Ever wondered how we go about updating our NCG Top 100s: GB&I list?
Dan Murphy, the editor of NCG Top 100s, chairs all of our panels. We assemble national panels for each of the constituent home nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In all, over 40 experienced, enthusiastic and knowledgeable golfers contribute to our NCG Top 100s GB&I list.
Our panel are out and about visiting the short-listed courses every season. This enables us to update our GB&I list on an annual basis.
Here is a key premise of NCG Top 100s course rankings: When we rank courses, we are only interested in the golf courses themselves – the round begins when we arrive on the 1st tee and it ends when we walk off the last green.
What we base our rankings on
The following categories – with the weighting in brackets – result in a final mark out of 100 for each course.
Architecture and design (40 points)
How well designed are the individual holes, and the course as a whole?
Do the holes offer the golfer choices? Is there a mix of penal, strategic and heroic holes? How does the course flow? Are tees generally close to the previous green? Does the course ‘fit’ into its surroundings?
Are long and short holes interspersed evenly? How much better is the best hole than the least best hole? Do all the holes feel like they belong on the same course? Does the course test all facets of the game or is it asking the same questions repeatedly?
Is the golfer’s ability to play a variety of shots with each club in the bag duly rewarded?
Conditioning/presentation/greens (20 points)
How good is the turf to hit off? How good are the greens to putt on? Does each hole play in the same way as the others?
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Surroundings (10 points)
How attractive a place to play is this course?
Challenge & playability (10 points)
When played off the correct set of tees, to what extent does the course challenge and test the skills of the elite golfer, while also being enjoyable and playable for the shorter hitter and higher handicapper?
On the one hand, does it give the golfer the chance to display their skills to the limit? On the other hand, are there forced carries and excessively penal hazards that make it difficult for the recreational golfer to enjoy the course to the maximum, regardless of how conservatively they play?
Memorability (20 points)
Does the course inspire affection and live long in the memory? How reluctant are you to leave and how much do you want to return?
Upweighting panellists’ rankings
We value more the rankings of panellists who have either played a course recently, played a course several times or both.
x2 If the course was most recently played in the last 10 years OR the reviewer has played the course 3 times or more
x3 If the course was most recently played in the last 3 years OR the reviewer has played the course 5 times or more
x4 If the reviewer has played the course 3 times or more and most recently within the last 10 years
x5 If the reviewer has played the course 5 times or more and most recently within the last 10 years OR the reviewer has played the course 3 times or more and most recently within the last 3 years
x6 If the reviewer has played the course 5 times or more and most recently within the last 3 years
Example: Five panellists have played a course. Reviewers A, B, C and D each played the course once, 15 years ago. Their scores are 48, 46, 50 and 56 respectively. Reviewer E has played the course eight times, most recently this year. Their score is 70.
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Score: 48 + 46 + 50 + 56 + (6 x 70) = 620 / 10 = 62
Courses who wished not to be included
Some courses ask not to be considered for our lists. They have various reasons for doing so and we always respect their wishes. We list them here for no other reason than to make it clear that we wanted to include them in the rankings of their respective nations. It does not follow that they would necessarily all have made it into this list.
- Beaverbrook
- Hog’s Head
- Queenswood
- Royal Wimbledon
- Woburn (Duke’s)
- Woburn (Duchess)
- Woburn (Marquess)
We will consider all of these courses for future lists and hope they choose to be included next time – indeed some already have.
How we compile our NCG Top 100s: GB&I list
In 2021, we assembled a panel to update our NCG Top 100s: England list.
In 2022, we assembled a panel to update our NCG Top 100s Scotland list.
And in 2023, we assembled panels to update our NCG Top 100s Ireland and Wales lists.
Now, we have brought together those four lists to update our GB&I list.
It is important to note a guiding principle of our NCG Top 100s: GB&I list: If Course A is higher than Course B in one of our national (ie England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales) lists, then Course A will also be higher than Course B in our GB&I list.
However, a course or courses from one or more of our other national lists may well come between them in our GB&I list.
Did we get it right? Take a look at our latest NCG Top 100s: GB&I list to find out.
What do you think of our new and updated GB&I list? Let us know your thoughts with a post on X, formerly Twitter!
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