I removed a new Titleist from my bag and lobbed it on to the putting green at Southport & Ainsdale. The ball first bounced and then ran smoothly out in a very gentle curve.
I immediately declared the new NCG Top 100s England golf courses ranking season officially open.
This year sees us updating our England list once more. In many ways, it is my favourite list to work on.
The top of the ranking is less immediately obvious than with the other home nations. There are always new discoveries further down due to the astonishing depth of courses in England.
Right now is quite the time to be ranking courses in Great Britain and Ireland. There is barely a contender that is not trying incredibly hard to improve their product. This can take many forms – from architectural changes to new paths (grass ones are very much de rigeur right now), and re-laid tees to eco-friendly starter huts.
That’s why we review our lists on a regular basis. Golf courses are living, breathing things and they change by the season.
Above all else, I want our rankings to be contemporaneous – showing the golf courses as they are now not as they were 10 or 20 years ago.
To that end, our panel has been strengthened to over 30 experienced and enthusiastic golfers. We have cast the net a little wider in terms of contenders. Our longlist has just short of 200 courses on it. And they are all there because we think they have a realistic chance of making our top 100.
