No hanging umbrellas, no contested recounts. But vote for The 100 best GOLF courses in the world produces near agonizing results. For each new ranking, our magazine’s 120 panelists cast votes into buckets: 1-3, 4-10, 11-25, 26-50, and so on. Each bucket carries a corresponding point value. When all the ballots are in, those point values ​​are averaged to create the final list.
Sounds neat. But this orderly system paves the way for small borders with serious consequences. Courses that seem a world apart in public perception can actually be separated simply by decimal points. In the most recent poll, for example, the course that finished 101st, Golf Club, one Pete Dye-Design in Ohio – just missing a coveted Top 100 spot – trailed ahead of him by just 0.3 points.
That’s less than the difference a single panelist’s shifting opinion can make. Maybe that rater didn’t see the course this cycle, their plans disrupted by a flight cancellation or bad weather. Any number of factors can come into play.
To break ties, GOLF gives priority to the course that appears on the most total ballots, a reflection of the broadest consensus. However, the margins remain paper-thin. For architects, owners and superfans who follow these results like stock prices, it’s worth remembering: each ranking is a snapshot, not a verdict.
When the difference between No. 100 and No. 101 comes down to tenths of a point, you begin to appreciate the obvious truth – there are far more than 100 courses in the world that are worthy of a top 100 list.
In a recent episode of Destination golf podcast, Simon Holt, who heads GOLF’s course evaluation panel, discussed the rigors of voting and the statistical nuances behind the rankings. It was part of a conversation devoted to this year’s close contenders—the courses that finished 101-150 in the new GOLF World Top 100, to be released Nov. 19. You can listen to the whole episode hereand watch an excerpt dedicated to the counting of votes in the video above.
