Renaissance -- out of the top 50? (also, list of 4-star or higher courses)

[scarpfish]

Could it be that there are just more total courses in the North than the South?

Very true. In fact, more than a quarter of the courses in the country are in five upper Midwestern states.

United States as a whole....2551 courses.
Iowa....140 courses.
Illinois....126 courses.
Michigan....115 courses.
Minnesota....135 courses.
Wisconsin....136 courses.
Five state total....652 courses (25.56%).

And I'm of the opinion that when it comes to courses, quantity and quality tend to go hand in hand.

 

[humchris85]

I have played Palmetto in Florida and Beaver Ranch in Colorado. Palmetto had benches at every Tee, water jugs by about every 3rd Tee, bathrooms, bag holders on the tees. Some interesting build ups around the pins, concrete pads plus lines for junior players about 75 feet from the pins. The variety of shots seemed limited, just threading the woods and fades and turns on your drive. Meanwhile Beaver Ranch has holes that go downhill causing discs that normally go straight, to become very understable and curve right. Uphill 170' holes that take the 270' flat throwers 3 shots to get to the pin. Risk-reward shots where you miss the put and it rolls two strokes down the hill and you didn't loose a disc in the water. Having to wait for an elk to cross the 16th hole while you are anxious to see what your Valkyrie is going to do on the 17th. Huffing and puffing on the 3rd pin so hard you don't think you can sink a 15 foot put. Like ponto said... "hey it's a mountain course". But it sure has a variety of shots. Who cares that I peed behind the teepee on 5 or that the pads are not paved. I just had a beautiful 20 holes, and had discs do things they never have done before! The golf experience is everything, the amenities egh if I want them I will go to a restaurant! IMO Beaver Ranch belongs in the Best of the Best... Palmetto was fun, and a new experiance for a Colorado DGer but the amenities didn't make it a best of the best.

This is exactly what I was talking about, a course isn't made by amenities. It may be nice to have all those things, but you can put as much amenities on a crapy course as posible, it may only raise the rating .5 -1 disc at the most, in my ratings. I agree with what someone put up on here, about topography, hole design, etc. being the things that I would rate a course on.

As for the 1/2 mile walk thing, just like I said before, it's all oppinion, if you don't like someone elses TS.
Capiche Cat-fish.

Keep Hucking
-Chris UPDGA# 0001

 

[_.-Dut-._]

This is exactly what I was talking about, a course isn't made by amenities. It may be nice to have all those things, but you can put as much amenities on a crapy course as posible, it may only raise the rating .5 -1 disc at the most, in my ratings. I agree with what someone put up on here, about topography, hole design, etc. being the things that I would rate a course on.

As for the 1/2 mile walk thing, just like I said before, it's all oppinion, if you don't like someone elses TS.
Capiche Cat-fish.

Keep Hucking
-Chris UPDGA# 0001

The golf course itself is my main criteria for reviewing, however if the park its in is exceptionally bad or good it will effect rating. A perfect five however should be nearly perfect in all categories.

 

[willstradamus]

The golf course itself is my main criteria for reviewing, however if the park its in is exceptionally bad or good it will effect rating. A perfect five however should be nearly perfect in all categories.

I couldnt agree more.

Its hard to rate a great course high if Im afraid that I will get mugged when I play it (ex. Sugaw Creek). It is also easy to raise the score when the park looks nice prior to even seeing a hole (ex. Winthrop)