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My golf ball collector's rack on the wall has me thinking... what are the 5 best courses that I have played ?

1. Shinnecock Hills (NY)
2. Bethpage Black (NY)
3. Blackwolf Run (River) (WI)
4. Whistling Straits (Straits) (WI)
5. World Woods (Pine Barrens) (FL)

I thought it would be interesting to hear some others from around the country. What are yours?

1. Ocean Course, Kiawah Island (Pete Dye)
2. Aronimink, Philadelphia (Donald Ross)

Um... could we change this thread to "Top 2"?
I need to get out more!

Jim, Is Aronimink a public or private course?

I've never played there but it is a private course I believe.

1. Rio Secco-Henderson, NV. Home of the Butch Harmon Golf Academy
2. Old Works-Anaconda, MT. A Jack Nicklaus course.
3. The Creek at Qualchan-Spokane, WA. Fun, tough and eye catching.
4. Washington National-Auburn, WA. Nothing but good things to say about this one.
5. High Cedars-Orting, WA. My home course.

Yes, Aronimink is a private club. A friend of a friend is a member there; that's how I got on. Here's something that I posted elsewhere in June, shortly after returning from Philadelphia:

A couple of weeks ago, during my annual trip back to The Cradle of Liberty, I got to play Aronimink Golf Club (site of last year's Senior PGA Championship).
---It's one of Donald Ross's finest efforts, IMHO. Ross shows you everything (no tricks), uses gorgeous bunkering (brows; tough rough on the downslope to the sand) to mark the way and penalize those who stray from it, and protects par with tough but fair green complexes and undulating putting surfaces, which at Aronimink are very fast.
---The other thing about Aronimink is that the Par 4's are long, and a lot of them are uphill. (We jokingly wondered how Ross managed to get the whole course to play uphill.) So, for a short hitter like me, a typical Par 4 was, on in 3 then 3-putt.
---Best shots of the day for me: Hit the fairway on No. 1 with numerous people watching, including the member who got us onto the course. Rolled in a 45-footer for par on No. 2. Put a 95-yard bunker shot onto the green at No. 3. The rest of the day we won't talk about. Managed to shoot 99, but truth to tell, we were conceding 5-footers to each other, to speed up play. Aronimink wants you to play 18 holes in 3:59; took us about 4-1/2 hours.
---All in all, a wonderful day. Even had caddies, who helped with course management and putt reading. Not sure when I'll play a course this nice again, although my buddy says next time I visit he thinks he can get us onto Merion.

I rate my 5 based on whether the course is fun to play - not how it would be ranked in some golf publication - so almost every course is going to be courses that nobody here is going to know of.

1)The Fortress in Frankenmuth MI - for those here near MI and have played it will know what I mean. Challenges, but doesn't intimidates, which is my criteria of being fun to play. I always seem to play well there and that helps in making it No. 1!

2)The Legends at Shanty Creek - same comments of the Fortress

3)Elmbrook in Traverse City - not the 'greatest' course in this area with so many well known resort type courses in NW lower MI, but easily has the best views. The course is just a lot of fun to play with almost all the fairways framed with mounds to the right and left sides. Your shot that began off line banks back to the fairway . The t's are all elevated to give fantastic views of Grand Traverse Bay. And the price is definitely right.

4)North Star in Ithica MI - no one else's favorite, but makes my list because this is where I played along with my dad and his friends every Sat morning. Because my dad is no longer alive, this course has great sentimental value to me.

5)My course from the tips - been here 8 years and still find the course challenging and fun. Won't list the name here, but anyone can PM me to know the name. If you're ever in the area, come by and say hi - if you bring your sticks and give me enough notice, I might even join you!

I've been fortunate over the years to play more 'famous' courses that most of you folks here would know of, but quite honestly these championship type courses that have either hosted PGA Tour events or Majors are just too hard to play and enjoy myself.

that i have played?

1. riviera CC (los angeles)
2. red rock GC (las vegas)
3. tanglewood (wisnton-salem)
4-5. myrtle beach tracks

I think these are the top 5 courses that I have played.

1. Pinehurst #2
2. Pebble Beach
3. Spyglass Hill
4. Gold Course at Wailea
5. Tobacco Road

Honorable Mentions:

Pasatiempo
Links at Spanish Bay
Tidewater
Pinehurst #3

Mo, that is quite a list. Tobacco Road jumps out at me, because I have seen photos of it, and it looks quite dramatic, and visually intimidating. Does it play hard? or just look hard?

I played True Blue in Myrtle Beach, which was also designed by Mike Strantz, and it was a fun golfing experience!

In no particular order:

Lake Nona - Tom Fazio 1986 -Orlando, Florida

The Ranch Club @ Promontory - Pete Dye 2001 - Park City, Utah

Glenwild - Tom Fazio 2001 - Park City, Utah

Indian Canyon - H. Chandler Eagan 1930 - Spokane, Washington

Des Moines CC - Pete Dye Late 1960's - Des Moines, Iowa


Just played Promontory again last week - amazing. Should be playing Indian Canyon later in September.

I'll be playing Indian Canyon next week. Hilly ***. They had a little problem with some type of disease on the greens last year. I guess it is taken care of, I am looking forward to it.

Pebble Beach
Pinehurst #2
Spyglass
PGA West

It has a vertical drop of 240 feet. And you can always hear the distinct thud of a golf ball hitting the aged pine trees. I always play Indian Canyon when I go to Spokane.

i played tobacco road. its target golf and sometimes a bit hokey.

its neat once but i can see how it might get old.