My Current Top 10 Courses

Golf Week has its lists of the best golf courses in the United States (Classic and Modern). Golf Digest has its list of the best courses in the U.S. and the world, and Golf Magazine has its various lists. However, as much as I like to read their lists and aspire to play as many of those courses as possible, the reality is that I still haven't played all that many courses on any of the lists. One of my brothers even gave me a pegboard for Christmas with Golf Digest's list of America's Top 100 Public Courses. Sadly, I've only played eight of them!

So, I keep my own list. My rankings are not based on anything other than that they are my favorite courses. The rankings do not correspond to any other list; it's only my opinion. The only qualification a course must have is that I've played it. Here's my current Top 10:

1) Mid Ocean Club - Tucker's Town, Bermuda
2) Merion Country Club (East) - Ardmore, PA
3) Princeville Resort (Prince) - Princeville, Kauai, HI
4) The Cascades Course - Hot Springs, VA
5) The Course at Yale - New Haven, CT
6) The Golden Horseshoe (Gold) - Williamsburg, VA
7) Galloway National Golf Club - Galloway, NJ
8) Cabo del Sol (Ocean) - Los Cabos, Mexico
9) Saucon Valley Country Club (Weyhill) - Bethlehem, PA
10) Kapalua (Village) - Kapalua, Maui, HI

For the amount I've played, it's a decent top 10. However, I'd like to jack up the quality just a tad. Hopefully 2006 will bring some changes to the list. One interesting tidbit that may or may not lend credibility to my rankings is that Yankees manager Joe Torre puts Kapalua's Plantation Course #1 in his top 10 (it's my 11th ranked course), Kapalua's Village Course #6, and Princeville at #7. So even if I haven't been to the World Series lately, at least I'm in some good company on the golf course.