By:
GOLF’s Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Structure Editor
December 22, 2022
Calusa Pines is available in at No. 5 within the state of Florida.
Courtesy of Calusa Pines
As a part of GOLF’s course score course of for 2022-23, our fleet of 100-plus skilled panelists recognized the most effective golf programs in Florida. Browse the hyperlinks beneath to take a look at all of our course rankings, or scroll right down to see the most effective programs in Florida.
GOLF’s different course rankings: Prime 100 Programs within the World | Prime 100 Programs within the U.S. | Prime 100 Programs You Can Play | Prime 100 Worth Programs within the U.S. | America’s Greatest Municipal Programs | The 100 Greatest Quick Programs within the World
SYMBOL GUIDE
1 = Prime 100 Course within the U.S.
P = Public/Resort Course
V = Prime 100 Worth Course within the U.S.
M = Prime 30 Municipal Course within the U.S.
Ed. observe: Some programs had been omitted from our rankings as a result of they didn’t obtain sufficient votes.
The very best golf programs in Florida (2022/2023)
1. Seminole (Juno Seaside) [1]
Arguably the best web site on which Donald Ross ever labored, the course performs alongside and between two important dune strains, and Ross made the many of the alternative with holes regularly tacking in several instructions. The membership prides itself on its agency taking part in surfaces, which had been on full show throughout the 2021 Walker Cup. Some grouse that the course’s fame is constructed on the membership’s exclusivity, which is unwarranted on condition that standout holes abound, together with the 4th, sixth, thirteenth and one of many recreation’s most interesting ending three-hole stretches.
A view of Seminole.
Zephyr Melton
2. TPC Sawgrass-Stadium (Ponte Vedra Seaside) [1, P]
Some sniff on the artificiality of a course being hewn from a swamp, but that’s additionally what makes the Stadium Course stand out from the gang. House of the Gamers Championship since 1982, the design has developed right into a good-looking battleground (nonetheless you’re feeling concerning the towering clubhouse), highlighting Pete Dye’s expertise for envisioning one thing from nothing. The brief par-4 4th, reachable par-5 eleventh and the lengthy par-4 14th rank amongst Dye’s all-time greatest. For shotmaking choices and memorable particular person holes that require a mix of energy and finesse, the Stadium Course has few friends.
3. Streamsong-Pink (Bowling Inexperienced) [1, P]
When the fashionable minimalism of Coore and Crenshaw meets the heaving, sandy panorama of a former phosphate mine, the consequence has extra in frequent with a Scottish hyperlinks than it does with a typical Florida design. Neglect comfortable landings on flat, water-laden fairways. Like its Streamsong siblings, the Blue and Black programs, the Pink is constructed for bouncy, rollicking play. There’s some leeway off the tee. However attacking from the right angle is important. So is a knack for inventive shot-making. The bottom recreation is extra welcome right here than nearly wherever within the Sunshine State. Max charge: $259, resort visitor; $299, non-resort visitor.
4. Streamsong-Blue (Bowling Inexperienced) [1, P]
Tom Doak and Invoice Coore actually shared holes and land as they constructed the Blue and Pink programs in a collaborative spirit. To a sure extent, meaning the 2 programs additionally share the highlight, which is probably not honest to both, as each are standouts. A gifted greenkeeper pushes the dormant Bermuda fairways to tawny perfection throughout the winter months (no overseeding right here!) and the agency taking part in surfaces could make a gap just like the sixth, with its inexperienced that races away, exasperating. The in-your-face 4th climbs a ridge and a few contend that is the most effective gap of the 54 at this luxe resort. The par-5 seventeenth, with its interesting cross hazard, and the lengthy two-shot 18th, the place the bottom recreation is the star are pretty much as good a 1-2 ending punch as Doak has ever constructed. Max charge: $259, resort friends; $299, non-resort friends.
The seventeenth at TPC Sawgrass.
Michael Bamberger
5. Calusa Pines (Naples) [1]
Uncommon for Florida, this can be a pure golf membership with no properties. Quiet rounds are assured. A stupendous Hurdzan-Fry inventive creation, the course encapsulates the most effective that Florida has to supply: scrubby, sandy soil; pine bushes; the occasional lagoon; and a few shockingly tremendous land motion. Typically talking, both an expansive sandy space or lagoon is on one aspect of the green and loads of brief grass is to the opposite. The extra you flirt with the hazards, although, the higher the angle on your method. The stretch from 4 to six highlights that design thesis. Including to the fulfilling problem are its perched greens, which require demanding approaches and deft restoration photographs. The cadence of the holes and the ever-changing asks of the participant add to the expertise.
6. McArthur (Hobe Sound)
7. Mountain Lake (Lake Wales)
8. Jupiter Hills-Hills (Tequesta)
9. Indian Creek (Indian Creek)
10. Streamsong-Black (Bowling Inexperienced) [P]
Streamsong’s Black Course.
Courtesy of Streamsong
11. The Concession (Bradenton)
12. Medalist (Hobe Sound)
13. Pine Tree (Boynton Seaside)
14. John’s Island – West (Vero Seaside)
15. Seminole Legacy (Tallahassee)
16. Timuquana (Jacksonville)
17. Bear’s Membership (Jupiter)
18. Previous Memorial (Tampa)
19. Black Diamond Ranch – Quarry (Lecanto) [P]
20. Isleworth (Windermere)
21. Lake Nona (Orlando)
22. Belleair (Belleair)
23. Pablo Creek (Jacksonville) [P]
24. Bay Hill (Orlando) [P]
25. Trump Nationwide Doral – Blue (Miami) [P]
26. Grove XXIII (Hobe Sound)
Take a look at Michael Jordan’s The Grove XXIII.
Courtesy of Bobby Weed Golf Design
27. Trump Worldwide GC, West Palm Seaside (West Palm Seaside)
28. CC of Florida (Boynton Seaside)
29. Dye Protect (Jupiter)
30. Emerald Dunes (West Palm Seaside)
How we rank our programs
For GOLF’s course rankings lists, every panelist is offered a listing of a whole lot of programs and “buckets,” or groupings. In the event that they imagine the course to be among the many greatest in its class (World, U.S. Worth, and so forth.), they verify the corresponding field to put it in a selected bucket. Panelists are additionally free to write down in programs they felt ought to have been included on the poll. Factors had been assigned to every bucket; to reach at a median rating for every course, we divide its mixture rating by the variety of votes. From these level tallies, the programs are then ranked accordingly.
The important thing to the method is the expertise and experience of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all of the worldwide golf meccas, every of our 115 handpicked panelists has a eager eye for structure, each regionally and globally. Lots of our panelists have performed greater than 1,000 programs in 20-plus international locations.
As a result of we don’t prescribe a set technique to evaluate programs as different ranks do, nobody opinion carries the day — our rank is a democracy. Some panelists imagine that enjoyment is the last word aim, and thus prioritize design attributes similar to width and taking part in angles, whereas frowning on upon having to always hunt for balls in thick tough. Different panelists worth problem and the calls for of hitting each membership within the bag. Nonetheless others contemplate a course’s environment and total setting of paramount significance, thereby emphasizing the setting and naturalness of the course. In the long run, permitting raters to freely categorical their tastes is what produces the specified eclecticism in our Prime 100 lists.
Panelist integrity is significant. Voters with any ties or associations to eligible programs should flag such conflicts. Panelists additionally know to not let the standard of their play affect their poll — similar for a luxe expertise or clubhouse. Whereas opulence might make for a extra a memorable outing, it’s not what GOLF’s course lists are about. Our focus is on design and structure. We research the course, not the trimmings round it.
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