NEW YORK-
A new edition of a guide from Fodor's and Golf Digest magazine profiles 4,000 public and resort courses in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean.
The newly released seventh edition of "Golf Digest Best Places to Play" ($24.95) evaluates courses using a five-star rating, based on overall experience, service, value and pace of play. Listings provide details about each course including whether it's public, resort, semi-private or military; the number of holes; the yards, par, course rating and slope; fees for the green and cart; whether the terrain is flat or hilly; whether carts are mandatory; what seasons the course is open; and how far in advance reservations can be made.
The ratings are based on surveys of 20,000 golfers and Golf Digest subscribers.
Each listing also includes a sample of comments about the course from the surveys, similar to the excerpts of restaurant reviews by diners found in Zagat guides. Readers are invited to add their opinions at .
The sections are organized geographically and then alphabetically, so that you can look up a state and quickly find the course descriptions in each area.
The book also includes the magazine's current rankings of the 100 best golf courses, the best new upscale public courses, the best new affordable public courses and the best new Canadian courses.
Only 16 courses earned a five-star rating, which the book defines as "superb–golf at its absolute best. Pay any price to play at least once in your life."
The five-star courses are:
–Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club, Arcadia, Mich.
–Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Ore.
–Bethpage State Park Golf Courses, Farmingdale, N.Y. (on Long Island).
–Big Creek Golf & Country Club, Mountain Home, Ark.
–Blackwolf Run, Kohler, Wis.
–Bulle Rock, Havre de Grace, Md.
–Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, S.C.
–Little Mountain Country Club, Concord, Ohio.
–Madden's On Gull Lake, Brainerd, Minn.
–Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club, Sandia Park, N.M.
–Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.
–Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Pinehurst, N.C.
–Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Pebble Peach, Calif.
–TPC of Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
–Whistling Straits Golf Club, Sheboygan, Wis.
–Woodland Hills Golf Course, Eagle, Neb.
