overseas visitors for The Australian masters.

I am looking at a big next 12 months with the following lined up.
Lost Farm
Teeth of the Dog
TPC Sawgrass
Ocean Forest
Kiawah Island Ocean
harbour Town
Prarie Dunes
Pinehurst again
Seminole
Shadow Creek
Pine Valley and Merion
Ellerston

I have a feeling there will be changes coming!

[Mark Chaplin]

Andrew - there will be some interest in hearing about Ellerston as it's so private. Do you know if play has increased since Kerry Packer died?

[Andrew Bertram]

Mark

A good friend of mine owns a property very close by, from his knowledge it can go 2 -3 weeks with no play. when busy it has 12 players in a day. The only way in is by Helicopter.
james packer basically does not play any more so not much play at all.

It is a shame

Andrew

[Dimitri Dimakopoulos]

thought this might be a nice way to ease into my first post...

without having been to the usa or the UK my short but sweet list has a strong australian flavour...nothing wrong with that though 

1 - New South Wales GC - nothing better than taking a stroll around la perouse....pot bunkering a real treat...bit of a thrill when you venture across the footbridge at the 6th tee with nothing but a 4 iron in hand....friendly staff too

2 - Barnbougle dunes - the sequence of holes from 3-8 is like reading from a good book that you cant put down...stunning...

3 - portsea gc - bit of a roughie here from the mornington peninsula - one of the most enjoyable courses to play, always break out into a smile when playing this course, fantastic elevated tee positions, simple use of existing terrain and good use of existing tea tree scrub vegetation. recent changes to the course have only made it better in my opinion.

4 - kingston heath - bunkering a feature as are the strategic undualtions around the greens that call a variety of approach shots

5 - st. andrews beach (gunamatta course) - another great doak course, watch it climb up the rankings npw that new owners have been secured.

[Scott Warren]

5 - st. andrews beach (gunamatta course) - another great doak course, watch it climb up the rankings npw that new owners have been secured.

Do you have any info on the new owners and how they plan to structure the place going forward Dimitri?

[Dimitri Dimakopoulos]

going off their website "The major shareholder, an individual who has a passion for golf has teamed up with a Melbourne based accounting firm, a golf course architect and the current golf course operations management group to complete the sale."

i heard somewhere that the management group involved whilst the course was being sold is also involved at Amstel, they have two courses down there at Cranbourne (Amstel Public, and my old stomping ground Ranfurlie GC which is a private club). Hope that intel is correct. not sure who the gc architect is?

i believe there a plans to proceed with a clubhouse, which has been in a temporary facililty and is well overdue, and boost course maintenance infrastructure.

I am hoping all goes well so that the second course there that was never completed (Fingal Course) is developed, i know ill be there this summer taking advantage of what is some very attractive green fees for a course of this quality.

[Jason Goss]

Well here goes,

1. Shinnecock
2. NGLA
3. Cypress Point
4. Pacific Dunes
5. Old Macdonald
6. Crystal Downs
7. SFGC
8. Kingsley Club
9. Pasatiempo
10. MPCC Shore
11. Shoreacres
12. Bandon Trails
13. Cal Club of SF
14. Bandon Dunes
15. Meadow Club
16. Olympic Club (Lake)
17. Greenbrier Old white
18. Deepdale
19. Harding Park
20. Exmoor
21. Martis Camp
22. Bethpage (Red)
23. Shady Oaks
24. UofMichigan
25. Arcadia Bluffs

[jim_lewis]

delete

[Jason Goss]

Jim,

I have not had the good fortune of playing many southern gems.  I spent one year working in Arizona and played almost no golf as it was usually about 110 degrees when I got off work and my thin northern blood does not enjoy swinging it in that type of heat!  I have had the chance to play a few Florida courses, however they were less than memorable.  I did include my trip to Fort Worth and Shady Oaks, so I didn't completely leave out the South!

[John Moore II]

Jason:

Impressive list. I think maybe you should spend some time in the South.

Jim Lewis

Crusty Jim-I just have to ask why you write out a post and then repost 'delete' just a short time later?


Jason-Look at your private messages-top right corner of your screen, if you don't know.

[jim_lewis]

Jason and John:

I attempted to delete my post before anyone saw it because I decided it was wrong for me to question why anyone would not have more Southern courses, since I have lived in the South almost all my life and only 3 of my top 25 courses are in the South (ANGC, #2, and Seminole). You could even say only 2 since many down here don't count Florida as part of the South!

Instead I might have suggested that Jason might consider buying a couple of tickets on international flights.

[John Moore II]

My top 25 courses played, now ranked numerically. I had to change it like this given the volume of courses I am about to play that are sure to take spots in this list and I wanted to know for sure which courses were coming out first; significant changes with this edit, saw a few new courses that made me change my opinion of others a great deal.

1. Old Town Club (1)
2. Eagle Point (2)
3. Pine Needles (5)
4. NCSU Lonnie Poole (1)
5. Mattaponi Springs (1)
6. Golden Horseshoe (Gold) (1)
7. Forest Creek (North) (1)
8. CCNC (Dogwood) (1)
9. Thanksgiving Point (1)
10. Royal New Kent (1)
11. Tobacco Road (5)
12. PGA (Dye) (3)
13. Moose Run (River) (1)
14. Tanglewood Park (Champions) (1)
15. Tot Hill Farm  (1)
16. Bear's Best Atlanta (1)
17. The President  (Eagle) (1)
18. United States Naval Academy Golf Club (4)
19.Nansemond River Golf Club (1)
20. Riverfront (5)
21. Bryan Park (Champions) (3-5)
22. Pensacola Country Club (1)
23. Mid South (25+)
24. Southern Pines (5)
25. TPC Wakefield Plantation (3)

Original courses in Black
April 11 updates in Red.
June 24 updates in Blue.
July 16 update in Green.
And I am actually ranking them as of July 16.
July 26 update in Orange.
October 1 undates in Purple.

New lists appreciated from anyone willing to put them down.

[Mark Chaplin]

John and Jason - another couple of chaps who need passports!

[K. Krahenbuhl]

National Golf Links
Merion
Shinnecock
Prairie Dunes
Cypress Point
Oakmont
Royal County Down
Friars Head
Pebble Beach
Crystal Downs
Lahinch
San Francisco Golf
Ballybunion
Sebonack
Newport
Royal Portrush
California Golf Club
Shoreacres
Peachtree
Aronimink
Ballyneal
Olympia Fields
Austin Golf
Honors
Garden City

[John Moore II]

mark chaplin-the passport is not the issue, i have one of those. what i need is a thicker wallet. hmm.....

[Tony Weiler]

I need to get overseas as well.  But, since my new top two were played this year, it's been a good year!

1.   Sand Hills
2.   Ballyneal
3.   Sutton Bay
4.   Torrey Pines (South)
5.   Interlachen C.C.
6.   We Ko Pa (Saguaro)
7.   Hazeltine National
8.   World Woods (Pine Barrens)
9.   Links of North Dakota
10.   Hawktree
11.   Wild Horse
12.   Vista Verde
13.   Grayhawk (Talon)
14.   We Ko Pa (Cholla)
15.   Deacon’s Lodge
16.   Couer d’Alene C.C.
17.   Pelican Hill (South before Renovations)
18.   TPC Scottsdale
19.   Old Works
20.   Bully Pulpit
21.   Powder Horn (Wyo.)
22.   Eagle Bend (Mt.)
23.   Raven at So. Mt. (Az.)
24.   Whirlwind (Devil’s Claw)
25.   Prairie Green (S.D.)

[tomgoutman]

FDR times 50. BTW, what does "whip it out" mean?

[Tony Weiler]

Tom, could you explain a bit more about "FDR."  The course in Philly?

And, if you are serious about "whip it out" it's sort of like "show em to me." 

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