The purpose of the Review of The Month feature is twofold. Top100GolfCourses has always aimed to salute and encourage those who are putting admirable effort into reviewing the world’s great golf courses. Moving forward, we are also looking to learn from these experts! We’ll be chatting with the month’s star authors and discussing topics such as golf in their area, what they like to see in a strong course review, and of course dig a little deeper into their own winning review. August 2022’s Review of The Month comes from Ron Stelten, a former European Tour pro who sheds some light on Soule Park Golf Course, a California municipal course given a new lease on life by Gil Hanse. The tough question first: One quote that caught my eye: "One might say there are no great holes but all eighteen holes work well together." Would you prefer a few great holes among a few weak holes, or a consistent 18? For me the clear answer is that I love both types of courses. Addressing “a few great holes among a few holes” first: I am one who is of the opinion that the 18th hole at Cypress Point is a weak hole and a weak finishing hole. That said, I wouldn't change a thing about the 17th to improve the 18th. I feel the same is true of Pasatiempo. The weak holes are still good golf holes and may be strong holes on another course. Cruden Bay is one of my favorite courses in the world. A great balance of strong and quirky holes. As for “a consistent 18”? Ganton and Swinley Forest are two of my favorite English courses. I describe both as having 18 solid holes. No standout holes and no weak holes. In the United States, I see Olympic Club and Prairie Dunes as courses with 18 very good, consistent holes. Interestingly, the question really brings to mind the saying “eye of the beholder.” The par 3 finish at Pasatiempo could be considered by some to be a weak hole while others may think of it as a consistent hole that balances the 18th. Are the first two holes at Royal Dornoch a weak start considering what's in store when you get to the dogleg on three and beyond, or are those same two holes just as consistent as the rest of the course? A reason why I am such a fan of Top 100 Golf Courses is because of the various opinions stated in the reviews. Seeing eye-to-eye, or not seeing the same thing that others see in a golf course, is what makes my hobby of playing the best golf courses in the world so much fun. Although William F. Bell got around, many of his designs reside in California. Anything you've noticed that stands out among his works? This question caused me to wonder just how many Bell courses I have played. The answer is a lot! I have lived in California for over 45 years. Without counting, I believe I have played more golf courses designed by Bell than by any other architect. The William Bell Society website credits Soule Park to [William] P Bell while Top 100 Golf Courses has [William] F Bell as the architect. No matter, I will refer to the Bells’ golf courses. The spectrum of courses is great. Bel-Air, Sandpiper and Stanford at one end…Blythe, Skylinks, and San Luis Rey Downs on the other. The Bells covered California and the western states with golf courses for all walks of life. What I notice more than anything about the work of the Bells’ courses is how many have gone through the now-so-popular renovation. As my review of Soule Park tries to make clear, the renovation has restored and helped make a good golf course better. That said, I want to play the remodeled Bel-Air, where the first reports I have heard from golfer friends are not flattering; a move away from the Bell design. A more well known example may be Torrey Pines North and South. I have played both many, many times before and after renovations. I ask myself “are they still Bell design courses?” The Los Angeles region is obviously widespread...are there any other "gems" that you might recommend to visitors, or even residents? To answer this question I am going to extend the Los Angeles area to include the greater Palm Springs area, my previous home for over 30 years. Because the area has grown so much we now refer to it as the Coachella Valley. There are only a few golf courses in Palm Springs and over 100 in the towns east of Palm Springs. My gems include Mission Hills Dinah Shore, Tamarisk, Bermuda Dunes, The Palms, The Plantation, PGA West Norman. In my opinion all of these courses have a place in the Top 100 Golf Courses in California. How the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills is not on the list and the Mission Hills Pete Dye course makes the list is beyond my imagination. Tamarisk Country Club is a William F&P Bell design of the 1950's and has perhaps the best classic design back nine in the Coachella Valley. Bermuda Dunes Country Club was designed by William F. Bell and a perfect example of country club golf in this winter haven for snowbirds. The Palms and The Plantation, both the product of Fred Couples and Brian Curley, are outstanding golf courses and must-plays if in the Valley. I personally rate the PGA West Norman better than the Palmer and two Nicklaus courses [Nicklaus Private and Nicklaus Tournament] at PGA West. About a year ago I got married and relocated to Carlsbad, CA just north of San Diego. My wife and I are members of Shadowridge Golf Club. Shadowridge is a fine course with challenging green complexes. Slope and speed test my iron accuracy every day. I am happy to extend an invitation to Top 100 members who are visiting Southern California. Now that you're a celebrated "Review of The Month" winner, let us know what factors you appreciate in a strong golf course review! First and most important, I am a golfer and want to know about the course. I enjoy reading opinions and will cross reference writers who I believe know their stuff. I care little for reports on service and amenities. Memorability is what I value most in a golf course. It has been decades since I played Pine Valley and believe I still remember every hole and every shot. Someone who can get that concept across in a review will get my attention. I believe that walking is an important part of good course design. If a ride is needed to get from one green to the next tee I can't give the course a high rating. Some reviewers that I respect are more flexible on this walking thing. I can value their description of the course but stop short of the same overall rating they may assign. I like personal takes on the golf course experience. When I travel I try to play a golf course twice. The first round is for reconnaissance. I want to take a good look and get to know what the course has to offer. This is a throwback to practice rounds when I was playing golf for a living. The second round is for score. I live to shoot good scores on great golf courses. I enjoy reading about actual golf and not just golf courses. I am not a course rater. As for architecture and design I am a novice, but am a novice with a lot of experience. What I have is the luck of having played hundreds of golf courses. Many were played in major competitions offering a very different way of seeing a golf course. These days playing Top 100 Golf Courses is my number one hobby. If I get a hint that a review may be slanted because of the perks offered by a course I close the page. Because this is a golf course rating site, I like reviewers that put a golf course in perspective. Better than this course, behind that course. We all have our opinions and all opinions can have some merit. I favor Top 100 Golf Courses over other golf course rating sites because I believe it to be less biased than the others. That said, I am still careful with my favorite site. California is my area of expertise. For me, there are a half dozen courses in the California Top 50 that are not in my personal top 40. What's one course that you'd love to write a review for during 2022 (or plan to)? This is a good one! My wife and I have a full slate of golf planned for the remainder of this year. We will be in Ireland/Northern Ireland the last week of September and first week of October. Decades ago I played in many Irish Opens at Portmarnock (a course that I love and played well) but this will be the first time I travel the country. I try to play top golf courses twice so this trip is quality not quantity. Ballybunion, Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Lahinch... all have long lists of reviewers and I will see if there is anything I can add. St. Patrick's Links is a new kid on the block. I am very interested in seeing if the links is for real or another example of the overblown hype brought on by too many new golf courses. I will let you know! As most Top 100 readers know, Ireland/Northern Ireland golf is very busy this year. My wife has agreed to a return trip in May 2023 to play the courses we will miss this trip. Two days at Royal County Down are already booked and paid for. The days before Thanksgiving 2022 we will be in Carmel, CA. Golf at The Preserve is set and we hope to see both Monterey Peninsula courses [Dunes and Shore]. With the addition of Monterey Peninsula Dunes I will have played all of California's top ten. Of course, if I am in the right place at the right time to meet a member of Cypress Point I would love to play it again. Imagine being 66 years old, playing the best golf course in the world, and hitting the same irons into the greens as I did back in the days of the Bing Crosby Pebble Beach Pro-am. That would be something to write about!

US Pacific Division Best in State Rankings 2016 Five States in the West Region are updated in the first of nine US divisional revisions Top 100 Golf Courses inaugurated its Best in State rankings for the United States in 2012 so this is the second biennial update of those listings. Two years ago, we published the revised standings for the fifty States in four geographical groupings. This time around, we plan to spread the announcements across nine distinct Divisions, starting with the five Pacific States of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska. We’ve also extended the number of courses that we feature in nearly every state. For the Pacific Division, we’ve increased our coverage from 120 to 195 courses, thanks mainly to doubling the size of the Californian chart from a Top 50 to a Top 100. In total, there are 17 Pacific tracks ranked in our national Top 100 for the United States so it’s a division that’s hardly lacking in high quality golf courses. California The Top seven places in our Californian listings remain exactly as they have been since 2014 so that means Alister MacKenzie’s Cypress Point remains in the number 1 position – hardly a surprise when you consider it’s also our current US and World No. 1. The course attracted an excellent review last year when somebody posted a wonderful pictorial account of their visit (having spent more than a year carefully planning the trip beforehand ) and their comments ended with the wish that “many more readers of this site get the chance to play [the course], because it really is an experience like no other”. One of only two courses to make upward moves within the Top 10 standings, California Golf Club of San Francisco rises two places to number 8. Originally laid out in the 1920s, “the Cal Club” was extensively renovated by Kyle Phillips in 2007/8 and the results of that fabulous upgrade are now reflected in the layout’s latest chart position. Mention must also be made to another couple of courses which the same architect has revived with extensive makeovers in recent years: Menlo (at number 48) and Wilshire(at number 50), which are two of the highest new entries in our latest Top 100 for the Golden State. Click the link to see full details of our 2016 California Best in State rankings Oregon We’ve expanded our chart for the Beaver State by 50% to create a Top 30 and the top four positions are all occupied by courses from the iconic Bandon Dunes Resort. Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes layout holds onto the number 1 position and the architect’s second design at this venue, Old Macdonald, climbs one place to the runner-up spot at number 2. All four 18-hole layouts at this popular golf destination are firmly ensconced in our US Top 100 table so it’s really hard to argue against anybody who claims Bandon is the best golf resort in the country. Two hundred and seventy miles further northeast of Bandon, the Pronghorn Club at Bend offers its residential members two terrific tracks. The rather unimaginatively named Fazio (designed by Tom Fazio in 2006) edges up two places to number 5 in the state listings and its older sibling, the Nicklaus (laid out by Jack Nicklaus in 2004), moves up one position to number 8. Another private facility, Portland Golf Club, enters the Top 10 at number 10 and some might be aware of the historical importance of this course, having hosted the first Ryder Cup after World War II in 1947. Click the link to see full details of our 2016 Oregon Best in State rankings Washington We’ve added another five courses to our Washington listings, where Chambers Bay remains the Evergreen State’s number 1 track, despite tumbling down the US national chart that we published four months ago. The course was widely criticised during last year’s US Open for the performance of its putting surfaces but, despite conditioning issues, it’s still regarded by many commentators as one of Robert Trent Jones Jnr’s better designs. New at number 2, we have David McLay Kidd’s Gamble Sands, which first opened for play in 2014. Set out on top of a sandy mesa within a huge 1,000-acre property, the course lies – in the words of its architect – in a ”once in a lifetime site every golf designer dreams of, rolling sand dunes overlooking a large body of water… no homes, no other development around, just golf on sand, golf as it was truly meant to be.” Click the link to see full details of our 2016 Washington Best in State rankings Hawaii There are now 30 courses in our standings for the Aloha State and another David McLay Kidd design, Nanea, retains the number 1 slot. This ultra-exclusive track on the Big Island was played by Paul Rudovsky last March. Paul (aka Rudo) is closing in on playing every course that has ever appeared on a World Top 100 ranking list: “This is a very very private club. It is simply exquisite, and fun to play, but it also very much values its privacy, and I shall respect that… What you might not expect is the difficulty associated with reading its greens, which are heavily influenced by the slope from Mauna Kea down to the Pacific Ocean. The course is one of the very few that is both challenging and fun to play. If you get the opportunity, do not let it pass.” Positions 2, 3 and 4 in the new Top 30 all remain as they were then, at number 5 (up two spots), we have the 1993 Jack Nicklaus design at Manele on Lanai Island which a reviewer last year described as “maybe the most visually stunning course you will ever play… almost every hole has spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean… this is my idea of Paradise.” A little further down the chart, two of our ten new entries arrive inside the Top 10: Kukui’ula at number 8 is a terrific Tom Weiskopf layout on the island of Kauai that debuted in 2010 and Kohanaiki at number 9 is a remarkable Rees Jones design – routed around Ahu rock shrines and hundreds of anchialine pools – which was finally unveiled in 2013, five years after its scheduled opening date. Click the link to see full details of our 2016 Hawaii Best in State rankings Alaska The Last Frontier State is the only one in the United States where we list fewer than ten courses. Our number 1 is still Bill Newcomb’s thirty-year-old Anchorage course, located just outside the state’s most populous city. With the Robert Trent Jones Jnr course at Eagleglen closing two years ago, we have a new entry at number 4, Settlers Bay, to take its place in our new Top 5 chart. Click the link to see full details of our 2016 Alaska Best in State rankings We always like to hear what you think about our re-ranking process so please let us know your opinion of our five newly updated US Best in State charts. What course(s) have we missed or is there one (or more) that really shouldn’t be listed? Perhaps there’s one riding too high or languishing too low in the standings? Whatever your impressions are, please click the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

US Pacific Division Best in State Rankings 2020 It’s two years since we revised the rankings for our US Best in State listings so now’s the time to refresh the numbers and publish the new charts. We’ll do this over the next few months in nine geographical groupings, starting in this edition with Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, before eventually ending on the opposite side of the country in New England. The five Pacific Division states now feature 205 courses in total as we’ve just added another ten to Washington. All told, twenty-four courses make a first appearance in our updated charts and, with sixteen of the more established top tracks occupying a place in our national Top 100, that gives you a good idea of the quality to be found across the entire region. Alaska We have a new No. 1 for the Last Frontier State and it’s the golf course at Settlers Bay, located an hour’s drive north of Anchorage in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Set within the enormous Fairway Estates residential community, the layout originally started out as a 9-hole course in the late 1970s before an additional nine was opened for play towards the end of the 1990s. Since then, greens have been converted to bent grass, bunkers are all now refurbished and new tees added to make the playing experience more enjoyable for golfers of all skill levels. Settlers Bay Rank/ Click the link to see full details of our latest Alaska Best in State rankings California Five of the Top 10 layouts in California remain in the same position and one of the non-movers is the state No.1, Cypress Point Club, which also happens to be the #1 course in both our US and World Top 100 rankings. Recent comments from reviewers for this Alister MacKenzie masterpiece include: “CPC has that perfect combination of great strategic design, wonderful variety of terrain, and gorgeous ocean backdrops… the perfect golf course, every hole is memorable, each improving slightly from the previous… shot value, shot choice and the journey from sand to forest to sea is amazing.” Cypress Point A one-place upward move might at a glance seem like nothing much to get excited about, but when it’s made within the Top 10 tier of a very strong golfing state like California then such a modest advance has to be regarded as significant. Three courses make exactly that sort of short stride towards the top rung on the ladder. The first of these climbers is George C. Thomas Junior’s Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades (up 1 to #4), followed by Alister MacKenzie’s Valley Club of Montecito in Santa Barbara (up 1 to #8) then the Dunes course at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach (up 1 to #10), which is currently reaping the rewards of a recent renovation by Tom Fazio and his former associates at Jackson Khan Design. Valley Club of Montecito The highest of ten new entries in our Californian listings arrives at No. 21 and it’s the South course at Los Angeles Country Club, where a sympathetic restoration of the layout was conducted a couple of years ago. For far too long this track had lurked in the shadow of its celebrated sibling, the North course, but that’s no longer the case, with the artistic talents of Gil Hanse bringing it out into the light. Los Angeles Country Club South course A couple of courses make prodigious leaps forward in the bottom half of the table. Leading the way with a jump from #97 to #54 is the old 1920s John Duncan Dunn layout at Santa Ana Country Club, located 20 miles southeast of Long Beach, which Jay Blasi totally redesigned in 2016 to improve safety, add variety and make better use of the natural landforms on the property. Santa Ana Country Club Not far behind at #61 (up 23 places) comes the 18-hole layout at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento, where Kyle Phillips conducted an extensive redesign of the property back in 2006. In a recent post, the course was described by our regular contributor M. James Ward as “a mega shining star.” In his considered opinion “there’s no question The Golden State is blessed with many superior courses but Del Paso may be the most underrated.” Click the link to see full details of our latest California Best in State rankings Hawaii The David McLay Kidd-designed layout at Nanea Golf Club on the west coast of the Big Island remains the #1 course in Hawaii. Described in the past by our US Correspondent Fergal O’Leary as “the most under-rated course in the US,” Nanea received another review last year from somebody who said “it’s the best course you’ll ever play, next to Augusta”. Now that’s a very bold statement to make, but a handful of 6-ball reviews posted by golfers who have played here certainly adds credence to the claim. Nanea Golf Club Sixteen of the Top 30 move upwards in the new chart and the biggest four-place move is reserved for a couple of courses: the Ted Robinson layout at King Kamehameha Golf Club in the foothills of the West Maui Mountains (at #15) and Robin Nelson’s design at Puakea Golf Club on the southeast coast of Kauai island (at #23). King Kamehameha Golf Club The only new entry into our chart is The Dunes at Maui Lani at #30. Robin Nelson designed this public facility at the end of the 1990s and because it’s set out on a long, narrow tract the fairways are orientated in either a northwest or southeast direction, with the prevailing wind cutting across the holes when it gets breezy, adding an extra degree of challenge when playing here. The Dunes at Maui Lani The Robert Trent Jones Junior-designed Prince course at the Princeville resort on the North Shore of Kauai island is still closed while ownership issues continue to drag on (it's also in need of some repair work to storm-damaged sections of the layout). Once these matters are resolved, and the course is restored to its former glory, there’s no doubt it should slot back in near the top of the state rankings. Click the link to see full details of our latest Hawaii Best in State rankings Oregon There are no surprises at the top of the table in Oregon, with all four of the currently world-ranked courses at the Bandon Dunes resort retaining their ranking position in the chart. That means Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes course holds onto the coveted No. 1 slot, though it will be interesting to see where Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s brand new Sheep Ranch layout slots into the resort’s pecking order when the next biennial review is conducted. Bandon Dunes - Sheep Ranch For now, at least, Pacific Dunes rules the roost on the Oregon coast, with M. James Ward an unabashed proponent of its majesty, as articulated in his review of last month: “When Tom Doak came forward in 2001 with his tour de force effort at the mega-course facility he actually exceeded all the fanfare that the original Bandon Dunes created… the phrase ‘must play’ is mouthed to the point of being a mindless cliché. However, in this particular case, it’s worthy on all counts.” Two of the three new entries in the latest Oregon state listings are located at the same venue. The Craddock and Hankins courses at the Silvies Valley Ranch boutique eco-resort (new at #8 and #10) are part of a reversible 36-hole set-up that uses 27 greens for the two 18-hole layouts, with nine shared greens and nine stand-alone greens for each track. Designed by Dan Hixson and constructed over the best part of a decade, the two courses are configured so that only eight holes, four on each course, do not share common ground. Silvies Valley Ranch - Craddock course Only six courses make any numerical progress in the new chart and the biggest move is made by the 18-hole layout at the semi-private Eagle Point Golf Club (up three to #23), where Robert Trent Jones Jr. fashioned the fairways in the mid-1990s. The front nine occupies a flat, open landscape while the back nine is laid out on more undulating terrain, with sand-capping of fairways during construction ensuring optimum playing conditions no matter how hard it rains. Click the link to see full details of our latest Oregon Best in State rankings Washington The top five courses in the Evergreen State rankings stay as they were in 2018. Having ousted Chambers Bay from the top spot last time, Gamble Sands emerges with its No. 1 status intact. With another 14-hole layout (called Quicksand) from David McLay Kidd due to appear here very soon, it looks like the Gebbers family (who own this Brewster golf facility) aren’t content to rest on their laurels. Gamble Sands Our International Correspondent David Davis had this to say about the course in his review last year: “The fairways are very wide but the visuals are excellent, the bunker shaping fits perfectly into the Eastern Washington dune country… It plays very firm and fast and that may be new for many PNW players, especially if they haven’t been to Bandon Dunes or Chambers Bay… It opens up options to use the ground game and percentage-wise this doesn’t happen often enough in the US.” Two courses make impressive five-place gains in the new standings. The first of these is the 18-hole layout at the Desert Canyon Golf Resort in Orondo (now at #11), comprising the Lakes and Desert nines, which enjoys a fantastic setting on high ground above the Columbia River, with the Cascade Mountains to the west. The other big mover is the course at Kalispel Golf & Country Club in Spokane and this layout, originally established in 1910 as Spokane Country Club, is now owned and operated by the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. Sand Point Country Club The highest of the ten new entries is the old 1927 layout at Sand Point Country Club, located above the shores of Lake Washington, close to downtown Seattle. Nick Schaan from DMK Design has just completed a renovation here, re-building some of the holes, re-bunkering all the sand traps, and removing many of the trees that were blocking the fabulous long views across the lake. Click the link to see full details of our latest Washington Best in State rankings Next up – the Mountain Division states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses