Mayacama makes Top-100 debut
as Digest rankings toast Nicklaus

Plucked from California wine country, 4-year-old Mayacama enters at No. 67;
Muirfield Village takes over Ohio's top spot in Best in State rankings

Muirfield Village retained its No. 18 ranking on the Golf Digest list. (Photo by Jim Mandeville)

Highlighted by the debut of Mayacama, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course set amid the rolling hills of Sonoma County's rich wine country, Nicklaus Design placed six courses in Golf Digest's 2005-06 ranking of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses. A record nine Nicklaus courses made Digest's 100 Greatest Public Courses, including debuts by Ocean Hammock (No. 80) in Palm Coast, Fla., and Grand Bear (No. 95) in Saucier, Miss.

The biennial survey by Golf Digest also includes a listing of the Best Courses by State, as well as the 100 Best Courses Outside the United States and a list of the Top Courses in 184 Countries. Nicklaus Design had a record 54 courses make the Best Courses by State list, including 24 courses ranked in the top five of their respective states. Four of those took top honors--Shoal Creek (Alabama), Castle Pines (Colorado), Valhalla (Kentucky) and Muirfield Village (Ohio). Muirfield Village supplanted Inverness as the No. 1-rated course in golf-rich Ohio. Another three Nicklaus layouts took runner-up honors, including 3-year-old Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Dalhousie, the solo design debut by Gary Nicklaus, debuted above such venerable layouts as Bellerive, Old Warson and St. Louis Country Club, which opened more than 100 years ago.

Nicklaus Design, which is represented in 37 states, had 27 states represented in Digest's ranking.

Globally, three Nicklaus courses made the list of the 100 Best Courses Outside the United States. They were Spring City-Lake Course in Kunming, China (No. 51), the Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol in Los Cabos, Mexico (No. 63), and Mission Hills-World Cup Course in Shenzhen, China (No. 96).

At the time of the survey, Nicklaus Design was represented in 26 countries outside the United States-the firm has since added Argentina-and Nicklaus was represented in 21 countries in Digest's list of the Top Courses in 184 Countries. A total of 29 Nicklaus Design courses made the list, with the most impressive showing being in Mexico, where Nicklaus had five courses ranked among the 20 listed, including the top four (Cabo del Sol, El Dorado, Four Seasons Golf Club Punta Mita and Vista Vallarta) and five of the top seven (Palmilla was No. 7).

In the listing of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses, Muirfield Village held on to its No. 18 ranking, while Shoal Creek (No. 49) and Castle Pines (No. 50) made significant climbs to reach the top 50. Mayacama, which opened in August 2001 and debuted in Golfweek's Top 100 just eight months later, entered at No. 67. Close behind was Valhalla, which moved from 87th to 70th. Harbour Town rounded out the Nicklaus entries at No. 97. Harbour Town, however, was No. 14 in the list of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses and the highest ranked among the Nicklaus Design courses. The other Nicklaus representatives were: The Challenge at Manele (No. 60); Great Waters at Reynolds Plantation (No. 61); The Greenbrier (No. 79); Ocean Hammock (No. 80); Old Works (No. 82); Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas (No. 86); Kauai Lagoons-Kiele (No. 90); and Grand Bear (No. 95).