The Senator course on the RTJ Golf Path at Capitol Hill.
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GOLF’s newest assortment of programs that belong in your must-play record has arrived.
On Wednesday, we printed our first-ever record of America’s greatest golf programs for $100 or much less, which doesn’t embody bucket-list gems like Whistling Straits and Bandon Dunes however does boast dozens of gratifying and inexpensive spots extra accessible to the bigger inhabitants of golfers. To qualify for the record, programs wanted to be (1) accessible to the general public, (2) the sort of golf expertise you’d suggest to a pal and (3) provide peak-season weekend strolling charges that don’t exceed $100.
You possibly can try the complete record right here, however for a fast rundown of what it is best to find out about it, scroll under.
1. Legendary architect Donald Ross has essentially the most course-design credit on the record with 10, amongst them George Wright, Jeffersonville and Triggs Memorial. The opposite architects who appeared essentially the most have been Robert Trent Jones Sr. (9 programs), A.W. Tillinghast (5 programs), Pete Dye (5 programs) and Robert Trent Jones Jr. (4 programs).
2. The cutoff for this record was $100, so any course that got here in on that quantity is clearly the highest-priced among the many group. Six match that description, and 4 of them are on the uber-popular RTJ Golf Path in Alabama: Capitol Hill (Senator), Highland Oaks (Highlands/Magnolia nines) and each the Lake 18 and Hyperlinks 18 at Grand Nationwide. The opposite two $100 programs are Bethpage Pink in Farmingdale, N.Y., and Wailua in Lihue, Hawaii.
3. There are additionally eight programs on the record that may be performed for underneath $40. The least costly are Buffalo Dunes in Backyard Metropolis, Kansas, and Fort Myers County Membership in Fort Myers, Fla., each of which you’ll play for simply $30 peak strolling charge. The opposite six are Palatka ($34, Palatka, Fla.), Aiken ($35, Aiken, S.C.), Pines Crossing ($35, Auburn, Ala.), Cedar Crest ($35, Dallas, Texas), Wolf River Golf Park ($37, Bear Lake, Mich.) and Kearney Hill ($38, Lexington, Ky.).
4. Fast plug: If you’re in search of an inexpensive golf course close to you, go to our new Course Finder software and seek for all of the choices in your space. You can too filter by issues like value and course kind.
5. Wild Horse Golf Membership in Gothenburg, Neb., made the record, which ought to be no shock. It’s additionally one of many few (and the highest-ranked, at forty ninth) on GOLF’s newest Prime 100 Programs You Can Play rating.
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6. Whereas a number of of those programs hosted majors many years in the past, one was lately used for the marquee beginner occasion of 2024. Chaska City Course in Chaska, Minn., was the stroke-play co-host (together with Hazeltine Nationwide) for the 2024 U.S. Newbie final month.
7. You could or might not know, however you helped create this record. To kind it, we sourced suggestions from GOLF raters, editors, trade consultants and, sure, even you.
8. Roughly 40 % of the programs on this record are owned by municipalities, and lots of seem on our rating of the 30 greatest municipal golf programs in America that we printed three years in the past. George Wright in Hyde Park, Mass., was a simple choose for this latest record, and it was additionally third on that aforementioned top-30 muni rating.
9. California has essentially the most programs represented with seven, and Alabama and North Carolina have six every. Michigan, Florida and New York all have 5 apiece. Thirty-five states have been represented.
