Forelinksters uses a unique rating system to determine the best golf courses…THE GOLFER, duh! The directory contains only the best public golf courses, and includes all of those listed by the major golf publications, Golf, Golf Digest and Golfweek. The key difference is that the rating system changes real time as golfers rate and review the courses they’ve recently played. Currently, the top 100 golf course in the US start out with these top 10:
1. The Rim Golf Club, Payson, AZ Here’s a course most golfers haven’t heard of outside of Arizona, but it’s recently opened its doors to the public, and a golfer who played there recently gave it high marks.
2. Pinehurst #2, Pinehurst, NC No surprise here, one of the old classics, at the US Home of Golf, where more tournament golf has been played than anywhere else in the US.
3. Rush Creek Golf Course, Osseo, MN Again, most golfers outside of Minnesota may not have heard of Rush Creek, but it’s a highly regarded public track around Minneapolis, and is highly rated at the moment, due to current conditions and the layout.
4. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, CA You might say this should be number 1 in the US, most publications pick it, but hey it’s $450 for 18 holes, so it’s always going to be dinged by the average golfer for being overpriced.
5. Cantingy Golf Course, Wheaton, IL One of Chicago’s best public access courses, you might have thought Cog Hill, but Cantingy’s in better shape, and more highly rated at the moment.
6. Raptor Bay Golf Club, Bonita Springs, FL Who would want to play golf in Florida this time of year, and why would this be rated so highly. Well, apparently playing a usual $200 greens fees course in January for $55 in August with excellent conditioning bumped up Raptor Bay at the moment.
7. Hunter Ranch Golf Club, Paso Robles, CA Another course most golfers outside of San Luis Obispo have probably not heard of, but a fine layout, excellent condition, and value at the moment.
8. Pete Dye Golf Club, Bridgeport, WV Why doesn’t the Pete Dye Golf Club hit the public golfer’s radar screen? It’s private, but allows only a few “open” times a day to public golfers. It’s a unique course, in a small town in West Virginia, 1 1/2 hours south of Pittsburgh, that took 16 years to build, and millions of $’s, a must play and great find.
9. Wilderness at Fortune Bay, Tower, MN Here’s a golf course where you wouldn’t want to be in January, two hours north of Duluth, MN?? It’s a highly rated Jeff Brauer at the Fortune Bay Casino, a spectacular layout with stunning scenery.
10. Fox Hopyard, East Haddam, CT Off I-95 at Old Lyme, then 30 minutes is a great find at a fairly reasonable greens fee for the Northeast, a Roger Rulewich parkland style layout, where conditions are pristine.
We could go on with the Top 100 currently on Forelinksters, which include Sandpiper, Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines, Jackson Hole, Pumpkin Ridge, but the list will change after today’s ratings and reviews. You can conduct your own search by city, state, or even country, although the interenational section of the directory is mostly Ireland, Scotland, and the UK. You can also contribute to the Forelinksters rating system, with each rating you provide entering you into a monthly random drawing for a dozen personalized Titleist Pro-V1 golf balls.
