One of a pair of thickly forested courses at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club, the slightly longer Azaleas layout debuted in 1997, two years before the unveiling of the Oaks course.
Dancing Rabbit (Azaleas)
One of a pair of thickly forested courses at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club, the slightly longer Azaleas layout debuted in 1997, two years before the unveiling of the Oaks course.
Developed by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the two 18-hole layouts operated by Dancing Rabbit Golf Club at Pearl River Resort are late 1990s co-designs by Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate. The Azaleas came first, debuting in 1997, with the slightly shorter – though tougher – Oaks course following two years later.
The heavily wooded courses are built on ancestral land belonging to the Native American tribe, with the waters of Wolf Creek coming into play a number of times on the Azaleas course, most notably on the 453-yard 3rd, the 456-yard 12th and 527-yard 17th, where the creek encroaches on both the fairway and the green.
Interestingly, the agronomic make-up of the two Dancing Rabbit 18-hole layouts are completely different – the Oak s features Zoysia fairways and Bermuda greens whereas the Azaleas has Bermuda fairways and A-4 Bentgrass greens. Combined, the courses extend to more than 500 acres, with five miles of wandering creeks adding both beauty and challenge.
In Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play book by Brian McCallen, the author states: “It’s difficult to single out feature holes on this seamless, flawless 18 that opened to instant acclaim in 1997. The quartet of one-shotters, three of which plunge sharply downhill, are exceptional.
“The 8th hole, rated the toughest on the course, and stretching to 465 yards from the tips, is one of the finest par fours in the nation. The driving area is generously wide, but the approach must be rifled into a chute of trees, the green tucked deep in the woods and well-defended by bunkers.
“The 9th and 18th holes, both testing par fours graced by strategic water features, are memorable Nassau nightmares that can make or break a match. A pure golf experience unsullied by real estate, Dancing Rabbit is anchored by a clubhouse described as ‘the house your grandmother should have lived in’. It’s a three-story, plantation-style brick structure with high ceilings and two wrap-around verandas overlooking rolling, wooded hills.”
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
US East South Central Division Best in State Rankings 2020 Three weeks ago we revised the charts for the four states in the West South Central Division of the United States. We now turn our attention to Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee in the East South Central Division, adding another twenty courses to the mix in the process, so we now feature a hundred courses across a geographical area extending to more than 180,000 square miles. Only one of these one hundred layouts – The Honors Course outside Chattanooga in Tennessee – makes the cut for a ranking position within our US Top 100 but don’t let that statistic lull you into thinking there’s little golfing interest to be found in this section of the American South. Hopefully, you’ll recognize there’s plenty to like here from the short profile of the courses mentioned below. Alabama It was something of a surprise when we last appraised the state listings to find out that Shoal Creek in Birmingham had been knocked off the top spot. Well, it’s not taken long for the course to bounce back, regaining its No. 1 status at the first opportunity. Designed by Bob Cupp when he was a lead architect for Nicklaus Design, the course has hosted a number of high profile national tournaments since it first opened in 1977, including a couple of PGA Championships. Shoal Creek Mark White, one of our regular contributors, commented earlier this year: “I do believe Shoal Creek is worthy of a Senior US Open championship or another US Women’s Open… and it could have another PGA, particularly since that major has moved to the month of May. It has heroic shots, decision making, builds to a nice finish, is challenging yet fair, has a good routing, is an easy walk, and has good green complexes. There really is not much missing from this golf course.” Ten courses have been added to our Alabama portfolio so it now extends to a Top 30. The highest new entry from this intake of newcomers arrives at No. 10 and it’s the George Cobb-designed layout at Vestavia Country Club which has recently undergone an extensive renovation by Lester George, who rebuilt more than half the holes, in addition to introducing water hazards and installing a new irrigation system. Vestavia Country Club Selective tree clearance has opened up views, sand hazards have been upgraded using Better Billy Bunker lining, and improved mowing lines have created extra width on fairways. Not only that, the introduction of template classics such as a Redan green on the 13th and a Biarritz green on the 15th has greatly enhanced the playing experience at Vestavia. The biggest upward move is made by the course at Ross Bridge on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, rising three places to No. 11. A recent reviewer had this to say about it: “perhaps the only ‘weakness’ of the course is the somewhat monotonous demand for aerial shots on virtually every hole. Otherwise, with its fabulously manicured facilities, striking terrain, mix of corridors, and terrific all-round amenities, Ross Bridge was a solid, surprising, and bold golf experience.” Ross Bridge Rank/ Click the link to see full details of our latest Alabama Best in State rankings Kentucky The Donald Ross-designed course at Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington became the new No. 1 in the Bluegrass State during our 2018 state shake-up and it remains in the same position now. Originally laid out by Donald Ross in the 1920s, the course has benefitted from Ron Prichard restoring the bunkers, installing several water features, and adding some judicious length in order to ease this Golden age classic into the 21st century. Idle Hour Country Club The most substantial climb in our Kentucky table is made by the 18-hole layout at the University of Louisville Golf Club. A new entry in our chart last time around, it now soars seven spots to No.6. It’s the home club for the university’s men’s and women’s golf teams and it has hosted a number of prestigious competitions in the last few years, including the NCAA Men’s Regional in 2019, the state PGA Championship in 2017, and the Kentucky Women’s Open in 2015. University of Louisville Golf Club In the bottom half of the new chart, two courses with tournament pedigrees leap five places forward: Kearney Hill Golf Links (now at #12) is a Pete Dye/P. B. Dye co-design that held both the national men’s and women’s Amateur Public Links Championships before they were discontinued by the USGA; and the course at Cherry Blossom Golf Club in Georgetown (up to #13) has staged the State Amateur for both male and female golfers on separate occasions since 2014. Click the link to see full details of our latest Kentucky Best in State rankings Mississippi Fallen Oak, Tom Fazio’s 18-hole layout at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino near Biloxi, recaptures the No. 1 spot in the new Mississippi state rankings. Located deep inside the De Soto National Forest, this course is part of the same Las Vegas MGM Mirage setup as Shadow Creek and some contend that, due its natural setting, it’s actually the better of the two Fazio tracks. Fallen Oak Reviewers from a few months ago made comments like: “I highly recommend Fallen Oak; it is fun yet challenging, peaceful and beautiful. Even if some of the terrain changes are not natural, there are plenty of rolling and undulating fairways. The wide fairways, lighter use of trees, and ponds create a spacious feeling on most of the holes... the routing is also quite inventive – moving to all corners of the property. Fazio doesn’t just present the famed ‘look’ where the style outshines the substance. At Fallen Oak there’s plenty of teeth ready to bite so you need to stay on your toes.” There’s only one new entry and it appears at No. 14 in the new chart. Mallard Pointe Golf Course in Sardis, owned and operated by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, is a Bob Cupp design that’s routed around the southern shores of Sardis Lake and the course is complemented by a couple of golf villas, each with 4-bedroom suites, kitchenette and lounge overlooking the sparkling waters of the 58,000-acre lake. Mallard Pointe There’s not much movement in our new state listings as the most impressive advance is a mere 2-position improvement to No. 18 for the course at Timberton Golf Club in Hattiesburg. Mark McCumber set out the fairways here in the early 1990s and this tree-lined parkland course has been used for numerous USGA and PGA qualifying competitions since then. Click the link to see full details of our latest Mississippi Best in State rankings Tennessee The Honors Course retains its position at the top of the tree in the Volunteer State and it’s also firmly ensconced inside the US Top 100, having moved up one place to #75 when we re-ranked the national chart at the end of last year. It was founded in the early 1980s by Coca-Cola bottling heir Jack Lupton with the stated aim of providing a stern test for elite amateur players and the club has hosted top tournaments such as the 1991 US Amateur, the 1994 Curtis Cup, the 2011 US Senior Women’s Amateur and the 2016 US Junior Amateur, with many of the opinion that it’s one of Pete and P.B. Dye’s best designs. The Honors Course We’ve expanded our Tennessee standings to a Top 30 and the leading new entry is the early 1920s William Langford design at Chickasaw Country Club in Memphis, where Byron Nelson’s eleven PGA Tour event winning streak came to an end in 1945. Bill Bergin completed a restoration in 2018, reworking green complexes, bunkers and forward tees, as well as removing trees and converting grasses from bent to Bermuda. Chickasaw Country Club Regular correspondent Richard Smith visited last year and in his verdict was: “the strength of the course lies in the greens and the green complexes and Bill Bergin did a wonderful job of capturing the run offs and slopes that help make Langford courses unique… this is a classic old-style golf course that has been well updated moving forward in the 21st century. If I lived in the area this would be a great course to join as a member.” The most significant positional gain is a modest 3-place move up to No. 13 by the Bob Cupp-designed layout at Council Fire Golf Club, which is named after the decision making forum of the indigenous Cherokee people who originally populated the surrounding landscape. Council Fire converted greens from bent to bermuda in 2012 then Bill Bergin fashioned a new short game area four years later so the club certainly cannot be accused of dragging its heels in the new millennium. Council Fire Golf Club Click the link to see full details of our latest Tennessee Best in State rankings Next up: the seven West North Central Division states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
US East South Central Division Best in State Rankings 2018 We published our first Best in State rankings for the United States of America in 2012 so this year’s biennial update is the fourth revision of those inaugural listings. As happened two years ago, we’re splitting the reappraisal process into nine distinct divisions and this particular review, the fourth in our 2018 series, looks at the East South Central States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. We’ve also added another five courses to Alabama to create a Top 25, while the other three states all feature a Top 20. It seems just a short while ago since we started out with only a Top 10 for these states but our coverage of golf courses in this geographical area has now more than doubled in the last six years. Alabama The Jack Nicklaus-designed course at Shoal Creek – venue for the 73rd US Women’s Open at the start of next month – has been replaced at the top of the Cotton State listings by the West course at The Country Club of Birmingham. The club has been in existence since 1898 but its two 18-hole layouts are mid-1920s Donald Ross designs, with the West course undergoing a couple of significant renovations in the modern era at the hands of Robert Trent Jones Snr (in the 1950s) and Pete Dye (in the 1980s). Last year, a reviewer posted this comment about his playing experience on the West course: “I had heard many wonderful reports about this old Donald Ross layout at The Country Club of Birmingham but the real experience is better than the already high expectations… it was a true test of golf and an immense privilege to play here. Credit to Donald Ross for a wonderful routing and flow as you constantly change direction across this large property. .. the resulting product that we play today is truly fabulous.” Racing five places up the state chart from number 12 to 7, the links-style Kiva Dunes Golf Course lies on the long, sandy peninsula of Mobile Point in Baldwin County, where Jerry Pate set out the 18-layout in the mid-1990s. Our Canadian correspondent Dave Finn was there last year and was really impressed with the results of a 4-month renovation involving the replacement of all the greens, the removal of trees from around the perimeter of the property and the elimination of some bunkers. Dave said: “Kiva Dunes Golf resort is the only golf and beach resort in Alabama offering an array of 2-4 bedroom well-appointed condos and 45 top-notch houses that you can rent. This is my kind of place to stay when I’m on a group golf trip.” The highest newcomer in our newly expanded state listings arrives at number 13 and it’s one of the celebrated 18-hole courses on Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the Ridge course at Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham. It’s one of three 18-hole layouts at a 54-hole golf complex now stretching out across reclaimed industrial land that was once used in steel manufacturing. The tree-lined Ridge course is routed over a spectacular new landscape and it’s said to have some of the best par five holes on a stellar golf Trail extending to twenty-six courses across eleven different sites. Rank/ Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Alabama Best in State courses Kentucky The Bluegrass State of Kentucky also has a new number 1, with another Jack Nicklaus design, the PGA-owned course at Valhalla Golf Club, overtaken at the top of the standings by yet another Donald Ross track at Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, which was first brought into play in the mid-1920s. It’s the only course Ross ever laid out in Kentucky and it’s been upgraded in recent years by architect Ron Pritchard, who added a little length to the layout, installed new water hazards and reworked the bunkers, bringing a fine old Golden Age course up to new millennium speed. The highest ranked of two new entries in the updated state standings appears at number 8 and it’s the early 1980s Rees Jones course at Griffin Gate, located to the north of Lexington, which was one of the architect’s first solo designs. Jones returned twenty-five years later with associate Bryce Swanson to carry out a bunker renovation, using a modern bunker liner technique to improve drainage in the sand traps. The bunker upgrade also helped enhance the club’s eco credentials through reducing the overall size of the bunkers by 40%. Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Kentucky Best in State courses Mississippi Yet another long standing state number one takes a tumble from the top spot as Tom Fazio’s Fallen Oak drops one place to the runner-up position, replaced at the summit by a new entry, Gil Hanse’s recent design at Mossy Oak Golf Club in West Point. Our US Consultant Fergal O’Leary visited the course last year and he’d this to say about the new 18-hole layout: “Hanse took a relatively flat piece of land and developed wonderful holes in every direction. He has intertwined fairways, green-sites on elevated pieces of land littered with traps, treacherously enticing driveable par fours and hugely strategic doglegs. He really brought this parcel of land to life.” The second newcomer to the revised Magnolia State listings enters the chart at number 13 and it’s the renovated Dogwood and Azalea nines at the Country Club of Jackson, which architect John Faught upgraded in 2008. Six years after the course refurbishments were carried out, the PGA Tour rolled into town for the Sanderson Farms Championship and this alternate event on the professional circuit has since been played late in the calendar year, opposite the reduced-field WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai. Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Mississippi Best in State courses Tennessee The Honors Course in Chattanooga retains its status as the number 1 course in the Volunteer State. Jack Lupton, the club’s founder, established the club as a test for elite amateur players and a number of top events – including the 1991 US Amateur, the 1994 Curtis Cup and 2016 US Junior Amateur – have been held here since the course was first unveiled in 1983. The course isn’t without a few quirky features, but many consider it be one of Pete Dye’s best works, mainly because it’s one of the architect’s more traditional-looking layouts. The highest new entry in our 2016 listings for Tennessee was Sweetens Cove at number 11 and it’s propelled another eight places up to the number 3 slot in this edition of the Tennessee Top 20. Rob Collins and Tad King rebuilt the 9-hole layout on the site of the old Sequatchie Valley course and it’s since garnered plaudits from quite a number of commentators who think it’s a great example of how to develop a modern day golf facility on a sensible budget. Paul Rudovsky, one of our well-travelled correspondents, was full of praise for the course following a visit last year: “Prior to this afternoon, I had played 1001 golf courses, including every one of the 318 still existing courses that has ever been listed on a World Top 100. This afternoon, I had so much FUN… the only courses I can think of that are comparable in terms of fun include Askernish, Royal Worlington & Newmarket, Royal Dornoch, The Old Course, Brora, Sand Hills and a few others… Simply brilliant and brilliantly simple.” The highest of three new entries in our state chart is the Greg Norman-designed 18-hole layout at The Grove, situated a half an hour’s drive south of downtown Nashville in Williamson County. It’s the golfing centrepiece of a private residential development which is spread out over 1,100 acres and it has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments, such as the Web.com Future Stars Shootout and qualifying for the USGA Senior Amateur. The club also organizes fundraising and charity events, including competitions for collegiate golfers in pursuit of a professional career. Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Tennessee Best in State courses We love to receive feedback when we update our US Best in State charts so by all means let us know what you think of these four listings. Is there a course that should have made the cut or maybe there’s another that really has no place on the chart? Whatever you’re thinking, please click the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page to share your opinion. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
US East South Central Division Best in State Rankings 2016 Another four States in our South Region are updated in the fourth of nine US divisional revisions We embarked on a mission to establish Best in State rankings for the United States of America in 2012. This year, we’re involved in the second biennial update of those inaugural listings. Last time around, we carried out this exercise in four separate geographical groupings – West, South, Midwest and North East. On this occasion, we’re subdividing the reappraisal process into nine district divisions and this re-ranking announcement, the fourth of our 2016 US reviews, covers the four East South Central States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. We’re also increasing the number of featured courses in almost every American State across the country. For example, in our four-state East South Central division, we now have a Top 20 for each of the states so our coverage of courses in this revision leaps up from 55 to 80, an expansion of almost 50%. Alabama An additional five courses have been added to the Cotton State of Alabama, where the number 1 layout is still Shoal Creek, an early solo design from Jack Nicklaus. Host venue for the USPGA Championship in 1984 and 1990, the course was succinctly summed up by a reviewer in the following terms last month: “most fairways are wide and half of them have enough hazards to require some thinking off the tee. Greens are nicely contoured and slick.” Rising three places to number 3, the Michael Hurdzan/Dana Fry co-design at FarmLinks is described on the club’s website as “gently sculpted out of scenic farmland that’s been in the Purcell Family for three generations… the course features a mix of dramatic elevation changes, pristine fairways and immaculate greens.” It’s certainly a course that has made a big impact within the state in a relatively short space of time. The highest new entry at number 9 is the Country Club of Mobile. The club operates within a massive 300-acre property, offering members the use of fourteen tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool in addition to a golf course that was originally laid out by Donald Ross in 1928. The layout’s been modified a number of times down the years and the most radical of these alterations occurred recently when Ron Forse was tasked with completely redesigning and reconstructing the course. Rank/ Click this link to see full details of our 2016 Alabama Best in State rankings. Kentucky We’ve also added five courses to our chart for the Bluegrass State of Kentucky, where the top three tracks remain in the same position as last time. That means another Nicklaus design, Valhalla, retains its place at the top of the standings. The site of three recent USPGA Championships, as well as host venue for the Ryder Cup in 2008, the course offers golfers an archetypal “game of two halves” with a fairly flat, open front nine followed by a tree-lined back nine. The highest climber on our new state listings is Triple Crown, which rises six spots to number 9. It’s a Gene Bates design that opened in 1990 and its hefty slope rating of 142 marks it out as one of the tougher tracks in the Greater Cincinnati area. With narrow, tree-lined fairways and lakes in play at ten of the holes, you can understand why this was the ideal place to test the course management capabilities of the nation’s elite golfing elders when the US Senior Amateur was held here in 1994. The highest new entry comes in at number 15 and it’s Traditions Golf Club, which serves as the home course for the University of Cincinnati golf teams. Set amongst the woodlands of Boone County’s western rolling hills, this Ken Heil and Mike Macke co-design from 1992 is a thrilling test of golf that presents a variety of challenges. There’s no peripheral housing to distract, neither is there a swimming pool or tennis courts to divert attention away from the only thing that matters at this club – the game of golf. Click this link to see full details of our 2016 Kentucky Best in State rankings. Mississippi We’ve doubled the size of our Magnolia State chart, where we now feature a Top 20. Fallen Oak retains the number 1 position in the new state rankings and this 2006 Tom Fazio design – home to the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic on the Champions Tour – is available exclusively to guests of the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi. The course closed temporarily a couple of years ago when a bunker renovation was carried out and a number of trees were replanted but it reopened stronger than ever once the strategic improvements had been implemented. A couple of courses take small, one position steps in the right direction in our new Mississippi listings. The first of these is Annandale (at number two), an early Jack Nicklaus design from 1981 which hosted twenty editions of what’s now known as the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour, starting in 1994. The other course to make a modest upward move is The Preserve (at number 8), where Jerry Pate set out the fairways adjacent to a huge nature reserve, routing the holes around a diverse landscape of Southern cypress swamps, marshy wetlands and pitcher plant bogs. The highest newcomer in our newly extended state Top 20 crashes into the chart at number 4. Laurel Country Club was designed by Seymour Dunn back in 1919, two years after the club was founded, and the course is a shot maker’s paradise, with challenging downhill or side hill lies as the norm for many of the approach shots. It’s been described rather appropriately by one commentator as “a course that has not outlived its relevance” and this near 100-year old track is certainly one to savour. Click this link to see full details of our 2016 Mississippi Best in State rankings. Tennessee The Volunteer State listings have been extended to a Top 20, which means we’ve added an extra five courses in this revision. The top four courses all retain the same position as last time so, by default, the Honors Course is still the state number 1. It’s also comfortably positioned within our USA Top 100 chart, rising two places to number 51 when we last updated the national ranking six months ago. The course has been described as “a well-preserved example of Pete Dye’s death-or-glory architecture” which sums it up rather well. The 1991 US Amateur, 1994 Curtis Cup and 2011 Senior Women’s Amateur are just a few of the prestigious championships that have been held here since the course debuted in 1983. The highest new entry at number 11 on the new state chart is the course at Sweetens Cove, which Rob Collins and Tad King rebuilt on the site of the old Sequatchie Valley layout. Volume 2 of The Confidential Guide calls it “one of the most audacious designs we’ve seen” with the authors giving particular credit to “one of the most diverse and entertaining set of green complexes found anywhere”. Other commentators have also been generous with their praise, touting it as one of the best 9-hole layouts in all of America. Click this link to see full details of our 2016 Tennessee Best in State rankings We always like to know what you think about our re-rankings so please feel free to share your opinion of our four newly updated US Best in State charts. Which course should have made the cut or maybe there’s one listed that really doesn’t deserve to be there? Whatever your thoughts are, please click the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page to let us know your point of view. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
