Pro's top 10 list

[Dave242]

A lot of people make the assumption that Winthrop Gold is a great course, but it's the tournament that makes it a draw. When I played there, I thought there were maybe 4 good holes and the rest were just long for length's sake. It's nothing without the rope and rope is lame.

I think that is a little harsh (assuming you are talking about Gold without the ropes).

I would say the following holes are good on the normal non-tournament setup (no ropes, no bales on 17, 4, 6 & 13 baskets moved): 1, 2 (if basket is in the tournament position - I can't remember), 3, 5, 7 (if bamboo is up), 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18.

 

[grodney]

It's nothing without the rope

I think it is a fine and fun and slightly above-average without the rope. For a 900-950 player.

Still contrived with all the cement OB that is around, but I'd still put it slightly above-average as a course.

Edit: Ha! Dave and I agree!

 

[Cgkdisc]

Even when the ropes are up for casual play you don't get the bonus of the flaggers indicating if your shot is in or out. That pageantry is an unusual course factor that boosts Winthrop Gold beyond just average during the USDGC.

 

[martinb]

Even when the ropes are up for casual play you don't get the bonus of the flaggers indicating if your shot is in or out. That pageantry is an unusual course factor that boosts Winthrop Gold beyond just average during the USDGC.

yeah well, it depends on which flag the flaggers are raising now doesnt it?. in my case not enough of the right color.... :\.....

 

[humchris85]

Talk to Fieldberg not all of the courses in the world are listed here, his fave, Ammon Ranch for instance. Which is a course that will never be listed.

 

[Dave242]

I went through the Innova sponsored US men and counted their top courses listed.

[B]Course Name…..	City & State…….	#	DGCR	Trusted[/B]
Winthrop Gold	Rock Hill, SC…	30	4.31	4.42
De Laveaga…..	Santa Cruz, CA	14	4.49	4.47
Water Works	Kansas City, KS	9	4.56	4.44
La Mirada…..	La Mirada, CA	9	3.98	3.95
Hornets Nest	Charlotte, NC…	7	4.02	4.14
Renaissance	Charlotte, NC…	7	4.29	4.42
Gran Canyon	Brooksville FL	6	RIP	
Mt. Airy Forest	Cincinnati, OH	6	3.95	3.89
Pickard Park..	Indianola, IA	6	4.56	4.50
Fountain Hills	Phoenix, AZ	6	3.84	3.67
Ewing Park…	Des Moines, IA	5	4.17	3.90
Vallarta Ast	Madison, WI	5	3.83	3.64
Z Boaz……….	Fort Worth , TX	4	4.04	4.07
Swope Park	Kansas City, MO	4	3.30	3.50
Maple Hill…….	Leicester, MA	4	4.66	4.83
Idlewild………….	Cincinnati, OH	3	4.87	4.91
Warriors Path…	Kingsport, TN	3	3.92	3.25
McNaughton Park	Peoria, IL………	3	4.07	4.25
Pueblo City Pk	Pueblo, CO……	3	3.69	3.50
Waller Pines…..	Santa Maria, CA	3	3.65	3.75
Toronto Island	Toronto, Ont...	3	3.80	3.50
Warwick……..	Warwick, NY……	3	4.58	4.58
Zebulon Park	Zebulon, NC…….	3	3.79	3.50

It seemed like most of them gave a shout out to 1-2 local courses, and most of them gave a shout out to Winthrop in gratefulness to Innova for making them rich.

 

[NatiBuckeye]

interesting list... did they have Idlewild as a cincy course? I cant believe airy is above it im gonna have to go look at these

 

[Scoot_er]

Interestingly(?), I can tell you from much experience, Pickard in Des Moines is NOT a super-challenging course for top-level players. But it is a challenging course for Adv-Am or lower level pros.

True course par is 64, but the SSA is only around 57 or 58. That means a 1000 rated player is shooting 7-under on average. Anybody over 1020 would be expected to shoot 10-under-ish. And that's AVERAGE, not hot rounds.

So, a top pro is going to find this course feeling like golf (lots of par 4's and 5's), but also with lots of birdies available. I think that's part of the attraction. A 900-950 player is going to struggle much more to make par (on every hole and overall), really feeling the difficulty/length.

Number par means jack to us though!

The fact remains that a 1000 rated round is 57-58 on 18 holes which is way more challenging than a SSA of 46-48. I have Pickard on my top 10 for sure (probably #6) and that is because it offers variety and the chance to shoot really well or just crap the bed.

So just get the par thing out of your head since the course is harder than 95% of the courses we play based on SSA.

 

[Scoot_er]

Even when the ropes are up for casual play you don't get the bonus of the flaggers indicating if your shot is in or out. That pageantry is an unusual course factor that boosts Winthrop Gold beyond just average during the USDGC.

Perk? I know they had one REALLY bad call and I personally think one missed my disc crossing in bounds since he was sitting in his chair 75ft away.......led to a great par save but even with the OB if it crossed in it would have been an easy 4.