Watch this space for the announcement of the winners of GolfCourseHome’s 2011 “Best of the Best” rankings—our fourth annual compendium of honors reflecting all major media rankings of golf courses and golf communities for this year.
Golf publications, as you surely know, send out hundreds of researchers and reporters to judge and rate golf courses at clubs, resorts and communities. As these rankings and “best of” lists proliferate, it’s impossible for a reader to keep straight which properties have earned what distinction.
That’s where the GolfCourseHome Network comes in. We study, capture and compile all the prominent lists, from Best in State to Best Residential, to Best Public to Best Private, to Best Classic to Best Modern, from Top 100 to Top 50 and beyond.
To all courses and communities, these annual (and biennial) awards mean a great deal. There’s prideful crowing when a top ranking is achieved and much soul-searching when it’s lost.
A Full-Scale Compilation
Rather than send out field researchers and raters to cobble together our own, proprietary ranking system, GolfCourseHome leverages the value of all the rankings out there to create a full-scale compilation you won’t find anywhere else. It’s a whole that’s worth much more than the sum of its parts.
Last year, for the third year in a row, Reynolds Plantation tops the list with an industry leading 17 major magazine awards. Four of the Top 10 were new to the list while six communities were repeat winners. See below for 2010’s top two and stay tuned for the 2011 winners!
GolfCourseHome Network’s 2010 “Best of the Best” Rankings
The Top 2
1. Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro GA, (17 major magazine awards) continues its dominance of the ‘Best of the Best’ rankings with its third consecutive No. 1 ranking in as many years. Reynolds Plantation, which now includes Reynolds Landing, which was merged into the community in 2009, is a still-growing luxury landmark presiding over vast Lake Oconee. The resort community’s portfolio of golf courses and other fine amenities lifts the community to the pinnacle of the golf rankings, both for its courses and its full array of features.
- A Premier Property by LINKS Magazine
- One of America’s 100 Best Master-Planned Communities by Where to Retire magazine
- No. 100 on Golfweek’s Top 100 Residential Golf Courses (Great Waters course)
- No. 51, Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf Courses (Great Waters course)
- No. 3 (GW), No. 6 (Oconee) and No. 8 (National), Golfweek’s Best You Can Play in Georgia
- No. 97, Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Public Courses (Great Waters)
- No. 20, Golf Digest’s Best in Georgia (Oconee)
- No. 13, America’s Top 50 Courses for Women by Golf Digest (Oconee)
- No. 37, 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine (GW)
- No. 57, 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine (Oconee)
- No. 3 (GW), No. 4 (Oconee), No. 5 (National) and No. 11 (Reynolds Landing), GOLF Magazine’s Best You Can Play in Georgia
- No. 44, Golf World’s Readers Choice Top 50 Private Clubs (Reynolds Landing)
- Click here for more information about Reynolds Plantation!
2. Sea Pines, Hilton Head SC (12 awards) did much to invent the concept of master-planned luxury golf communities in idyllic settings. Spread across an inspiring ocean forest on Hilton Head Island, it is for many Americans their first experience of Lowcountry beauty. It’s become a staple of the rankings thanks to great golf and amenities, most notably its jewel, the Pete Dye-designed Harbour Town Golf Links. (Except where noted, all golf accolades refer to Harbour Town Golf Links.)
- A Premier Property by LINKS Magazine
- No. 31, Golfweek’s Top 100 Modern Golf Courses
- No. 13, Golfweek’s Top 100 Resort Golf Courses
- No. 2, Golfweek’s Best You Can Play in South Carolina
- No. 13, America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest
- No. 75, America’s 100 Greatest Courses by Golf Digest
- No. 3, Golf Digest’s Best in South Carolina
- No. 49, America’s Top 50 Courses for Women by Golf Digest (Heron Point by Pete Dye)
- No. 44, 100 Top Courses in the U.S. by GOLF Magazine
- No. 14, 100 Top Courses You Can Play by GOLF Magazine
- No. 2, GOLF Magazine’s Best You Can Play in South Carolina
- No. 13, GOLF Magazine’s Best You Can Play in South Carolina (Heron Point by Pete Dye)
- Click here for more information about Sea Pines!
