Five Australian courses –headed by Royal Melbourne’s west course at No. 3 – have made it to the top 20 on Golf Digest’s list of the world’s top 100 courses for 2018.
It is a vote of affirmation for the greatness of Australia’s golf courses, even if the rankings are by nature subjective and always controversial.
Royal Melbourne west jumped three spots from the previous ranking, two years ago, and sits even above the fabled old course at St Andrews.
The ranking is only for courses outside of the United States.
It includes some of the famous courses of the Open Championship rota, and is headed by the wonderful Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.
In total 13 Australian courses made the top 100, with Barnbougle Dunes making a big leap from No. 33 in the last ranking to No. 11, and the Melbourne sandbelt classics Victoria and Metropolitan jumping into the list after being omitted two years ago.
The Australian in Sydney and Perth’s Lake Karrinyup are among those who might consider themselves unlucky.
THE TOP FIVE (GOLF DIGEST 2018)
1 Royal County Down (Northern Ireland)
2 Royal Dornoch (Scotland)
3 Royal Melbourne (west)
4 Muirfield (Scotland)
5 St Andrews old course (Scotland)
Other Australians:
11 Barnbougle Dunes
13 Kingston Heath
18 New South Wales
19 Royal Melbourne east
24 Cape Wickham
26 Lost Farm
31 Ellerston
45 Victoria
57 Metropolitan
85 Royal Adelaide
86 St Andrews Beach
98 The National (Moonah)
The full list is at https://www.golfdigest.com/story/worlds-100-greatest-golf-courses