Golf Advisor officially launched in February of 2014, but we began receiving reviews as early as September, 2012. So with five full years of golfer input under our belt —over 650,000 reviews and counting — we thought we'd look back and see which courses have fared the best during this time frame.
We compiled this all-time Top 100 list in a similar fashion to our yearly Top 50 best-of list, but with a few wrinkles. For starters, we included non-U.S. courses that had enough review data. Also, a big part of our yearly Top 50 is that courses need a certain threshold of reviews in that calendar year to qualify, but for this list, far more were eligible given their all-time review count from trustworthy accounts. To gather a more granular, complete rating from a review, we scored a course with a combination of the overall star rating and subcategory star ratings average (subcategories aren't required in our reviews but an overwhelming majority of our reviewers rate all six subcategories. They also include text and title, which also isn't required).
And as we continue to grow the amount of reviews and number of reviewers, we can apply more and more weight to those golfers who are the most prolific and trustworthy, like our growing list of Local Golf Advisors and our Top 1000 merit-badged golfers. Ratings by reviewers with a small sample of reviews were filtered out.
We know our yearly best-of lists and state lists look a lot different than top magazine lists. Ours have a mix of true "bucket list" courses and overachieving affordable destination courses. Our users, while not given the strict ratings criteria of a more expert, uniform panel, tend to rate their golf experience relative to the price they paid to play. We didn't begin tracking "Course layout" ratings until 2015, and our scores have less emphasis on course design and more so on the total experience from staff to facilities to value to conditions. There is a good chunk of courses on our Top 100 you might not expect to see on other Top 100s, and that's precisely the beauty of a more crowd-sourced list like ours — or should we say, yours?
In 2017, we're on pace to receive a record number of reviews and users, so we're excited to dig into the data at year's end to determine which courses came out on top.
Some other notes as we sorted through this five-year list:
- Not all courses received had enough reviews to be considered for this list. In our first five years, over 6,000 golf courses have received over ten reviews and over 2,000 courses have received over 100. As our user base continues to grow, we're optimistic we'll soon have a list where virtually all publicly-accessible courses receive enough reviews to be considered for our yearly lists.
- Since we began revealing yearly U.S. Top 50 lists, only one course has made the list all three years: Indiana's Royal Hylands Golf Club, which is also one of our top courses for staff friendliness as well as in our best courses under $50.
- You may have noticed that earlier this year we launched our new "Golf Advisor Index" which applies weight to a course's more recent reviews to give the golfer a clearer picture of what the experience is like now. But in the spirit of this all-time rating, reviews carry equal weight year-to-year.
- We've been receiving more and more international reviews in the last year or so, particularly in the U.K. and Mexico. While this Top 100 is light on non-U.S. entries, in another five years, far more courses around the globe should have enough reviews to be considered.
Top 100 golf courses from 2012-2017 on Golf Advisor
TPC Las Vegas
Daniels, West Virginia
Quintana Roo, Mexico
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Huntsville, Ontario
96. Running Y Ranch
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Bremerton, Washington
Southampton, Bermuda
93. TPC Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Gulf Shores, Alabama
Poway, California
Baywood Greens
Naples, Florida
Elgin, Illinois
Dickson, Tennessee
McHenry, Maryland
Berlin, Maryland
Elberton, Georgia
84. Baywood Greens
Longneck, Delaware
Carrabelle, Florida
82. Trillium Wood
Corbyville, Ontario, Canada
Brooksville, Florida
We-Ko-Pa Saguaro Course
Blythewood, South Carolina
Brutus, Michigan
Scottsdale, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Saucier, Mississippi
Onaway, Michigan
Tucson, Arizona
Hawley, Pennsylvania
Quintana Roo, Mexico
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Ross Course at French Lick
Peoria, Arizona
St. Simons Island, Georgia
68. Barnsley Resort
Adairsville, Georgia
Ojai, California
66. The Classic Club
Palm Desert, California
Sanford, North Carolina
Maricopa, Arizona
Nashport, Ohio
French Lick, Indiana
Savannah, Georgia
Princeville Makai Golf Club
60. Old Works
Anaconda, Montana
Brooksville, Florida
Frankston, Texas
Oxford, Pennsylvania
Princeville, Hawaii
Marengo, Illinois
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
53. The Georgia Club
Statham, Georgia
West Lafayette, Indiana
Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Pasatiempo Golf Club
Quintana Roo, Mexico
Newton, Kansas
Santa Cruz, California
Farmingdale, New York
Seaside, California
Verona, Wisconsin
San Antonio, Texas
Knightstown, Indiana
Roscommon, Michigan
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pinehurst No. 2
Indian Wells, California
Birmingham, Alabama
Laconia, Indiana
Bellaire, Michigan
Bandon, Oregon
Waterloo, Illinois
Batavia, Ohio
Sonora, Mexico
32. Pinehurst No. 2
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Panama City, Florida
Las Vegas Paiute
Wickenburg, Arizona
Orlando, Florida
Tabernash, Colorado
Fort Meade, Florida
Las Vegas, Nevada
Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
Woodstock, Vermont
Bath, Michigan
Sylacauga, Alabama
Arcadia, Michigan
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach, Calif.
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Lake City, Minnesota
Merry Hill, North Carolina
Howey in the Hills, Florida
Fife, Scotland
Bandon, Oregon
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Brooks, California
County Antrim, Northern Ireland
East Lothian, Scotland
Old Course in St. Andrews
Angola, Indiana
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
French Lick, Indiana
Borrego Springs, California
Gordonsville, Virginia
St. Andrews, Scotland
Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Lahaina, Hawaii
Bandon, Oregon
I have no idea why The Hideaway Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida is not on this list. With an average review score of 4.8 with 128 reviews, The Hideaway's reviews far exceeds most courses on this list. https://www.golfadvisor.com/courses/2055-hideaway-country-club-the/
Please stop publishing these lists. If the word continues to get out that that the Bayonet and Blackhorse golf courses are among the nation's best, the people that run those courses might start thinking about raising their prices. Right now, both courses on the old Ford Ord army base near Monterey are the best I have ever played for under $100. If they ever build a resort hotel on the property as has been proposed, those green fees will triple overnight. The same thing happened in Half Moon Bay up the Northern California coast when the Ritz Carlton finished construction on the property. In the meantime, I am counting my lucky stars that I can still play them and have some change in my pocket when I am done.