Which No. 18s are the best? The argument can very much teeter on the objective vs. subjective, so let’s see how these compare to your list.
If a golf course is considered a work of art, where 18 holes and all their surroundings come together on one canvas to form a unique experience, then the 18th hole would be the artist’s signature. The last of the round, a course’s finishing hole typically sets an iconic tone, the postcard shot of each specific course, if you will. It’s where majors (and money games) are won and lost, and where the final putt erupts in cheers and flashbulbs (or beers).
Which finishing holes are the best?
The argument can very much teeter on the objective vs. subjective, so the entire dynamic – from scoring average to history to layout – was considered when deciding that these 25 were some of the best in golf.
Pebble Beach
(David Cannon/Getty Images)
The final hole at historic Pebble Beach is one of the most recognizable in golf. From the Cypress tree in the middle of the fairway to the Pacific waves crashing against the sea wall, the par-5 18th has stood as the ultimate finishing hole. It’s wild to think it started out as an unremarkable par 4.
Pete Dye designed more than 250 courses around the world, many of which have hosted major championships and PGA Tour events.
Pete Dye, who died Thursday at the age of 94, designed more than 250 courses around the world, many of which have hosted major championships and PGA Tour events.
Known for making tough courses that would challenge – even infuriate – the best players in the game, Dye left a lasting impression on course architecture. While perhaps most famous for his island green at No. 17 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, his contributions to golf go way beyond that pond.
Following are the top 10 Dye courses in the Golfweek’s Best rankings for 2019, as compiled by our hundreds of raters. Nine are in the United States, and one is in the Dominican Republic. Each course was judged by 10 criteria before being assigned a total score between one and 10 by each rater, then those scores were averaged to compile the rankings below.
1. Whistling Straits(Straits)
Where: Mosel, Wisconsin
Year opened: 1997 (resort)
Average rating: 8.28
Golfweek’s Best: No. 7 Modern Courses in the U.S.
2. The Golf Club
Where: New Albany, Ohio
Year built: 1967 (private)
Average rating: 7.86
Golfweek’s Best: No. 12 Modern Courses in the U.S.
3. Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean)
Where: Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Year built: 1991 (resort)
Average rating: 7.85
Golfweek’s Best: No. 13 Modern Courses in the U.S.
4. Pete Dye GC
Where: Bridgeport, West Virginia
Year built: 1994 (private)
Average rating: 7.78
Golfweek’s Best: No. 16 Modern Courses in the U.S.
5. Honors Course
Where: Ooltewah, Tennessee
Year built: 1983 (private)
Average rating: 7.75
Golfweek’s Best: No. 19 Modern Courses in the U.S.
No. 17 at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course (Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)
6. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium)
Where: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Year built: 1981 (resort)
Average rating: 7.74
Golfweek’s Best: No. 22 Modern Courses in the U.S.
Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog course (Courtesy of Casa de Campo)
7. Casa de Campo (Teeth of the Dog)
Where: La Romana, Dominican Republic
Year built: 1971 (resort)
Average rating: 7.54
Golfweek’s Best: No. 3 in the Caribbean and Mexico
8. Oak Tree National
Where: Edmond, Oklahoma
Year built: 1975 (private)
Average rating: 7.45
Golfweek’s Best: No. 41 Modern Courses in the U.S.
Harbour Town Golf Links (Courtesy of Sea Pines)
9. Sea Pines (Harbour Town GL)
Where: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Year built: 1970 (resort)
Average rating: 7.35
Golfweek’s Best: No. 54 Modern Courses in the U.S.
10. Long Cove
Where: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Year built: 1982 (private)
Average rating: 7.14
Golfweek’s Best: No. 77 Modern Courses in the U.S.
Streamsong Resort’s first two courses, the Blue and the Red, will have new grass installed on their greens over the next two years.
BOWLING GREEN, Fla. – Streamsong Resort’s first two courses, the Blue and the Red, will have new grass – a Bermudagrass named Mach One – installed on their greens over the next two years. The Blue will come first in 2020 and the Red will follow in 2021, with each course closed during the slower summer months for installation and other related touchups.
That will leave 36 of 54 holes open during each course’s installation at the resort, which is about 90 miles southwest of Orlando and 50 miles southeast of Tampa.
The greens on both courses appear to be in great shape currently, rolling smooth with a fair amount of speed during recent rounds, but slight mutations to the current grass surfaces have encouraged resort managers to undertake the re-grassing to maintain first-rate putting surfaces well into the future.
The resort operates three courses. The Blue was designed by Tom Doak, opened in 2012 and is No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for Florida’s public-access courses. The Red was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and also opened in 2012, and it is No. 2 on that list of Florida courses. The newer Black course, designed by Gil Hanse and opened in 2017, is No. 3 on that list.
A group of Golfweek’s course raters at Streamsong for Golfweek’s Architecture Summit last week were treated not only to terrific golf but a series of expert seminars, and they got an early look at a Mach One putting surface. During an early-morning presentation at the Red and Blue courses’ practice putting and chipping green, Rusty Mercer, Streamsong’s director of Agronomy, announced that the Blue will be closed from May through September of 2020 to have its MiniVerde greens re-grassed with the turf underfoot.
Mach One is a state-of-the-art ultradwarf Bermuda strain developed and patented by Rod Lingle, the former superintendent at Memphis Country Club. Those who played the Blue the day before would be forgiven for being somewhat perplexed, as the greens rolled beautifully, but Mercer outlined the rationale.
“What you’ll see if you look at the greens are big, broad circles of ‘off-types,’” he said. “It’s the same grass, but it has developed multiple looks.”
No. 6 on Streamsong Red (Courtesy of Streamsong/Laurence Lambrecht)
Mercer said that a consulting scientist, Jim Brosnan of the University of Tennessee, had measured leaf widths ranging from 2 millimeters to 18 millimeters.
“That’s a huge difference,” Mercer said. “During cooler weather we can get them under control, but in the shoulder season, these greens are awful. That’s why we’re doing this. When we get into March and April, the off-types will get worse and worse, and the plant will eventually become vulnerable to soil-borne diseases.”
Mercer pointed out that like all living things, turfgrass has a lifespan.
“In this kind of [Central Florida] climate, we think it’s about eight to 10 years. I took a look farther north, around Pinehurst, and didn’t see the same rise of off-types—but they have half the number of growing days during the year.”
In making the change to Mach One, Mercer said it had less to do with the new grass’s unknowns as with what is already known about the longevity of current bermuda stalwarts such as Champion, MiniVerde and TifEagle.
Attendees were invited to chip and putt around on the oversized and boldly contoured surface. The Mach One practice green, which was planted in June after spending a year in a 12,000-square-foot nursery adjacent to the resort’s newer Black course, sported an oddly vivid hue: To this eye, it seemed almost turquoise in places but rolled very true for a new surface. Mercer said the goal was to keep the ball on top of the ultradwarf blades.
“Any time a ball rides up high, you’ll get a better roll than when it sinks down. Mach One is as good as anything I’ve seen – the ball seems to float across the green,” he said.
Given that Streamsong offers three full-length eighteens, closing the Blue for the low season of next summer shouldn’t impact the resort much. It’s in keeping with Streamsong’s goal to invest in cutting-edge technology in order to provide golfers with an experience more akin to that of an upscale private club than a typical resort.
“As a superintendent, you can do one of two things: You can either grow grass or produce playing conditions,” Mercer said.
Mercer and Red/Blue superintendent Kyle Harris have proved adept at the latter, as most who have experienced Streamsong’s bouncy fairways and firm yet receptive greens will attest. Mercer and his staff have a state goal of providing fast playing surfaces instead of trying to produce the greenest grass, and the move to the new putting surfaces should make that goal even more attainable.
