Spanning the U.S., Promontory in Utah, Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Creighton Farms in Virginia, The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in South Carolina also earn honors

Spanning the U.S., Promontory in Utah, Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Creighton Farms in Virginia, The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in South Carolina also earn honors

NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla.—With four golf courses, stretching from The Painted Valley Course at Promontory in the heart of Utah’s Rocky Mountains, across the country to The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in the Carolina Preserve on the edge of South Carolina’s spectacular Blue Ridge Mountains, Nicklaus Design placed four layouts among Golfweek’s ranking of the “Best New Courses 2008.”

Adding to rave reviews from GOLF Magazine (“Top 10 You Can Play 2007”), and LINKS Magazine (“America’s Premier Properties” 2008-2009) Cougar Canyon Golf Links in the Southern Colorado town of Trinidad, topped the list of Nicklaus Design courses at No. 5 in Golfweek’s ranking. A links-style Nicklaus Design course, led by Senior Design Associate Chris Cochran, Cougar Canyon offers a unique combination of mountain and desert terrain with split fairways, pedestal greens, and black sand bunkers. The Sangre de Cristo mountain range provides the backdrop to this 7,789-yard track, setting the stage for an enjoyable golf experience that is open year-round for public play.

Golfweek magazine enlists the help of nearly 500 raters to compile their Best New ranking. Based on 10 criteria—including routing; variety and memorability; conditioning; and tree and landscape management—raters grade each course on a 10-point scale and scores are averaged to get the overall rating.

Also gracing Golfweek’s “Best New Courses” list, coming in at No. 16, was the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Promontory. Offering spectacular views of the Deer Valley Ski Resort and the Uinta Mountain range, The Painted Valley Course, at 8,136 yards, is a supreme test of golf that incorporates a natural, unspoiled beauty for members and guests, all within the 10-square-mile, private, family friendly community of Promontory in Park City, Utah.

Rounding out the list at Nos. 22 and 33, respectively, were The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Creighton Farms in Aldie, Va., and The Cliffs at Keowee Falls in Pickens, S. C.

The Nicklaus Signature Course at Creighton Farms places a premium on strategy and precision rather than power with a variety of holes and challenges available on this 7,410-yard layout that winds its way around a creek, among mature trees, and through verdant meadows.

The 160-acre Keowee Falls golf course is the second Nicklaus Signature Course within The Cliffs communities. A challenging par-72, 7,171-yard layout, Keowee Falls’ golf experience has been married with the natural environment, incorporating many water features into the strategy including Falls Creek, which was completely restored during the course construction, making history in the process by becoming the largest creek restoration in South Carolina’s history.