... with a heathland gem like Hankley Common?

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managers, contributors, books and magazines, and from others working in or close to golf. The final and perhaps decisive strength is that the list is

created ‘for golfers, by golfers’. Traditionally course rankings have been heavily influenced by the opinions of ‘industry experts’ such as golf course architects and elite players and, while we of course respect the views of those whose job it is to either create these works of art or to get round them in as few shots as possible, Golf Monthly wanted to offer more of a genuine golfer’s guide that typical club players could relate to. Therefore our panel of thirty plus ‘assessors’ is made up from the staff and readers, all of whom are very experienced, knowledgeable and enthusiastic golfers. As for the criteria themselves, there are four main categories and these are weighted with the first two each worth about one third of the marks, and the third and fourth each worth one sixth. The first of these is the ‘Quality of Test and Design’. A few of the areas to look at include whether there is a good balance of hole lengths and pars, how varied are the holes and the shot-making that is required, to what extent is risk and reward a factor, how well placed are the hazards, and are there any stand-out or weak holes. Of equal importance is ‘Condition and Presentation’. The assessment looks at the entire course, but in particular the

teeing areas, fairways and cuts of rough, the hazards, green approaches and the greens themselves. ‘Visual Appeal’ - which of course is more subjective still - is

the third criteria. How aesthetically pleasing is the course to look at, how interesting and inspiring are the views on offer of the area surrounding the course and what sort of flora and fauna are there. Lastly comes ‘Ambience’, which is more about the overall experience of the visit and includes the welcome that the golfer receives, the sense of occasion, the clubhouse and its facilities, and even the value for money the visitor green fee represents. As you can see, these four categories are increasingly subjective. Indeed, the whole process is subjective to some degree or other. But rather than dismiss this because it is not scientific, I think that this is to be celebrated. There is virtually nothing that gets golfers so enthusiastic as this; and that is exactly the way it should be. With the best will in the world, the delight of such a list is that even with the more prescriptive criteria, it will always be debatable. Happily, there is never going to be a definitive way to proclaim that course A is better than course B. How can you even begin to compare a links with a heathland course? To compare Sunningdale with Kingsbarns would be to compare Mozart

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