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Golf rankings subjective, but still treasured by courses
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Pine Valley Golf Club has one of the top courses in the country.
But don't take our word for it. Take Golf Magazine's. Or Golfweek's. Or Golf Digest's.
The major golf magazines each have their own rankings of courses, and while each has different criteria, Pine Valley ranks either No. 1 or No. 2 on all three publications' main lists.
The rankings, which also include specific lists such as best municipal courses and best new courses, are not the final word by any means. As with any publication, the main goal is to sell magazines. But it doesn't hurt to be included in the rankings.
"It gives the member a verification that he made the right choice in choosing the right club," said Roger Hansen, a member at Pine Valley and owner of Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, which is the 78th best modern course in the nation, according to Golfweek. "And it verifies to me that we've built a great golf course and we're running it well."
Mike Killian, director of golf at Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway Township, said there is always a buzz around his club when rankings are released. Galloway is ranked No. 70 in the nation by Golf Digest and No. 34 among modern courses (built after 1960) by Golfweek.
"My members are so proud (when Galloway moves up in rankings)," Killian said. "It also creates a little controversy. 'My God, so and so's ahead of us! That's nowhere near the golf course that this is.' It's fun, actually."
What constitutes a great golf course is up for debate.
Golfweek and Golf Digest each have a list of factors they instruct their raters to consider, from the overall land plan to the variety and memorability of the holes to the landscape and tree management. They also offer seminars for their raters.
"We all have a different perception of what's good and what's not good," said Killian, who is also a rater for Golf Digest. "I think they're becoming better and better trained. Twenty-six years ago, when I started, it was a little hit-and-miss."
Golf Magazine, meanwhile, takes a more open approach.
"We don't tell our panelists what constitutes greatness in a golf course," Golf's Web site says. "They tell us. Each panelist considers factors such as design rhythm, creativity, setting and conditioning, but the value of each category is left to each panelist's discretion."
Brad Klein, national director of golf course raters for Golfweek, said the most important thing for raters is simply focusing on the task at hand.
"Don't evaluate a golf course on the basis of how well or how badly you play," Klein said.
That's important because the panels include professional golfers, architects, journalists and other golf aficionados. Klein said it is often the plus-handicaps who have a hard time rating, because they are the ones who are most concerned with their scores.
Raters sometimes play a course anonymously as a guest of a member, to get the most genuine experience. But often clubs will invite them to play.
Hansen said he has heard stories about other clubs that have wined and dined raters and ended up high in the rankings. Killian confirmed that that has happened sometimes, "and it works," but that over the long haul, those courses usually don't have staying power on the lists.
Klein said it's usually resorts and courses that are trying to sell real estate that get overly proactive about rankings.
"There are some owners who think it's a matter of, 'Tell me what I have to do,'" Klein said. "And I just hang up on them."
The other magazines also encourage ethics among raters. Golf Digest, Killian said, throws out individual ratings that are curiously high or low.
"I think that all the magazines have gotten a little bit more (strict)," Hansen said. "They say what the raters are allowed to do or take. It's normally just they can play the golf course with a friend for nothing. They aren't allowed to take (anything else free)."
The raters' priorities, obviously, are important. Some put more emphasis on beauty, preferring courses that are on the ocean or in the mountains. Others look at the architecture of the course from a purely golf perspective.
"Some of the raters, if it's a pretty view, then they rate it highly," Hansen said. "Pine Valley is a great golf course because of the way it plays, not necessarily what it looks like. It's beautiful, but it's in South Jersey in the pines."
Incumbency also plays a big part. Much of Pine Valley's aura comes from its reputation as a top course. Galloway National, meanwhile, has consistently moved up ever since breaking into Golf Digest's rankings at No. 93 in 2005.
"The word got around that it was a great golf course, and we started to see more raters," Killian said. "I'm sure Pine Valley must get thousands of phone calls (from raters wanting to play there)."
No rankings can please everyone. Klein said he takes about 15 calls each year from angry readers whose courses either did not make the cut or were lower than they liked.
"They think the fix was in, or that it's political," Klein said.
But it's all subjective, and it's impossible to definitively rank the top golf courses in the country.
"When you look at the top 10 courses in the world, they're all equal," Hansen said. "It's like chocolate and vanilla. Being No. 1 in the world doesn't mean it's No. 1 in the world. It means someone decided they were. They're all great golf courses.
"If they say these are the top 10 golf courses in the world, all 10 of them are the best."
Contact Jason Mazda:
609-272-7193
New Jersey courses in the rankings
GOLF Magazine
Pine Valley Golf Club No. 1, Baltusrol GC (Lower) No. 28, Somerset Hills Country Club No. 47, Trump National GC Bedminster No. 54, Plainfield CC No. 61, Baltusrol GC (Upper) No. 73, Ridgewood CC No. 83
Golfweek
Classics (before 1960) top 100 - Pine Valley GC No. 2, Plainfield CC No. 28, Somerset Hills CC No. 30, Baltusrol GC (Lower) No. 39, Baltusrol GC (Upper) No. 68, Ridgewood CC No. 83, Hollywood GC No. 89
Modern (1960-present) top 100 - Galloway National GC No. 34, Bayonne GC No. 35, Trump National GC Bedminster No. 53, Hidden Creek GC No. 78
Golf Digest
Pine Valley GC No. 2, Baltusrol GC (Lower) No. 30, Galloway National GC No. 70, Plainfield CC No. 71, Somerset Hills CC No. 88
Posted in NEW JERSEY | OTHER COUNTIES | ATLANTIC | GOLF on Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:50 pm Updated: 1:21 pm.
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