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Niagara Falls

New York, United States

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A.W. Tillinghast laid out the course at the Niagara Falls Country Club at Lewiston (home of the Porter Cup) in 1919. The course has been altered down the years, first by Robert Trent Jones, then by Geoff Cornish and Brian Silva, before Tripp Davis was called in to rediscover the origins.

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Course rating full ball
Course rating full ball
Course rating full ball
3
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Niagara Falls

Some naysayers have grumbled that Pebble Beach only receives such high levels of praise because it sits on rather prized property. If that were the case, Niagara Falls Country Club wouldn’t mind being just a few miles south of its current location! Still, a position near one of the world’s great landmarks is to be celebrated, and the club’s logo represents the falling waters of the title town nicely.

The designer who created the course is known for features almost as fearsome as the club’s namesake. That man, A.W. Tillinghast, laid the foundation for the course, which has since been revisited in turn by Robert Trent Jones, Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva. Speaking of Pebble Beach and frightening features, the par three at No. 7 may trump even No. 17 at the U.S. Open host for intimidation. Itself an hourglass-shaped green, the 185-yard hole is surrounded by five sizable sand hazards.

Competitors at the Porter Cup, one of amateur golf’s great competitions, have faced down the hole on a yearly basis since 1959. Among the winners have been Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson, and David Duval.

World Top 100 Golf Courses

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

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