The college golf rankings are always in flux. But college golf COURSE ranking? Not so much. With all due respect to great performances at Stanford, Williams, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and others, one campus course has long been the consensus no. 1.
When it’s actually open, that is.
ABOUT Yale Golf Coursea celebrity Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor’s design, which has been hit or miss in recent years. After closing at the end of the 2019 season, the course went dormant until 2020, surrounded by maintenance problems that deepened during the pandemic. In late 2023, it closed again, this time for a full-scale renovation that ranks among the most visible public access remakes in recent memory. That work consumed 2024 and 2025, but it is now complete, and the planning could hardly be better synchronized.
On April 28, just before its anniversary, Yale GC will be back in business, after a Gil Hanse and the renovation directed by Jim Wagner intended to honor Macdonald and Raynor’s original vision of 1926. The greens, tees, bunkers and fairways have been expanded to their historic dimensions. Iconic bowl with two punches in no. 3 is resurrected. Rare overturned bunkers at no. 6 have returned. New championship fairways push the layout beyond 7,000 yards, and every green has been rebuilt to USGA specifications, a first in the course’s history.
Yale used to be ranked #71 in GOLF Top 100 courses in the world list, but dropped the last three editions, a rare — and notable — change in the college’s course hierarchy. It’s hard to imagine the course won’t be in the mix the next time the ballots are handed out.
But the rankings don’t matter. Let’s talk about recreational games. Unlike many elite college structures, you don’t need a degree—or an acceptance letter—to reserve a time at Yale. Green fees for non-affiliates run $350, which isn’t cheap, but about what you’d expect for a course of this pedigree. Getting out of Yale, in other words, is much easier than getting in.
3 things I’m thinking
History of Philadelphia: Another Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner project — the full restoration of Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia — is still roughly a year from completion. But an important milestone crossed the finish line this week with the grand opening of Lincoln Financial Center in Cobbs Creek. Such a name makes the place sound like a baseball stadium. In fact, the center is a three-story building that houses a restaurant, pro shop and a two-story driving range with Toptracer technology, all well in time for the start of the 2026 season. As with other recent revivals of the muni marquee, including PatchingPark and Golden Gate Par 3, work on Cobbs Creek has been fueled by deep-pocketed private investment. And the benefits are already showing, although the biggest payoff won’t come until 2027, when the updated Olde Course at Cobbs Creek (the original was designed by Hugh Wilson of nearby Merion fame) opens for play.
A whale of a change: The humps will return to Kapalua, but it’s hard to know what else might change now that the PGA Tour won’t be back. You’ve probably heard the news. tour has given up her Hawaii Swing – both the Sony Open on Oahu and The Sentry, the traditional season opener at the Plantation Course in Kapalua on Maui. It’s no secret that Kapalua has been in turmoil in recent years, ravaged by drought and ravaged by deadly wildfires in nearby Lahaina. Now comes the end of a more than 25-year tour that accounts for about $50 million in annual economic activity for the island. Kapalua’s other course – the Bay Course – remains closed due to water issues. But the Plantation Course, which closed for three months last September, is up and running, which makes me wonder how it might be used in January, now that it won’t be hosting a tournament it first hosted in 1999. With the absence of tour pros, will that week return to day-to-day play at the resort? Maybe. Maybe not. A well-placed source tells me Kapalua is looking to host another event during the same window, though what form that might take is still TBD.
Festive fundraiser? Maybe? More commune-related news, though it comes with a caveat. Registration is open for The Whole Hog, a day-long golf outing and barbecue fundraiser at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington DC. It’s scheduled for May 8 in support of the National Links Trust — the same National Links Trust that was working to restore the East Potomac when the federal government revoked its lease late last year. Although NLT still operates the course, this status is tenuous, a point emphasized by the invitation to the event. Cost per player is $375, which includes 36 holes of golf, breakfast, lunch, dinner and prizes. But, the invitation notes, there is “a chance that NLT will no longer be operating the course at the time of the event due to actions by the Trump administration. If that happens, we will refund the entry fee.”
