The Top 25 Public Golf Courses in America — My Honest Opinion After Playing Most of Them Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at ⁠square.com/go/WINGO⁠ #squarepod #sponsored Every year Golf Digest, Golf.com, and Golfweek rank the best public golf courses in America. This year they combined all three lists into one composite ranking — and the results are worth talking about. Trey Wingo has played 20 of the 25 courses on this list. Not as a journalist. Not as a tourist. As a golfer who has spent decades on some of the greatest public tracks in the country. So when a list like this comes out, he has opinions. Real ones. In this video Trey breaks down the full top 25 — what the list gets right, what it gets wrong, and which courses deserve to be ranked much higher than they are. Pebble Beach is number one and it is hard to argue with that. The stretch of holes from four through ten along Stillwater Cove might be the most beautiful piece of golf real estate anywhere in the world. But is it actually the best golf course on this list? Trey makes the case that Spyglass Hill — ranked 14th — is a better golf course. Not a better experience. A better golf course. The difference matters. Kapalua Plantation comes in at number 24. For Trey it is a home course. He has played it more times than almost anything else on this list. And 24th does not feel right. Shadow Creek checks in at number eight with a greens fee of $1,250. Is it worth it? Trey has not played it. But he has thoughts on whether any golf course is worth four figures for a round. Bandon Dunes has five courses on this list — Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald, and Sheep Ranch. All five made the composite ranking. Trey breaks down which ones he loves, which one he thinks is overrated, and why Bandon Trails gets more credit than it deserves simply because of the company it keeps. Sand Valley, Streamsong, Whistling Straits, Bethpage Black, Pinehurst Number Two, the Lido, Mammoth Dunes, Erin Hills — Trey has been to almost all of them and has something to say about each one. At the bottom of the list sits Manele Golf Course on Lanai, Hawaii. Number 25. Jack Nicklaus design. Twelve holes along one of the most dramatic stretches of coastline in the Pacific. A 12th hole par three that drops over a hundred feet into the ocean. The same hole where Bill Gates bought out every charter plane and helicopter in Hawaii just so he could get married in private. Trey would put it considerably higher. This is not a sponsored rankings video. It is not a tourism piece. It is one golfer who has been to almost every course on this list telling you honestly what he thinks — where the composite rankings got it right, where they got it wrong, and where you should actually spend your money if you are planning a golf trip. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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