March 9 edition features United States’ Best Modern, Classic and state-by-state courses
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 08, 2012) – Golfweek, the most authentic, authoritative and independent voice in golf, honors the nation’s greatest layouts with tomorrow’s release of its highly anticipated Best Courses issue. Marking the 16th year the magazine has published these respected lists, the March 9 issue features the 2012 rankings of Golfweek’s Best Classic and Modern Courses, as well as a state-by-state listing of the country’s best public-access courses.
Perennial favorites Pine Valley Golf Club (Pine Valley, N.J.), Cypress Point Club (Pebble Beach, Calif.) and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Southampton, N.Y.) lead the 2012 Classic list. On the Modern list, Sand Hills Golf Club (Mullen, Neb.) holds onto its top spot followed by Oregon’s iconic Pacific Dunes and newcomer Old Macdonald.
To produce Golfweek’s Best Courses lists, an expert team of 725 course raters annually identifies the best layouts from two distinctly different eras: pre-1960 and post-1960. The exclusive system recognizes that prior to 1960 (the year that separates Classic from Modern) most golf course architects relied on native contours for course features. After 1960, as the game became more popular, architects began to utilize high-tech engineering and advanced mechanical means to transform the landscape to suit their design.
“Golf course architects are among the most skilled and most interesting of all public artists,” said Bradley S. Klein, national director of Golfweek’s Best Courses rating program. “With our annual Modern and Classic lists, Golfweek celebrates the works they have created – sports fields that for more than a century now have been challenging the world’s great players as well as everyday golfers.”
To view complete lists of the 2012 Golfweek’s Best Modern, Classic and State-by-State Courses, as well as Golfweek’s Best Next 100 Classic and Next 100 Modern rankings, visit Golfweek.com/GolfweeksBest.
About Golfweek’s Best Ratings
Since beginning its rating system in 1997, Golfweek has developed the most respected ranking structure in the industry. Golfweek’s nationwide team of course raters, which currently boasts 725 evaluators, has surveyed more than 3,000 courses − rating each nominated course on the basis of Golfweek’s 10 strict standards of evaluation. Collectively, Golfweek raters have turned in more than 55,000 votes. Golfweek’s Best Courses lists include: Modern, Classic, New, Casino, Municipal, Campus, Residential, Resort, Canadian, Caribbean & Mexico, Great Britain & Ireland and Courses You Can Play. The full criteria for evaluating the golf courses may be found at Golfweek.com/GolfweeksBest.
About Golfweek
Founded in 1975, Golfweek is the most authentic, authoritative and independent voice in golf. Serving enthusiasts who are truly passionate about the game of golf, the Golfweek brand includes Golfweek magazine, Golfweek.com, Golfweek OnDemand, Golfweek Mobile, Golfweek Custom Media, The Golf Wire, The Apparel Wire, The Tour Van and TurfNet.com. Golfweek is part of Turnstile Media Group, which specializes in developing diverse media platforms that engage and strengthen the communities they serve. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Orlando, Fla., Turnstile Media Group is also the parent of Professional Artist, Community Media Holdings, The Seminole Voice, The Winter Park/Maitland Observer and Turnstile Connect.
