Augusta Nationwide and Pine Valley are mostly considered as one of the best course within the nation.
Getty Photographs/LC Lamprect
Our skilled course raters get their say in assessing probably the most chic golf programs on American soil each two years, like they simply did for our 2024-25 Prime 100 Programs within the U.S. and Prime 100 Programs You Can Play rankings. However our readers — you! — have opinions and experiences, too. Right here we’ll get away just a few factoids and tee-time fantasies that emerged from GOLF’s 2024 Prime 100 Programs Readers’ Survey.
When taking the heartbeat of our viewers with regard to our listing of the highest golf programs within the nation, we knew we have been going to get some fascinating ideas.
And we did.
Listed here are 7 enjoyable findings from our current Prime 100 Programs Survey.
Who’s your No. 1?
Not everybody agrees on what makes an incredible golf course, so it’s not shocking that our viewers has completely different opinions on which course they understand to be one of the best within the nation.
Pine Valley has lengthy been numero uno, in accordance with our panelists, so it’s not a shock that the plurality of our readers (34 %) see the unique New Jersey membership as one of the best course within the nation. Augusta Nationwide, which is ranked sixth on our U.S. listing and will get broadcast everywhere in the world each April, drew the second-most first-place votes on this class, with 28 % of the vote.
Pebble Seaside, the No. 1 course in our Prime 100 You Can Play listing, was a distant third at 13 %, and Cypress Level, our rating’s No. 2 course within the nation, has 12 %.
Who can get on?
A majority of our survey takers (57 %) do not know somebody who has performed Pine Valley whereas barely fewer (47 %) stated they didn’t know somebody who had performed Augusta Nationwide. Nonetheless, greater than twice as many respondents (10 %) stated that they had performed Pine Valley themselves in comparison with Augusta (4 %).
How a lot are you actually keen to spend?
Thirty-six % of our survey takers stated they wouldn’t pay greater than $100 to play a Prime 100 course, greater than double the subsequent two hottest solutions: not more than $200 and not more than $500 (15 %).
For that 36 %, discovering a tee time may show difficult as only one course on our Prime 100 listing could be had for lower than $100 at a peak time, and that’s with no cart.
Do architects matter?
Do you care if the course you play is a Ross or a Tillinghast? It appears most of you do!
Nearly all of survey takers (55 %) say designers matter when selecting a course to play, with 11 % calling it “very” essential and one other 44 % calling it “considerably” essential.
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Clear favorites
Our readers even have clear preferences for his or her favourite course designers.
In relation to traditional “Golden Age” architects, Donald Ross is the favorite amongst our readers, garnering a whopping 37 % of the vote, regardless of not having a design ranked within the high 10 of our Prime 100 listing. Dr. Alister MacKenzie, the designer behind each Cypress Level and Augusta Nationwide, amongst many others, was the subsequent hottest at 21 %.
In relation to extra up to date architects, the workforce of Invoice Coore and Ben Crenshaw, designers of the one fashionable course in our high 10, Sand Hills, is a transparent favourite, with 26 % of the vote. Pete Dye, recognized for TPC Sawgrass and Kiawah Island, was second out of the eight selections, with 18 % of the vote.
The ocean calls
It’s no shock, with most of the high programs within the nation buffering or close to the ocean (with the famous exceptions of Pine Valley and Augusta Nationwide), hyperlinks/coastal golf is the overwhelming favourite amongst our readers, with 56 % saying it’s their most well-liked fashion of golf.
Gary Lisbon
The shock is that parkland golf, which incorporates Pine Valley, Augusta, Oakmont and plenty of extra, is available in second with 22 % of the vote, whereas mountain golf captured simply 13 % of our readers.
Is golf’s most enjoyable gap actually that thrilling?
It’s very often you’ll hear a golf TV announcer describe a drivable par-4 as “probably the most thrilling gap in golf.”
Our readers, not less than from the standpoint of taking part in these holes themselves, don’t appear to agree.
In our survey, 40 % of our readers, in a selection between a reachable par-5, brief par-3 and drivable par-4, stated brief par-5s most excite them. One other 34 % stated brief par-3s thrill them probably the most whereas simply 26 % stated drivable par-4s.
