Golf Courses: America's Best Golf Courses To Play

Hazeltine National - Site for the nest PGA Championship

Steven Szurlez

Now in its fifth decade, Golf Digest's biennial ranking of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses has been rock solid, but never etched in stone. We melt it down and refashion it every two years, refining it with each retooling. This year's list is an intriguing alloy of old and new. Of the nine courses joining the list, four are returning from past appearances, four are newcomers and one is a classic previously overlooked. But it's the leading edge that has changed the most. For the first time, we have a new No. 1.

How did Pebble Beach overtake perennial No. 1 Pine Valley for the top spot? A new par-3 fifth hole designed by Jack Nicklaus helped. Since it was introduced three years ago, expanding the course to an unsurpassed nine holes on the Pacific, Pebble Beach's evaluations have risen each year in Golf Digest's survey categories. In addition, Pebble Beach benefited from a revision in the survey's bonus Tradition points, which now incorporate the panelists' opinions in the area of Ambiance.

"Pine Valley did nothing wrong to drop from the top spot. Pebble Beach improved its position in Conditioning as it was groomed for last year's U.S. Open, and it impressed our panelists with its Ambiance," said Golf Digest Architecture Ron Whitten, who coordinates the survey. "The margin between Pebble Beach and Pine Valley is so small (71.65 total points to 71.24) that another change in position could easily occur in our next 100 Greatest survey in 2003."