Jack II-designed Pinehills among four debuts and 10 Nicklaus courses in GOLF’s Top 100 You Can Play

A foursome of new courses boosted Nicklaus Design to a company-best total of 10 courses featured in GOLF Magazine’s 2006 ranking of the Top 100 You Can Play.

The newcomers to the magazine’s biennial list of the country’s top public-access courses included May River, the highly acclaimed Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, S.C., and Jack Nicklaus II-designed Pinehills in Plymouth, Mass. May River, which has won numerous Best New Course awards since opening in 2004, debuted at No. 53. Pinehills, which opened in 2002 and was named by Golfweek as the top public-access course in Massachusetts last year, came in at No. 72. The other Nicklaus courses to make their first showing in the list were two Signature Coures in Old Works Golf Course (Anaconda, Mont.) at No. 84 and Grand Bear (Saucier, Miss.) at No. 90.

Of the Nicklaus Design courses that dominated a tenth of the list, the top spot went to Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C. This Jack Nicklaus-Pete Dye collaboration moved up four spots to No. 15 on the 2006 list. The Challenge at Manele, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course in Lanai, Hawaii, makes this year’s list at No. 33, while Great Waters at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga., climbs eight spots to No. 43 on the latest list.

The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., is No. 52 in this year’s list. The course opened for play in 1978 after a redesign by Jack Nicklaus. Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas, a Signature Golf Course that opened in 1998, ranks No. 54.

Ocean Hammock, a Signature Golf Course in Palm Coast, Fla. rounds out the list of 10 Nicklaus courses by jumping one spot to No. 78.

At least 48 Nicklaus Design courses have been ranked in various national and international Top-100 lists, including those by GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest and Golfweek. Jack Nicklaus has 250 courses open for play worldwide and Nicklaus Design, as a company, has 304 courses open for play in 29 countries and 38 states. Nicklaus Design also has 55 courses under construction in 32 different countries.