Nicklaus led all design firms nationwide by placing seven layouts in Golfweek magazine’s ranking of the Top 50 New Courses in America, including the top-10 finishes of The Club at Pronghorn in Bend, Ore., and the May River Golf Club in Bluffton, S.C. All courses that were listed opened for play in 2004-05, and were chosen based on input from 400 raters nationwide.
Pronghorn, which came in at No. 7 on the Golfweek list, was a Golf Digest Top 10 Best New Private Course honoree.
Pronghorn, which came in at No. 7 on the Golfweek list, was a Golf Digest Top 10 Best New Private Course honoree and debuted last year at 71st in Golfweek’s ranking of America’s 100 Best Modern Courses. Pronghorn was followed at No. 8 by May River, the centerpiece of the Palmetto Bluff development near Hilton Head. May River Golf Club was a Top 10 Best New Upscale Public honoree by Golf Digest and debuted last year in Golfweek’s America’s 100 Best Modern Courses at No. 100. May River Golf Club and The Club at Pronghorn were also named Best New Communities (east and west, respectively) by Golf Magazine Living. They were also among the 24 Nicklaus facilities named by Travel & Leisure Golf as one of America’s Top 100 Golf Communities. May River has also been named in Golf Magazine’s Top 10 You Can Play and Top 100 You Can Play.
The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in Asheville, N.C., and one of two Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Courses in the sprawling Cliffs Communities, came in at No. 23 on Golfweek’s list of 50, followed at No. 24 by Outlaw, the sixth Nicklaus Signature Course at Desert Mountain in Arizona.
At No. 38 is Old Greenwood in Truckee, Calif., near Lake Tahoe. Old Greenwood was a Top 10 Best New Upscale Public course by Golf Digest. Escena Golf Club, a Nicklaus Design course in Palm Springs, Calif., was No. 43 on the list. Rounding out the seven Nicklaus Design courses was Bayside Resort Golf Club, the first Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course in Delaware.
