Sebonack Golf Club, the much-heralded collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, and Jack’s masterpiece at Mayacama, which has become the toast of the Sonoma wine region, made their debuts in GOLF Magazine’s 2007 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the United States. Mix in the return of an older but slightly improved Castle Pines to the list, and Nicklaus Design enjoyed its highest number of Top-100 entries in a decade.
Mayacama, located in Santa Rosa, Calif., in the midst of wine country, quickly earned acclaim when it debuted in Golfweek’s Top 100 within six months of opening in 2001.
Complementing perennial mainstays Muirfield Village Golf Club (No. 25) and Harbour Town (No. 40), Nicklaus Design placed five courses in the Top 100–its most since five highlighted the 1997-98 list. Muirfield Village Golf Club also maintained its ranking in the Top 100 Courses in the World, coming in this year at No. 42. The other world-ranked Nicklaus design was the Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol at No. 88.
Sebonack made a head-turning debut in the U.S. 100, entering the list at No. 76 a year after opening. The first-ever Nicklaus-Doak design is located in Southampton, N.Y., and is nestled between the venerable layouts of Shinnecock Hills and The National Golf Links. But as GOLF’s Joe Passov wrote, "Sebonack holds its own quite nicely, owing to such memorable holes as the downhill, dogleg left 11th, which runs toward Great Peconic Bay, as well as an enviable collection of risk/reward tests, including the short, bunker-strewn par-4 fifth and the superb par-5 18th, with the bay beckoning up the left side."
Mayacama, located in Santa Rosa, Calif., in the midst of wine country, quickly earned acclaim when it debuted in Golfweek’s Top 100 within six months of opening in 2001. Now it adds a No. 98 ranking in GOLF Magazine to its quickly burgeoning resume.
Castle Pines, which opened 26 years ago and from 1986-2006 hosted The International on the PGA Tour, slipped out of the Top 100 a few years ago, but returned with fervor in 2007 at No. 85. Passov lauded Castle Pines’ "stunning" par 4s, and the changes made to the par-5 eighth and par-5 14th, which have "amped up the excitement quotient."
