Hagestad added another prestigious trophy to his recent haul.
PINE VALLEY, N.J. – Stewart Hagestad is having a September to remember.
Hagestad added the prestigious Crump Memorial Tournament to his recent haul of trophies Saturday, defeating defending champion Stephen Behr Jr. in a playoff at Pine Valley Golf Club.
Hagestad, 32, was a member of the U.S. side that won the 49th Walker Cup at the Old Course in St. Andrews on Sept. 3. Then he claimed the U.S. Mid-Amateur championship on Sept. 13, at Sleepy Hollow in N.Y., winning the title for a third time, 3 and 2 over Evan Beck.
Stewart Hagestad kisses the Robert T. Jones, Jr. Memorial Trophy after winning the 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y. on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Hagestad’s Crump Memorial began in dramatic fashion with a hole-in-one at Pine Valley’s famed par-3 10th hole (known as the Devil’s Asshole) as he posted rounds of 71-72 and tied for third in 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. (Beck earned medalist honors with a pair of 68s and a 36-hole total of 4-under 136.) Tropical Storm Ophelia forced the tournament committee to shorten the weekend match play to 18 holes of stroke play to determine the champion. All non-championship flights were canceled.
Hagestad shot 3-over 73 in difficult conditions at Pine Valley, ranked No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list. He made par at the first hole, the first playoff hole, to secure the win over Behr of Alpharetta, Georgia, and claim the 98th Crump Cup.
Matthew Sughrue of Arlington, Virginia, shot a 1-under 69 to win the Senior Crump Cup. Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Georgia, finished second with a 74.
Our inaugural list of best par-3, short and non-traditional courses in the U.S. includes a bit of everything.
What makes a great short course? We posed that question to our huge network of course raters to establish the first Golfweek’s Best ranking of non-traditional courses in the United States.
We included par-3 courses as well as short courses that might have a few par 4s and even par 5s. Some are crazy, over-the-top fun meant to be played barefoot with a cold drink in hand. Others are more traditional in their design. They might be at an elite private club, or they might be a muni down the street. There might be 18 holes, or there might be only six — who cares when you’re having a blast?
Basically, they all fit the bill of not being a traditional-length, traditional-par course. And just like the best short courses, we threw out some of the rules used for rating traditional courses and asked the raters to submit one overall score for each course based on how much they enjoyed the design and the environment. Those individual ratings were then combined to form one average rating, which is listed for each course. Each course had to receive a minimum number of 10 votes, and there are several other great short courses that likely will make this list when they receive enough votes. We received nearly a thousand ballots in all for this inaugural list.
The Cradle at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina (Courtesy of Pinehurst Resort)
And as for how we decided which courses fit the bill: All of these would be shorter than 2,700 yards if they were nine holes, compared to a traditional course typically being made up of nines measuring 3,100 to 3,800 yards. Short courses, particularly the public-access variety, are the most welcoming of all golf — everyone can take their shot.
And there’s more to come. Streamsong Resort in Florida is adding a new short course this fall called The Chain, and the newly renovated Cabot Citrus Farms (formerly World Woods) in Florida also will have one named The 21 when the resort opens in December. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, already home to one of the best short courses in the world, is adding another. There’s no end in sight for fresh additions.
One note: Many courses have also added large putting courses, but those are not included on this list.
For this list, we included each course’s rating on a points scale of 1 to 10. We also included their locations, the designers, the year they opened, the number of holes, the total length and the par. At the end of each entry, the letter “p” indicates a private club, “d” indicates daily fee and “r” indicates a resort.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Two years after Pine Valley Golf Club admitted its first female members, the USGA announced that a Curtis Cup would be staged there in 2034. The club has previously hosted two Walker Cup matches in 1936 and 1985.
“We are committed to bringing our championships to the finest golf courses in the country, and over the last several years, that commitment has only strengthened for our women’s championships,” said Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA. “That is why, on the eve of a monumental first U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, this is a fitting and historic announcement for the Curtis Cup and the USGA.”
Francis Ouimet captained the 1936 Walker Cup Match at Pine Valley that saw the U.S. sweep Great Britain and Ireland, 9-0. It was a closer affair in 1985, with Team USA claiming a 13-11 victory.
The Curtis Cup is comprised of two teams of eight female amateur players, one from the USA and one from GB&I. The format consists of six foursomes (alternate-shot) matches, six four-ball matches and eight singles matches over three days of competition. The USA leads the overall series, 31-8-3.
Golfweek’s experts have ranked the Top 200 courses built before 1960, such as Augusta National, Pebble Beach and more.
Are you a big fan of Golden Age golf architecture? You’re in the right spot. Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of the Top 200 Classic Courses opened before 1960 in the United States.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.
Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2022.
After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:
Golfweek’s Best 2023: The top private golf courses in each state.
Want to find the best private golf courses in each state? You’re in the right spot, and welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 list of top private layouts as judged by our international panel of raters.
The hundreds of members of that ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings.
KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S.
* indicates new or returning to the rankings
Editor’s note: The Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of top 200 Modern and top 200 Classic Courses will be released June 19.
New Jersey’s private courses shine as brightly as any state, with Pine Valley leading the way.
New Jersey is famous for its private golf clubs, with each of the top 15 on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in the state ranked among either the top 200 modern or classic courses in the United States. Pine Valley Golf Club tops the list in the state, as well as being No. 1 on the Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S.
But don’t discount the state’s public-access offerings. There are plenty of solid offerings that don’t require an initiation fee.
Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.
(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960 (c): Classic course, built before 1960
Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses.
For 100 years, the Crump Cup has been played at Pine Valley, and yet the tournament and the host club remain a mystery to many.
For 100 years, the Crump Cup has been played at Pine Valley, and yet the tournament and the host club remain a mystery to many. The course, despite maintaining its #1 ranking for decades, is unknowable to most, even more so since the tradition of allowing spectators for the Crump Cup final Sunday matches has been suspended.
But for those invited to play in the George A. Crump Memorial Tournament, it is a treasured opportunity to go behind the curtain and experience a place that most will never see, in a tournament with a set of traditions and playing conditions that make it unlike any other event on the amateur schedule. The tournament is September 22-25.
Here are 10 things you might not know about what might be the best tournament in amateur golf:
1. The tournament dinner is held after two rounds of stroke play qualifying are played to determine five match-play brackets (three mid-amateur brackets of 16 players and two senior brackets of 8 players). Since only those in the top flight have a chance at the overall championship, one of the past Crump Cup traditions has been to honor these 16 players by sitting them together at a broad table facing the rest of the players. At this table, Pine Valley flags have been laid out at each place setting, with each player awarded a flag corresponding to his match play seed (e.g., the 3rd seed receives a flag from the 3rd hole) and the next day’s opponents seated next to each other for dinner.
2. There is a 10-hole short course at Pine Valley that is sometimes used for consolation competitions for those who don’t make match play. Eight of the ten holes on the short course are replicas of approach shots on the main course.
3. There are probably fewer eagles made at the Crump Cup than in any other major tournament. The reason? It is almost unheard of to have an eagle putt. There are only two par 5s on the course, both stretching over 600 yards, and both requiring an aerial approach. Two of the par 4s, the 8th and 12th, are at times technically driveable, but the targets are so tiny that it almost never happens. So approach shot hole-outs are pretty much the only way to put two circles on the card.
4. There is no out of bounds at Pine Valley, and all structures on the course are considered through the green. So if a competitor finds his ball behind, in, or on top of one of these structures, he will not get relief. Carlton Forrester found this out at the 2012 Crump Cup, when his second shot on the long par-four 4th found the clubhouse roof, from which he got up-an-down for an all-world par.
5. The practice facility is on the opposite side of the property from the clubhouse, and so warming up before the round requires a scenic car or cart ride of nearly a mile, snaking between the 9th and 5th/6th holes, across the 7th fairway and through the woods. Like many courses built in the early 20th century, Pine Valley did not have a dedicated practice area, and so the club eventually built one (which is, not surprisingly, world-class) where it had the available land.
6. Unlike most other mid-amateur and senior majors, the Crump Cup moves its dates every year. One of the main considerations is avoiding a conflict with the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and so over the last 20 years we’ve seen the tournament start as early as September 9 and conclude as late as October 3.
7. The Rules of Golf as they pertain to bunker rakes do not apply at the Crump Cup, because Pine Valley does not have bunker rakes. So if a player finds himself in one of Pine Valley’s numerous sandy areas, which range from tiny little scrapes to sprawling wastelands, he is in a true hazard from which escape is not guaranteed. This is part of the reason why during the stroke play qualifier, players who have found the infamous “Devil’s A**hole” bunker on the 10th hole have been known to re-tee rather than risk playing a shot from the deep pit and seeing the ball roll back into a footprint or worse.
8. While the way to secure an invitation to the Crump Cup is more nebulous (you don’t ask for one, and there are no applications or open qualifiers; they will find you if they wish to invite you), the way to get un-invited is much more clear-cut. Two consecutive years of missing match play is usually a one-way ticket out of Pine Valley, as is the rarer but not unheard-of display of unbecoming conduct. The Crump Cup is a tournament for gentlemen, and players are on their best behavior on and off the course.
9. Caddies are required during the Crump Cup, and on a course where being 15 feet above or below the hole can be a 2- or 3-shot difference, a Pine Valley caddie is invaluable. A round at the Crump Cup is full of fearsome hazards, tricky reads and strategic decisions (many a player has laid up at the par-3 5th and won the hole), and success is always a team effort.
10. The tournament’s namesake, George Arthur Crump, never made it to opening day. Crump was the visionary behind Pine Valley and put everything he had into designing the course that would become No. 1 in the world. He lived on the property year-round, initially in a tent and later in a bungalow constructed near the present site of the 5th hole. He consulted with some of the great golf course architects of the day, including Harry Colt, George C. Thomas, Walter Travis and A.W. Tillinghast, and the result speaks for itself. But Crump tragically died in 1918, a year before the full 18 holes were completed. The George A. Crump Memorial Tournament was started in his honor in 1922, and 100 years later he was inducted into the New Jersey Golf Hall of Fame.
Check out these A.W. Tillinghast courses open to the public.
With the U.S. Amateur this week at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, fans have their latest in a string of opportunities to see the work of Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast. After about a century — and with some celebrated restorations — many of these tracks still provide stern championship tests. As with most of Golfweek’s Best top classic courses, they stir something in the soul.
And although most of Tillie’s gems are behind private gates, public golfers need neither highfalutin connections nor deep pockets to experience the old genius’ nuances.
First among options is the cathedral of municipal golf, Bethpage State Park on Long Island. Bethpage has the highest concentration of publicly available Tillinghast holes anywhere. All five courses on the property have at least some Tillie holes. While the major-championship mainstay Black Course garners most of the attention, the state park as a whole offers a comprehensive view of Tillinghast’s ability to design holes for players of all abilities across varying topography.
The best of the best. State-by-state rankings of the best U.S. private golf courses in 2022.
Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of top private golf courses in the U.S., as judged by our international panel of raters.
The hundreds of members of that ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings.
All the courses on this list are private and don’t accept daily-fee or resort play.
KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
Golfweek’s raters have ranked the top 200 courses built in the United States before 1960, such as Augusta National, Pebble Beach and more
Welcome to the Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of the Top 200 Classic Courses before 1960 in the United States.
Each year we publish many lists, with this Top 200 Classic Courses list among the premium offerings. Also extremely popular and significant are the lists for Top 200 Modern Courses, the Best Courses You Can Play State by State and Best Private Courses State by State.
The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings. The top handful of courses in the world have an average rating of above 9, while many excellent layouts fall into the high-6 to the 8 range.
To ensure these lists are up-to-date, Golfweek’s Best in recent years has altered how the individual ratings are compiled into the rankings. Only ratings from rounds played in the past 10 years are included in the compilations. This helps ensure that any course in the rankings still measures up.
Courses also must have a minimum of 25 votes to qualify for the Top 200 Modern or the Top 200 Classic. Other Golfweek’s Best lists, such as Best Courses You Can Play or Best Private, do not require as many votes. This makes it possible that a course can show up on other lists but not on the premium Top 200 lists.
Each course is listed with its average rating next to the name, the location, the year it opened and the designers. The list also notes in parenthesis next to the name of each course where that course ranked in 2021. Also included with many courses are links to recent stories about that layout.
After the designers are several designations that note what type of facility it is:
• p: private
• d: daily fee
• r: resort course
• t: tour course
• u: university
• m: municipal
• re: real estate
• c: casino
* Indicates new to or returning to this list.
Editor’s note:The 2022 Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for the top 200 layouts built after 1960 in the U.S. was published Monday, May 23. The Best Courses You Can Play lists and the Best Private Courses lists will follow over the next two weeks.
