28 replies to this topic

[Harob11]

Any idea?  Pine Valley?  Augusta?  St. Andrews?  
  And what are the requirements to become a member at some of these courses.   Curious.  

  Lets hear your picks.

[BENNYSUPREME]

Sanctuary Golf Course in Sedalia, Colorado from what I have heard only has like two members.  As for it being prestigious I'm nnot sure.  I wonder how many people on this site has played it.  There is only two ways I know of to play it.  1) charity   2) military appreciation day

[joe perry]

prestigious for me involves

- uniqueness and quality of the land the course is built upon
- design and  architecture
- tournaments hosted and history

for me in no special order and not my definitive list

Shinnecock
Chicago Golf Club
The Country Club
Oakmont
Cypress
Augusta
PIne Valley
Royal Melbourne
Kingston Heath
St Andrews
Prestwick
Muirfield
Ganton
Royal Liverpool
Sandwich
Sunningdale
Royal County Down
Royal Portrush

[teejaywhy]

 joe perry, on 04 February 2011 - 04:59 AM, said:

prestigious for me involves

- uniqueness and quality of the land the course is built upon
- design and  architecture
- tournaments hosted and history

for me in no special order and not my definitive list

Shinnecock
Chicago Golf Club
The Country Club
Oakmont
Cypress
Augusta
PIne Valley
Royal Melbourne
Kingston Heath
St Andrews
Prestwick
Muirfield
Ganton
Royal Liverpool
Sandwich
Sunningdale
Royal County Down
Royal Portrush

That's more than five.  

Edited by tjy355, 04 February 2011 - 08:39 AM.

[teejaywhy]

Definition of PRESTIGE
1: standing or estimation in the eyes of people : weight or credit in general opinion
2: commanding position in people's minds


I suppose it is up to the individual as to what makes up a club's prestige. Is it the course itself, or the club culture and its exclusivity?

For me, it would deal mostly with course design and history. (top 5 USA courses)
Pine Valley
National Golf Links of America
Shinnecock Hills
Cypress Point
Merion (East)

[exewood]

Good question..

i agree with Joe's criteria with some small tweaks.....

- quality of the land the course is built upon
- design, architecture and conditioning
- tournaments hosted and history

+ Welcome and ambience

I can offer a top five from GB&I (played and wish to play) and then a wish list of top 5 USA, Europe and Rest of world courses.. would be interesting if the courses people percive to be prestigous meet those expectations once played?

GB.

Played..              To play..

Royal Liverpool       Royal Lytham
Royal Birkdale        Turnberry
HCEG Muirfield        Prestwick
Royal Portrush        Sunnigdale
Royal Dornoch         Royal Troon


USA...

Pine Valley
Pinehurst #2
Merion
Shinnecock Hills
National Golf Links of America

Europe...

Chantilly
Valderrama
Morfontaine
Crans Sur Sierre
El Saler

Rest of World..

Royal Melbourne
New South Wales
Durban Country Club
Fancourt links
Hirono


Looking forward to chalking some of these of in the near future.. invites welcome  

[Funderpants]

St. Andrews Old Course
Pebble Beach
Pinehurst #2
Turnberry Aisla
Augusta National

[Harob11]

Nice.  This is interesting to see.  Keep it coming.

[Sneaky Short]

The Grand Slam of Membership is Augusta, Seminole, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point.   You cannot buy yourself into any of those four, its not the dough but who you know.   All of the other clubs mentioned are wonderful clubs that all golfers aspire to be able to play if only once in their lives.

[ExProGoingBack]

Winged Foot?

[hitsalittle]

from what I have heard from two guys that have played it, Hirono is something really out of this world - doesn't get much pub due to location and exclusivity, but they say it is golf at its most interesting

[pmon12]

Just a quick thought, for those posting Merion, it is quite easy to drive up to Merion and walk in/around the clubhouse. For sure I understand that it is prestigious to hold a membership there but that is just a thought. When I think "prestigious" I think of Pine Valley where the closest point that a non member can get is a road that you cannot even see the course. Just my beliefs...

[italianstallion]

1) Augusta National - obvious why
2) Oakmont - History and just the absolute ridiculousness of the course.
3) Shinnecock - Absolutely amazing piece of property. Drove my car through it but that was it. Something about the Long Island flavor it has.
4) Cypress Point - amazing piece of land
5) Oak Hill - has hosted all 6 major professional US championships plus numerous US Amateurs and a Ryder Cup

[jbrunone]

 Sneaky Short, on 04 February 2011 - 01:42 PM, said:

The Grand Slam of Membership is Augusta, Seminole, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point.   You cannot buy yourself into any of those four, its not the dough but who you know.   All of the other clubs mentioned are wonderful clubs that all golfers aspire to be able to play if only once in their lives.

Those are prestiges! Winged Foot and some of these others cant compare to those in my opinion.

[ExProGoingBack]

we have some exclusive clubs here in the Metropolitan PGA section.  Many which go unheard of.   Besides the obvious such as Shinnecock...Winged Foot...there are the unheard of such as Piping Rock...Deepdale (Mike Breed was an assistant here and Augusta at same time)....Garden City Golf Club (pretty much male only)....Maidstone ( Hamptons)..Atlantic GC.  I worked at a very exclusive club which had numerous members who showed up only one or twice a year....some were members at Augusta as well.   I think if you rank in terms of exclusitivity....Augusta has to be at the top of the list.   I had a friend who was an assistant there and he said it was very rare he would be allowed to play 9 holes...if he was lucky.

[Funderpants]

It's interesting that people equate exclusivity with prestigiousness. At least for me when I think of courses like St. Andrews and Pebble Beach it's not only the history and scenery of the course, but it's the fact any Joe Schmoe can be apart of the history which makes them amazing. Too me it's unfortunate that probably some of the most amazing courses in the world are not really meant to be played.

[kcmh]

Augusta
Chicago
Maidstone
NGC
Chicago

Not always in that order.

[exewood]

The ultra exclusive clubs in the uk do not feel that prestigious, because they never host events and you can't play them unless invited..

I'm thinking places like Queenwood, where European pro's practice.

We still have exclusive clubs, HCEG (Muirfield), Royal Liverpool, Royal Troon, Royal County Down, Sunningdale etc but you can play them all and you will be made to feel welcome..

Exclusive clubs in the US still host tournaments but are not open to visitors..

[oldpalchamp]

OK, I'll play.

Pine Valley
Augusta National
Cypress Point
San Francisco Golf
Seminole

[PreppySlapCut]

 ExProGoingBack, on 04 February 2011 - 10:59 PM, said:

....Garden City Golf Club (pretty much male only)....

hahaahhaa, pretty much?

[Capecodder19]

 oldpalchamp, on 05 February 2011 - 09:29 AM, said:

OK, I'll play.

Pine Valley
Augusta National
Cypress Point
San Francisco Golf
Seminole



I'd take out Seminole and plug in Indian Creek in Miami...maybe the most exclusive of the group

[ExProGoingBack]

 PreppySlapCut, on 05 February 2011 - 10:54 AM, said:

 ExProGoingBack, on 04 February 2011 - 10:59 PM, said:

....Garden City Golf Club (pretty much male only)....

hahaahhaa, pretty much?

Yup..they give women a 2 hour block to tee off one day a week...but cannot go into clubhouse if i recall correctly.

[fsutanker]

Whisper Rock in AZ?

We also have Pablo Creek in Jacksonville. Most don't even know it exists yet it has several touring pro members.

[aue21]

Um no women can play there anytime.......lady phone repairwoman shows up  Thanks but have a good day....

[bananapel]

Has anybody that voted for these ever played them? You can get out on my list if you know how **wink, wink**.

Liberty National--500k initiation; invite only and the entire club has to approve.
Pine Valley--invite only
Southern Highlands--300 member limit; invite only
Augusta

The course I work at has a little over 200 members and most are members at the above and Seminole. That's how I know the initiation and member limits. I also believe that Liberty National has a 250 cap but I can't remember to put in the verified info above. These people fly in on helicopters to my course and some only play 1-2 a year. Last week there was less than 100 people on the course for the entire 7 days.

Edited by bananapel, 05 April 2011 - 08:07 PM.

[OneBowTie]

Cypress Point
and a group of those in NY that are not too far from each other
Shawdow Creek (back in the day-  any day there was amazing)
Augusta- don't know too many clubs of any kind that can tell sponsors- thanks but were gonna go it alone this year- or a club that can tell TV networks how and when it can be done

[Capecodder19]

 bananapel, on 05 April 2011 - 06:00 PM, said:

Has anybody that voted for these ever played them? You can get out on my list if you know how **wink, wink**.

Liberty National--500k initiation; invite only and the entire club has to approve.
Pine Valley--invite only
Southern Highlands--300 member limit; invite only
Augusta

The course I work at has a little over 200 members and most are members at the above and Seminole. That's how I know the initiation and member limits. I also believe that Liberty National has a 250 cap but I can't remember to put in the verified info above. These people fly in on helicopters to my course and some only play 1-2 a year. Last week there was less than 100 people on the course for the entire 7 days.

Liberty National doesnt deserve to be on any list with Augusta or Pine Valley on it.  Fishers Island is 45 minutes east of LN on one of your helicopters and it makes Liberty National look like a....wait for it....dump.      ..and its old money not new money.

[JD3]

 Sneaky Short, on 04 February 2011 - 01:42 PM, said:

The Grand Slam of Membership is Augusta, Seminole, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point.   You cannot buy yourself into any of those four, its not the dough but who you know.   All of the other clubs mentioned are wonderful clubs that all golfers aspire to be able to play if only once in their lives.

Add fishers island to get #5 and you nailed it.

Note all of them are ultra private and hard to get on. That has to be a criteria for prestigious. Places like pebble and at Andrews great tracks laden with history mo doubt, but anyone can get on them.

Edited by JD3, 23 April 2011 - 04:33 AM.

[Capecodder19]

 JD3, on 23 April 2011 - 04:17 AM, said:

 Sneaky Short, on 04 February 2011 - 01:42 PM, said:

The Grand Slam of Membership is Augusta, Seminole, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point.   You cannot buy yourself into any of those four, its not the dough but who you know.   All of the other clubs mentioned are wonderful clubs that all golfers aspire to be able to play if only once in their lives.

Add fishers island to get #5 and you nailed it.

Note all of them are ultra private and hard to get on. That has to be a criteria for prestigious. Places like pebble and at Andrews great tracks laden with history mo doubt, but anyone can get on them.

Seminole has a PAT every year and every caddie within 20 miles plays that place on Christmas, the only day theres not a guard at the gate..exclusive?  Maybe but not really.  Crystal Downs, Deepdale and Sebonack are all more exclusive than Seminole.