Augusta National and Pine Valley are often seen as the best courses in the country.
Getty Images/LC Lamprecht
OOur expert course evaluators get their say in rating the most sublime golf courses on American soil every two years, as they did for us. 2024-25 Top 100 Courses in USA AND The best 100 courses you can play rankings. But our readers – you! – you also have thoughts and experiences. Here we’re going to break down some of the time-honored factoids and fancies that emerged from the 2024 Top 100 Golf Courses Readers’ survey.
When we took the pulse of our audience regarding our list of the best golf courses in the country, we knew we’d get some interesting opinions.
And we did.
Here are 7 fun finds from the latest Top 100 Courses Survey.
Who is your number 1?
Not everyone agrees on what makes a great golf course, so it’s no surprise that our audience has different opinions on which course they perceive to be the best in the country.
Valley of the Pines has been around for a long time number oneaccording to our panelists, so it’s no shock that a majority of our readers (34 percent) view the exclusive New Jersey club as the best course in the country. Augusta National, which ranks No. 6 on our list in the U.S. and is broadcast around the world every April, drew the second highest number of votes in this category, with 28 percent of the vote.
Pebble Beach, course no. 1 in ours Top 100 you can play list, was a distant third at 13 percent, and Cypress Point, course no. 2 of our ranking in the country, has 12 percent.
Who can ride?
Most of our respondents (57 percent) do NO know someone who has played Pine Valley while slightly fewer (47 percent) said they did not know anyone who had played Augusta National. However, more than twice as many respondents (10 percent) said they had played Pine Valley itself compared to Augusta (4 percent).
how old are you really willing to spend?
Thirty-six percent of our respondents said that wouldn’t pay more than $100 to play a Top 100 coursemore than double the next two most popular answers: no more than $200 and no more than $500 (15 percent).
For that 36 percent, finding a short time can be challenging since there may only be one course on our Top 100 list for less than $100 at a peak timeand that’s without the cart.
Do architects matter?
Do you care if the course you play is a Ross or a Tillinghast? It seems most of you do!
A majority of survey participants (55 percent) say designers are important when choosing a course to play, with 11 percent calling it “very” important and another 44 percent calling it “somewhat” important.
Fred Vuich
Clear favorites
Our readers also have clear preferences for their favorite course designers.
When it comes to classic “Golden Age” architects, Donald Ross is the favorite among our readers, receiving 37 percent of the vote, despite not having a design ranked in the top 10 of our Top 100 list. Dr . Alister MacKenzie, the designer behind Cypress Point and Augusta National, among many others, was the most popular at 21 percent.
When it comes to more contemporary architects, the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, designers of the only modern course in our top 10, Sand Hills, is a clear favorite, with 26 percent of the vote. Pete Dye, known for TPC Sawgrass and Kiawah Island, was second out of eight choices, with 18 percent of the vote.
The ocean calls
Not surprisingly, with many of the best courses in the country buffered or near the ocean (with the noted exceptions of Pine Valley and Augusta National), links/coastal golf is the overwhelming favorite among our readers, with 56 percent who say it is their favorite. golf style.
Gary Lisbon
The surprise is that parkland golf, which includes Pine Valley, Augusta, Oakmont and more, comes in second with 22 percent of the vote, while mountain golf only captured 13 percent of our readers.
Is golf’s most exciting hole really that exciting?
It’s not often that you’ll hear a television golf announcer describe a driving par-4 as “the most exciting hole in golf.”
Our readers, at least from the standpoint of playing these holes, don’t seem to agree.
In our poll, 40 percent of our readers, when choosing between a reachable par-5, short par-3 and drivable par-4, said the short par-5 excites them the most. Another 34 percent said short par-3s excite them the most, while only 26 percent said drivable par-4s.
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