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World's Top 100 Golf Courses (Golf Digest 2016)

US Golf Digest Magazine did not produce a World Top 100 list until 2014, and updated their rankings two years later.

Unlike their Golf Magazine rivals, Digest rankers were not shy about making significant changes to their earlier listing as seen in the table below. Mysteriously, Ballybunion (ranked 27th in 2014) disappeared entirely from the 2016 listing whilst the humble Portmarnock links jumped from 83 to 25!

Cape WickhamOther dramatic changes including a new No. 1, Royal County Down in Northern Ireland (up from No. 4 last time) and the "two hottest new layouts on the globe, No. 19 Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia and No. 24 Cape Wickham in Australia (pic left)". 
 

Let ausgolf arrange your visit to King Island to play the new world No. 24

For further commentary see our comparison with other rankings.

To see how the Aussie courses fared click here

 

Course Name Location Country 2016 2014
Royal County Down Golf Club Newcastle, Down N. IRELAND 1 4
Augusta National Golf Club Augusta, Georgia USA 2 3
Pine Valley Golf Club Pine Valley, New Jersey USA 3 1
Cypress Point Club Pebble Beach, California USA 4 2
Royal Dornoch Golf Club Dornoch Highland SCOTLAND 5 6
Royal Melbourne G.C. (West) Melbourne, Victoria AUSTRALIA 6 9
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, New York USA 7 5
St. Andrews Golf Club (Old) St. Andrews, Fife SCOTLAND 8 7
Muirfield Golf Club Gullane, Lothian SCOTLAND 9 8
Merion Golf Club (East) Ardmore, Pennsylvania USA 10 14
Oakmont Country Club Oakmont, Pennsylvania USA 11 10
Pebble Beach Golf Links Pebble Beach, California USA 12 15
National Golf Links Of America Southampton, New York USA 13 13
Winged Foot Golf Club (West) Mamaroneck, New York USA 14 24
Fishers Island Golf Club Fishers Island, New York USA 15 17
Cape Kidnappers Havelock North, North Island NEW ZEALAND 16 22
Sand Hills Golf Club Mullen, Nebraska USA 17 12
Kingston Heath Golf Club Melbourne, Victoria AUSTRALIA 18 20
Cabot Cliffs Inverness CANADA 19  
Morfontaine Golf Club Senlis, Senlis, FRANCE 20 32
Hirono Golf Club Kobe, Kobe JAPAN 21 18
Turnberry Golf Club (Ailsa) Turnberry, Strathclyde SCOTLAND 22 19
Sunningdale Golf Club (Old) Sunningdale, Surrey ENGLAND 23 41
Cape Wickham King Island, Tasmania AUSTRALIA 24  
Portmarnock Golf Club Portmarnock, Dublin IRELAND 25 83
Carnoustie G.C.(Championship) Carnoustie, Tayside SCOTLAND 26 31
Royal Portrush Golf Club (Dunluce) Portrush, Antrim N. IRELAND 27 16
Seminole Golf Club North Palm Beach, Florida USA 28 43
Ellerston Golf Course Scone, New South Wales AUSTRALIA 29  
New South Wales Golf Club La Perouse, New South Wales AUSTRALIA 30 33
Crystal Downs Country Club Frankfort, Michigan USA 31 25
Chicago Golf Club Wheaton, Illinois USA 32 26
Barnbougle Dunes Bridport, Tasmania AUSTRALIA 33 11
Muirfield Village Golf Club Dublin, Ohio USA 34 53
Royal Birkdale Golf Club Southport, Merseyside ENGLAND 35 38
Oak Hill Country Club (East) Rochester, New York USA 36 58
Shanqin Bay Golf Course Hainan CHINA 37  
Oakland Hills C.C. (South) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA 38 67
Pacific Dunes Golf Club Bandon, Oregon USA 39 21
Barnbougle Lost Farm Bridport, Tasmania AUSTRALIA 40 23
St. George's Golf Club Islington, Ontario CANADA 41 30
The Country Club (Open) Brookline, Massachusetts USA 42 71
Links at Farncourt   S. AFRICA 43 34
Kiawah Island (Ocean) Kiawah Island, South Carolina USA 44 60
Royal St. George's Golf Club Sandwich, Kent ENGLAND 45 66
Yas Links   UAE 46 nr
Royal Porthcawl Porthcawl WALES 47 44
Wade Hampton   USA 48 69
Kauri Cliffs Kerikeri, Northland NEW ZEALAND 49 39
North Berwick (West) North Berwick SCOTLAND 50 65
Whistling Straits Golf Club Haven, Wisconsin USA 51 48
Diamante Cabo San Lucas MEXICO 52 55
Friars Head Baiting Hollow, New York USA 53 37
Trump International Menie Balmedie SCOTLAND 54 56
Royal Melbourne G.C. (East) Melbourne, Victoria AUSTRALIA 55 28
Casa De Campo (Teeth of the Dog) La Romana DOM. REP. 56 85
Riviera Country Club Pacific Palisades, California USA 57 47
Sentosa GC   SINGAPORE 58  
Prairie Dunes Country Club Hutchinson, Kansas USA 59 36
Los Angeles C.C. (North) Los Angeles, California USA 60 45
Swinley Forest Ascot ENGLAND 61 54
Alotian Club Arkansas USA 62  
Pinehurst Country Club (No. 2) Pinehurst, North Carolina USA 63 46
Kawana Golf Club (Fuji) Shizuoka, Shizuoka JAPAN 64 51
Lahinch Golf Club Lahinch, Clare IRELAND 65 64
National Golf Club   CANADA 66 61
Southern Hills Country Club Tulsa, Oklahoma USA 67  
Gozzer Ranch Idaho USA 68  
Kingsbarns Golf Club St. Andrews, Fife SCOTLAND 69 50
Cabo Del Sol (Ocean Course) Los Cabos, Baja MEXICO 70  
Valderrama Club de Golf Sotogrande Cadiz SPAIN 71 49
The Honors Course Tenn USA 72 95
Shadow Creek Las Vegas, Nevada USA 73 75
The Bluffs Ho Tram Strip Vung Tau VIETNAM 74  
Spring City (Lake) Kunming CHINA 75 92
Punta Espada Cap Cana, DOM. REP. 76  
Olympic Club (Lake) San Francisco, California USA 77 63
Memphremagog Golf Club Magog, Quebec CANADA 78 0
Nine Bridges Bongsong-ri KOREA 79 59
Peachtree GC Atlanta, Ga. USA 80  
San Francisco Golf Club San Francisco, California USA 81 29
Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire ENGLAND 82 81
The Els Club Teluk Datai Pulau Langkawa MALAYSIA 83  
Nirwana Bali GC Tabanan INDONESIA 84 52
Tokyo Golf Club Tokyo JAPAN 85  
Sheshan International G.C. Shanghai CHINA 86 82
The National GC (Old) Cape Schanck, Vic AUSTRALIA 87  
Leopard Creek Malelane SOUTH AFRICA 88 84
The Golf Club New Albany, Ohio USA 89 80
Bandon Dunes (Kidd course)     90 62
Macrihanish Macrihanish SCOTLAND 91 57
Sunningdale Golf Club (New) Sunningdale, Surrey ENGLAND 92 91
Cabot Links Inverness CANADA 93 42
Sebonack Southampton, New York USA 94  
Emirates GC Dubai UAE 95  
Naruo Inagawa JAPAN 96  
Jumeirah G Estates (Earth Course) Dubai UAE 97  
Querencia CC Los Cabos, Baja MEXICO 98  
Gary Player CC Sun City SOUTH AFRICA 99  
Olgiata GC (West) Rome ITALY 100