Summary of changes from previous rankings

New entries

Fell off the ranking

Biggest improvements

Biggest drops


2011-2012 rankings

Course Location Year Designed Golf Digest Golf Magazine Average
Pine Valley Pine Valley, NJ 1918 2 1 1.5
Augusta National Augusta, GA 1933 1 3 2
Cypress Point Pebble Beach, CA 1928 5 2 3.5
Shinnecock Hills Southampton, NY 1931 3 4 3.5
Oakmont Oakmont, PA 1903 4 6 5
Pebble Beach Pebble Beach, CA 1919 6 5 5.5
Merion Ardmore, PA 1912 7 7 7
Sand Hills Mullen, NE 1995 9 8 8.5
National Golf Links Southampton, NY 1911 10 9 9.5
Winged Foot (West) Mamaroneck, NY 1923 8 13 10.5
Crystal Downs Frankfort, MI 1931 12 12 12
Pacific Dunes Bandon, OR 2001 15 11 13
Seminole Juno Beach, FL 1929 13 14 13.5
Fishers Island Fishers Island, NY 1926 11 18 14.5
Chicago Wheaton, IL 1894 17 15 16
The Country Club Chestnut Hill, MA 1895 16 22 19
Prairie Dunes Hutchinson, KS 1937 25 16 20.5
Riviera Pacific Palisades, CA 1926 22 20 21
Oakland Hills Bloomfield Hills, MI 1918 24 19 21.5
Whistling Straits (Straits) Haven, WI 1998 18 26 22
Pinehurst (No. 2) Pinehurst, NC 1935 37 10 23.5
Muirfield Village Dublin, OH 1974 19 30 24.5
San Francisco San Francisco, CA 1924 33 17 25
Olympic (Lake) San Francisco, CA 1924 27 25 26
Kiawah Island (Ocean) Kiawah Island, SC 1991 26 27 26.5
Oak Hill Rochester, NY 1925 21 33 27
Bethpage (Black) Farmingdale, NY 1936 36 21 28.5
Friar’s Head Baiting Hollow, NY 2002 34 23 28.5
Medinah (No. 3) Medinah, IL 1928 23 37 30
Bandon Dunes Bandon, OR 1999 28 32 30
Baltusrol (Lower) Springfield, NJ 1922 32 31 31.5
TPC Sawgrass Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 1980 41 29 35
Los Angeles (North) Los Angeles, CA 1921 47 24 35.5
Southern Hills Tulsa, OK 1936 38 35 36.5
The Golf Club New Albany, OH 1967 40 34 37
Wade Hampton Cashiers, NC 1987 20 58 39
Garden City Garden City, NY 1899 53 28 40.5
Honors Course Ooltewah, TN 1983 30 57 43.5
Alotian Roland, AR 2004 14 76 45
Shadow Creek North Las Vegas, NV 1990 31 60 45.5
Inverness Toledo, OH 1919 56 41 48.5
Spyglass Hill Pebble Beach, CA 1966 52 52 52
Sebonack Southampton, NY 2006 44 63 53.5
Peachtree Atlanta, GA 1947 43 68 55.5
Bandon Trails Bandon, OR 2005 63 54 58.5
East Lake Atlanta, GA 1915 61 56 58.5
Interlachen Edina, MN 1911 51 69 60
Scioto Columbus, OH 1916 66 55 60.5
Kittansett Marion, MA 1922 65 59 62
Shoreacres Lake Bluff, IL 1921 92 36 64
Old Sandwich Plymouth, MA 2005 90 38 64
Congressional Bethesda, MD 1962 77 51 64
Cherry Hills Cherry Hills Village, CO 1923 67 62 64.5
Maidstone East Hampton, NY 1924 93 42 67.5
Kinloch Manakin-Sabot, VA 2001 46 91 68.5
Plainfield Edison, NJ 1921 76 61 68.5
Pete Dye Bridgeport, WV 1994 45 93 69
Ballyneal Holyoke, CO 2006 95 46 70.5
Somerset Hills Bernardsville, NJ 1918 94 47 70.5
Winged Foot (East) Mamaroneck, NY 1923 98 44 71
Calusa Pines Naples, FL 2001 79 64 71.5
Harbour Town Hilton Head Island, SC 1969 100 45 72.5
Olympia Fields (North) Olympia Fields, IL 1922 60 86 73
Milwaukee River Hills, WI 1929 57 96 76.5
Monterey Peninsula (Shore) Pebble Beach, CA 2004 80 73 76.5
Hazeltine National Chaska, MN 1962 86 72 79
Double Eagle Galena, OH 1992 64 99 81.5
Boston Hingham, MA 2004 89 78 83.5
Crooked Stick Carmel, IN 1967 96 77 86.5
Castle Pines Castle Rock, CO 1981 29 - -
Victoria National Newburgh, IN 1998 35 - -
Camargo Indian Hill, OH 1927 - 39 -
Canyata Marshall, IL 2004 39 - -
Quaker Ridge Scarsdale, NY 1918 - 40 -
Black Rock Coeur d’Alene, ID 2003 42 - -
Old Macdonald Bandon, OR 2010 - 43 -
Eagle Point Wilmington, NC 2000 48 - -
Nanea Kailua Kona, HI 2003 - 48 -
Arcadia Bluffs (Bluffs) Arcadia, MI 2000 49 - -
Chambers Bay University Place, WA 2007 - 49 -
Sahalee Sammamish, WA 1969 50 - -
Valley Club of Montecito Montecito, CA 1929 - 50 -
Trump Bedminster (Old) Bedminster, NJ 2004 - 53 -
Butler National Oak Brook, IL 1974 54 - -
Laurel Valley Ligonier, PA 1959 55 - -
Rich Harvest Sugar Grove, IL 1999 58 - -
Dallas National Dallas, TX 2002 59 - -
Estancia Scottsdale, AZ 1995 62 - -
Newport Newport, RI 1899 - 65 -
Pasatiempo Santa Cruz, CA 1929 - 66 -
Yeamans Hall Charleston, SC 1926 - 67 -
Preserve Carmel, CA 2000 68 - -
Sycamore Hills Fort Wayne, IN 1989 69 - -
Forest Highlands Flagstaff, AZ 1988 70 - -
Gozzer Ranch Harrison, ID 2007 - 70 -
Blackwolf Run Kohler, WI 1990 71 - -
Yale New Haven, CT 1923 - 71 -
Shoal Creek Shoal Creek, AL 1977 72 - -
Quarry at La Quinta La Quinta, CA 1994 73 - -
Baltusrol (Upper) Springfield, NJ 1922 - 74 -
Mountaintop Cashiers, NC 2006 74 - -
Flint Hills National Andover, KS 1997 75 - -
Trump Palm Beach West Palm Beach, FL 1999 - 75 -
Aronimink Newtown Square, PA 1928 78 - -
Torrey Pines (South) La Jolla, CA 1957 - 79 -
Whispering Pines Trinity, TX 2000 - 80 -
Colonial Fort Worth, TX 1936 - 81 -
Sage Valley Graniteville, SC 2001 81 - -
Caves Valley Owings Mills, MD 1991 - 82 -
Mayacama Santa Rosa, CA 2001 82 - -
Hudson National Croton-on-Hudson, NY 1996 83 - -
Myopia Hunt South Hamilton, MA 1898 - 83 -
Ridgewood Paramus, NJ 1929 - 84 -
Valhalla Louisville, KY 1986 84 - -
Eugene Eugene, OR 1967 85 - -
Sutton Bay Agar, SD 2003 - 85 -
Bellerive St. Louis, MO 1960 - 87 -
Diamond Creek Banner Elk, NC 2003 87 - -
Kapalua (Plantation) Lahaina, HI 1991 88 - -
Piping Rock Locust Valley, NY 1913 - 88 -
Cog Hill (No. 4) Lemont, IL 1964 - 89 -
Cabot Citrus (Pine Barrens) Brooksville, FL 1993 - 90 -
Galloway National Galloway, NJ 1994 91 - -
Salem Peabody, MA 1925 - 92 -
Long Cove Hilton Head Island, SC 1982 - 94 -
Baltimore Lutherville, MD 1926 - 95 -
Cal Club South San Francisco, CA 1926 - 97 -
Prince Princeville, HI 1990 97 - -
Bel-Air Los Angeles, CA 1926 - 98 -
Forest Dunes Roscommon, MI 2002 99 - -
Desert Forest Carefree, AZ 1962 - 100 -