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GolfCourseHome's 2008 "Best of the Best Rankings"
Where Golf & Living Are No. 1
by The Editors of GolfCourseHome
Welcome to
GolfCourseHome's first annual "Best of the Best"
rankings--our new compendium of rankings that takes into account
all major media rankings of golf courses and golf
communities.
Our modern culture is all about creating lists of who or what is
tops in its field. Golf courses and golf communities have had
various
rankings systems for decades, as you know. What’s hard to know
is which communities and courses have earned which honors—
the "rankings season" extends from October to February.
If you look at all
the different kinds of ways to rate or rank a golf
course, you'll discover quite an array. From Best New Course to
Best Residential to Best Public to Best Private to Best Classic to
Best Modern from Top 100 to Top 50, there are multiple ways to shine.
To
all courses and communities, these annual and biennial awards
mean a great deal. There's great crowing when a top ranking is
achieved and much soul-searching when it’s lost.
GolfCourseHome does not send out field researchers and raters
in pursuit of its own, proprietary ranking system. But we thought
we could do the next best thing--look at all the current rankings
and identify all GolfCourseHome communities that have received
more than one or two accolades and arrange them in a suitable
rankings compendium--"Best of the Best."
Topping our compilation is a fabulous Front Nine, with the most
dynamic of them all being Reynolds Plantation, which has received
honors of every sort for its many golf courses and for the community
in general.
This "Best of the
Best" list first
appeared in our New Communities
newsletter.
In future issues we will take a look at other outstanding
amenities that
can make a community a must-see property, such as
equestrian
facilities, tennis, waterfront and spas.
The Front Nine (or The
Divine Nine)
1.
Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro GA uses a rare and
impressive blend of quality and quantity to rise to the pinnacle of
the golf rankings, both for its courses and its overall amenities.
-
Golfweek Top 50
New Courses for 2006, The Creek Club, by Jim Engh
-
Top 100 Golf
Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
-
A Premier
Property by LINKS Magazine
-
No. 61 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Great Waters course)
-
No. 95 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Oconee course)
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No. 38 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf Courses (Great Waters course)
-
No. 61 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf Courses (Oconee course)
-
A Golfweek’s Best
Course You Can Play in the U.S. (Great Waters and National courses)
-
No. 43 on 100 Top
Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine (GW)
-
No. 60 on 100 Top
Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine (Oconee)
-
No. 97 on
America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest
-
No. 5 on the 50
Top Courses for Women by Golf for Women (Oconee)
-
Top 100 Community
by Where to Retire Magazine
-
Click here for more information about
Reynolds Plantation!
2.
Palmetto Bluff,
Bluffton SC
is perhaps the most highly
lauded new community in the U.S. Current awards for this 20,000-
acre resort/residential Lowcountry property:
- Golfweek
Top 50 New Courses for 2006, May River Golf Club, by Jack Nicklaus
- Top 100 Golf Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
- A Premier Property by LINKS Magazine
- A Golfweek Best Course You Can Play in the U.S.
- No. 31 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses
- No.
53 on 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine.
-
Click here for more information about Palmetto Bluff!
3.
Sea Pines, Hilton Head SC
is a landmark community on a huge
waterfront site with a long list of great amenities but one in
particular that
garners close attention from the raters—Pete Dye’s Harbour Town Golf
Links.
-
No. 29 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Modern Golf Courses
-
No. 13 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf Courses
-
No. 15 on
America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest
-
No. 93 on
America’s 100 Greatest Courses by Golf Digest
-
No. 40 on 100 Top
Courses in the U.S. by GOLF Magazine
-
No. 15 on 100 Top
Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine
-
A Golfweek’s Best
Course You Can Play in the U.S.
-
Click here for more information about
Sea Pines!
4.
Homestead Preserve, Warm
Springs, VA together share the
glory of the lofty rankings and ratings garnered by the famed Cascades
Course and a sister course at the historic Homestead resort property.
- No. 2 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Residential Golf Courses (Cascades)
- No. 12 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Resort Golf Courses (Cascades)
- No. 61 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Resort Golf Courses (Cascades)
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can
Play in the U.S. (Cascades and Old Course)
- No. 16 on America’s 100 Greatest
Public Courses by Golf Digest (Cascades)
- No. 97 on America’s 100 Greatest
Courses by Golf Digest (Cascades)
- No. 61 on 100 Top Courses in the
U.S. by GOLF Magazine (Cascades)
- No. 18 on 100 Top Courses You Can
Play by GOLF Magazine (GW)
-
Click here for more information about Homestead Preserve!
Back to Top
5.
Barton Creek Resort & Spa, Austin, TX, did more than
other property
to put Austin on the national golf map. The residential component of
Barton Creek is a golf- and spa-lover’s way of enjoying this
award-winning community
on a daily basis.
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play in the U.S. (Fazio
Foothills and Fazio Canyons courses)
- No. 83 on America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest
(Canyons)
- No. 68 on 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine
(Foothills)
- No. 69 on 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine
(Canyons)
- No. 40 on the 50 Top Courses for Women by Golf for Women
(Foothills)
- Top 100 Golf Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
-
Click here for more information about Barton Creek Resort & Spa!
7.
Desert Mountain, Scottsdale AZ, is an upscale and highly
influential
Arizona enclave that can provide six good reasons for visiting.
-
No. 55 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Chiracuhua course)
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No. 75 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Renegade course)
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No. 76 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Geronimo course)
- No. 97 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Cochise course)
-
Top 100 Golf
Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
-
A Premier
Property by LINKS Magazine
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Click here for more information about
Desert Mountain!
Back to Top
8. Barefoot
Resort, No. Myrtle Beach SC is a community that’s had
to work to stand out from the crowd of excellent Myrtle Beach venues.
Here’s how
Barefoot did it:
-
No. 87 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf
Courses (Love course)
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No. 97 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf
Courses (Fazio course)
-
No. 53 on America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses
by Golf Digest (Love course)
-
No. 92 on America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses
by Golf Digest (Fazio course)
-
No. 95 on 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF
Magazine (Love course)
-
Click here for more information about Barefoot Resort!
9.
Cuscowilla, Eatonton GA is a highly ranked community with a
distinctly
down-home feel that visitors and residents alike keep returning to—and
golf that
keeps earning kudos:
-
No. 2 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf
Courses
-
No. 33 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Modern Golf
Courses
-
No. 21 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf
Courses
-
A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play in the
U.S.
-
No. 19 on 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF
Magazine
The Next Tier ---
Colleton River Plantation, Bluffton SC
is spread across a romantic
landscape of marsh and woodland—terrain that inspired two great modern
course designers to do some of their finest work, as the rankings prove:
- No. 44 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Nicklaus course)
- No. 67 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Dye course)
- No. 35 on
America's 50 Greatest Golf Retreats by Golf Digest Index
- Top 100 Golf
Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
- A Premier
Property by LINKS Magazine
-
Click here for more information about
Colleton River Plantation!
Paa-Ko Communities, Sandia Park NM,
burst on the golf scene in 2000
(it has recently
added an excellent new nine to complement its original 18)
and set the stage for build-out of attractive residential neighborhoods.
- No. 5 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses
- No. 40 on
Golfweek’s Top 100 Modern Golf Courses
- A Golfweek’s Best
Course You Can Play in the U.S.
- No. 38 on
America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest
- No. 30 on 100 Top
Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine
Suncadia, Roslyn WA represents a finely honed blend of resort
ambience
with a distinctive private golf club secluded within it. Its honors
reflect that
versatile profile:
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play in the
U.S. (Prospector course)
- Golfweek Top 50 New Courses for 2006,
Prospector Golf Course, by Arnold Palmer
- Golfweek Top 50 New Courses for 2006, Tumble
Creek Golf Club, by Tom Doak
- Top 100 Golf Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
- A Premier Property by LINKS Magazine
Back to Top
Best of the Rest
Daniel Island, Charleston SC,
the winner of untold awards for overall
community plan and design, also does well in the golf-rankings category:
Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, TX
is a must-visit for any aficionado
of Robert Trent
Jones, Sr., whose designs here rank among his finest:
- No. 79 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf
Courses (RamRock course)
- No. 99 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf
Courses (AppleRock course)
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play in the
U.S. (RamRock course)
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can Play in the
U.S. (AppleRock course)
Back to Top
Spring Island, Spring Island SC
is one of the great environmentally planned
golf communities in the U.S., with a standout golf course by Arnold
Palmer:
- No. 27 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Residential Golf Courses
- No. 89 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Modern Golf Courses
- Top 100 Golf Community by Travel +
Leisure Golf
- A Premier Property by LINKS
Magazine
Grande Dunes, Myrtle Beach SC
is a 2,200-acres coastal property that
continues to build
its reputation as a
golf jewel between the Atlantic and
the Intracoastal Waterway:
- Golfweek Top 50 New Courses for
2006, Members Course Club, by Nick Price and Craig Schreiner
- No. 100 on Golfweek’s Top 100
Residential Golf Courses
- A Golfweek’s Best Course You Can
Play in the U.S.
- A Premier Property by LINKS
Magazine
-
Click here for more information about Grande Dunes!
Oldfield, Okatie SC,
is an emerging jewel still adding to its stock of awards:
- Top 100 Golf
Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
- A Premier
Property by LINKS Magazine
- Top 100 Community
by Where to Retire Magazine
Back to Top
Mirabel, Scottsdale AZ
is perched above the distant city lights of
Scottsdale and admired as a top-echelon private desert golf community:
The Villages at Tullymore, Stanwood MI
is not yet as famous as
some of the
Northern Michigan
properties are, but the rankers and raters
know it well, as these fine
achievements show:
Tesoro, Port St. Lucie FL
is a Ginn Club community offering two
Signature golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson—
and honored with:
- Golfweek Top 50
New Courses for 2006, Tesoro Club course by Arnold Palmer
- Top 100 Golf
Community by Travel + Leisure Golf
- A Premier
Property by LINKS Magazine
Click here to see the 2009 Best of the Best!
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