US South Atlantic Division Best in State Rankings 2018

Our Best in State biennial re-ranking exercise for the United States of America reaches the halfway stage with this news release for the eight South Atlantic states of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

In this revision, we’ve expanded four of those state charts so there are now four hundred and five different courses featured across this geographical region, almost double the number listed in our inaugural 2012 state listings three editions ago.

In the last few months, we’ve processed the Pacific, Mountain, East South Central and West South Central Divisions and, before the summer is over, we’ll have updated the standings for states in West and East North Central, the Mid-Atlantic and New England Divisions.

But first to matters in hand and The South Atlantic region which has seventeen courses currently occupying positions in our US Top 100, making it one of the nation’s strongest golfing territories. We start in Delaware, the second smallest state in the USA with a population of around one million.

Delaware

Located an hour’s drive north of Dover, the state capital, lies the small town of Greenville in New Castle County, where the Bidermann course displaces Wilmington's South course as the number 1 golfing layout in our First State rankings. Redesigned by Dick Wilson in the mid-1960s, the Bidermann course sees less than ten thousand rounds played on it during the year, hence there’s no need to allocate tee times for a membership numbering fewer than three hundred.

The only new entry in the state chart arrives at number 14 and it’s a mid-1980s design from Algie M. Pulley at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club near Bethany Beach which has recently had its fairways and approach areas successfully converted to Latitude 36 bermuda grass. The club has also increased the size of its short game practice area, allowing more players to hone their chipping and putting skills.

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Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Delaware Best in State courses.

Florida

The Sunshine State is a golfing powerhouse, with the top half dozen tracks in Florida also ranked nationally. The state Top 100 is headed by the Donald Ross-designed course at Seminole in Juno Beach, where two of our well-travelled correspondents paid a visit last year. Javier Pintos, our Argentina correspondent, called it both “special” and “charming” with David Davis, our International Correspondent declaring it “one of the best routed and most interesting courses in the world”.

The two older, more established tracks at Streamsong, the Red and the Blue, ease up one place in the new table to number 3 and number 4 but it’s the Gil Hanse-designed Black course (the first of nine new entries at number 6) that’s causing a stir since it opened last year. Our US Consultant Fergal O’Leary has played the course, calling it a “gigantic piece of golf minimalism of enormous scale (where) fairways, waste areas and greens are amongst the biggest I’ve seen… the sheer scale of the property is a lot to comprehend”.

Two other tracks make impressive upward moves in the upper echelons of the new state listings and they’re situated right next door to each other in Hobe Sound. Tom Fazio’s 18-hole design at McArthur Golf Club enters the Top 10 for the first time with a seven-place rise to number 9 and Bobby Weed’s recent renovation of the Medalist Golf Club course leads to a Top 20 debut after a climb of six places to number 18.

Michael Jordan is currently building a new course near Hobe Sound called Grove XXIII, paying homage to the number 23 he wore for most of his basketball career. Tom Doak was considered for the project, but the NBA legend selected Bobby Weed who will stay on site to supervise the design process which is due to complete in 2019. We expect Grove XXIII to feature prominently in our 2020 Florida rankings.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Florida Best in State courses.

Georgia

Still the number one track in the Peach State standings, Augusta National Golf Club is regarded by many as an elusive golfing shrine, the one place – apart from the Old course at St Andrews – they would most like to play, given the chance, which is a lot easier said than done because invitations are very few and far between. Some might say its lavish conditioning represents much of what’s wrong with golf in the modern era but we’re sure such critics will be glued to their television for four days when the Masters tournament comes around every April.

On the southeast perimeter of the course, across the other side of Rae’s Creek, lies Augusta Country Club (up five to number 8) which was formed in 1897, way before its more famous near neighbour was ever thought about. Once a 36-hole facility, the club now operates an 18-hole layout (formerly called the Hill) that was redesigned by Donald Ross in 1927. Brian Silva carried out a remarkable restoration here early in the new millennium and this work is only now being fully appreciated.

The Crabapple course at Capital City Club (at number 17) is the highest of ten new Georgian entries as we extend the state chart to a Top 50. A Tom Fazio design from 2002, the course sits on a property some twenty-two miles north of the club’s other 18-hole Brookhaven course, located next to Atlanta National Golf Club in Milton. The Crabapple made a big impact the year after opening when it hosted the 2003 WGC-American Express Championship which Tiger Woods won by two strokes from three other players.

We are keeping a watchful eye on Gil Hanse's new layout at Ohoopee Match Club, which is due to open later this year on land formerly used for growing onions – it's sure to make a bold statement in our 2020 rankings. According to Hanse, who was interviewed by Golf Course Architecture; “the course is going to be a ton of fun to play, and owner Michael Walrath founded the club to foster the experience of match play. We have tried to design a course that will feature a lot of half par holes and some expansive hazards. The sandy site is conducive to that and we are excited about what we have cooked up.”

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Georgia Best in State courses.

Maryland

The top three places in the Old Line State listings remain the same as last time so the East course at Baltimore Country Club is still the state number 1. Laid out by A. W. Tillinghast in 1926, the course – known locally as Five Farms – has hosted many prestigious amateur and professional events, including the 1928 PGA Championship, the 1932 US Amateur, the 1965 Walker Cup and the 1988 US Women’s Open. Keith Foster completed a well-received restoration of the course in 2015, reviving much of the original design intent.

The first of three new entries appears at number 15 and it’s The Links at Perry Cabin near St Michael’s in Talbot County. The course was originally built by Andy Dye in the 1960s but it fell on hard times and closed in 2015. The rebuilt layout is another Dye family production and this time it’s a collaboration between P.B. Dye and his parents Pete and Alice Dye, featuring a brilliant Biarritz green on the par three 7th and an iconic island green on the par three 17th.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Maryland Best in State courses.

North Carolina

The fabled No.2 course at the Pinehurst Resort in Moore County sits atop our chart for the Tar Heel State, which we’ve now increased in size to a Top 75. Designed by Donald Ross in 1907, the layout was tweaked on an almost continual basis by the old master right up until he died in 1948, and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s recent renovation has breathed new life into an old golfing masterpiece that certainly looked at its very best during both the US Open and US Women’s Open in 2014.

Regular contributor M. James Ward had this to say about the course last year: “Pinehurst #2 is one of those few ‘must’ plays for the architectural cognoscenti. If one can secure permission, it pays to walk the course prior to any round and really see the manner in which the ‘small details’ all add up… #2 is number one in my book for any design student to view first hand. If the opportunity allows to play enough rounds the discerning elements will only add to your enjoyment in playing this iconic layout.”

Another couple of Donald Ross tracks enter the Top 10: Roaring Gap Club thunders up the listings from number 12 to number 6 and Mid Pines Club advances nine places to number 8.

Our aforementioned raters Fergal O’Leary and David Davis visited Roaring Gap independently not so long ago and they mentioned there was “plenty of charm about this massively underrated course” located on “a great and interesting property” whilst another of our top reviewers, Richard Smith, played Mid Pines Club just a few weeks ago, when he said: “In Contrast to modern designs, which seek to intimidate the golfer while actually allowing for quite a bit of room for most shots, designer Donald Ross accomplished the opposite here. Relatively benign and open holes actually require very precise placement to play the hole properly.”

The highest new entry at number 23 is the Elk River Club in Avery County, positioned at an altitude of 3,500 feet above sea level in the Blue Ridge Mountains between the ski resorts of Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain. Despite the fabulous mountain scenery that surrounds the layout, the fairways actually occupy quite flat terrain and the course had the distinction in 1984 of being the first Jack Nicklaus Signature Course to open in North Carolina.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 North Carolina Best in State courses.

South Carolina

The Palmetto State has had another handful of courses added to its ranking chart so we now highlight the Top 80 layouts in South Carolina. The Ocean course at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort retains its status as the number 1 course in the state and many consider it to be one of Pete Dye’s best designs. Opened just in time to host the 29th edition of Ryder Cup matches in 1991, the Ocean course is one of five 18-hole layouts within a fabulous resort that offers ninety holes of championship golf in a stunning location overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Three courses make noteworthy progress inside the new table’s Top 10 positions.

At number 4 (up three places) there’s the Robert Trent Jones Snr-designed layout at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, site of the US Women’s Open in 1962, which has been providing a stiff test for golfers since it first opened in 1948. Hard on its heels at number 5 (up six spots) comes the much-revered (and much-revised) layout at Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, where many top architects – Gil Hanse the latest – have had a hand restoring the course back to its 1895 origins. And at number 7 (up six places), the course at Chechessee Creek Club near Okatie is a Coore & Crenshaw design – described by one reviewer as “a tour through nature” – that’s adopted a rather low profile since it debuted in 2000.

The highest newcomer on the South Carolina chart emerges at a very commendable number 12 and it’s the result of a philanthropic project developed between the small settlements of Ridgeland and Grays in Jasper County by a couple of high-end private golf club owners in The Carolinas. The course at Congaree Golf Club is a Tom Fazio layout set within a vast site that was once nothing other than a rice plantation and the architect has routed the fairways around an old plantation house, stables and courtyard, affording a painstakingly preserved 19th century ambiance equivalent to, as one recent reviewer wrote, being “invited behind the curtains to witness a land where time has no meaning”.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 South Carolina Best in State courses.

Virginia

We’ve added another ten courses to the Old Dominion chart to form a state Top 50 which is still led by the Kinloch Golf Club in Goochland County at number 1. Designed by architect Lester George in conjunction with Vinnie Giles, the US Amateur champion in 1972 (who also won the British equivalent three years later), the course exhibits something of a split personality as the front nine is routed through forested terrain with the back nine laid out around an enormous 70-acre lake.

The most significant leap up the listings is made by the newly upgraded 18-hole layout in Albemarle County called Full Cry at Keswick Hall, soaring eighteen places to number 7. The original course dates back to 1949 though Arnold Palmer upgraded this layout in the early 1990s. When the property changed hands in 2012, Pete Dye was called in to redesign the course and he’s added more than a thousand yards to the length while simultaneously changing the par on more than half the holes.

The new entry to make the biggest impression in this chart is Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg (new at number 14) where Willie Park Jnr arrived in 1922 to set out a course for the club which Fred Findlay eventually completed seven years later. Modifications have been made since then, of course, most appreciably in 1964 when holes were re-sequenced due to the construction of a swimming pool and in 1981 when Rees Jones carried out some work.

Donald Ross and William Flynn's historic legacies at Washington Golf & Country Club in Arlington are currently being renovated as is Mike Stranz's layout at Royal New Kent. It remains to be seen where these rejuvenated courses will land in our 2020 rankings.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 Virginia Best in State courses.

West Virginia

The courses in the top five positons in the Mountain State chart remain as they were before this latest reappraisal took place which means the 18-hole layout at the Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport remains in the number 1 slot. Situated in the hill country of Harrison County, the course is laid out on the site of an old coal mine so there are various reminders of the property’s former use dotted around the layout. Opened in 1994, it actually took all of sixteen years to get the project off the drawing board and into play!

The only West Virginian new entry is the Woodhaven course at Glade Springs in Raleigh County, replacing the Greenbriar course at the Greenbriar Resort which is currently closed for reconstruction by Phil Mickelson’s design firm. The Tom Clark-designed Woodhaven is the toughest of the three 18-hole layouts at a fabulous 54-hole resort in Daniels, due to the undulating, forested nature of the terrain that the course is set out on.

Click this link to see full details of our 2018 West Virginia Best in State courses.

We’re always happy to receive feedback when we update our US Best in State charts so feel free to let us know what you think of these eight listings. Is there perhaps a course that shouldn’t have made the cut or maybe there’s another which is due a position in one of the state tables? 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 thoughts with us.

Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses