I don’t. I believe that there is too much idol worship of today’s architects. While much of their work is good, merely because they created one masterpiece doesn’t automatically certify that another course they designed is of the same character, though the rankings would suggest otherwise.
If you believe the Golf Magazine list is correct with less than 100 panelists, how can Golf Digest’s list with over 800 panelists be so markedly different as shown here: Ranking: World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses | Courses | Golf Digest. The two lists have almost nothing in common.
Difficult to me is not a synonym for great. Today’s architects have become repetitive and, hence, boring. The list below I believe is dominated by too many courses from today’s architects.
Are you tired of closely cropped chipping areas and crowned greens that are so undulating that the stimpmeter must be kept at less than 9 for the green to be reasonable, providing a golfer a chance of two putting? Anyone can design a course that is unfair.
I have yet to hear a golfer say, “I shot my best round; the course was too easy; I am not coming back.” I hear frequently “that the course was too hard, bordering on unfair, I lost too many balls, and I am not coming back.”
Which type of golfer would you like to attract to your course?
