147 Custodians of the Game (+6)

It’s a great honor to announce that Sand Valley Golf Resort has made it to the latest list of 153 golf courses globally (#129). This list is somewhat of a anti ranking and in fact a collection of personal favorites of Golf Club Atlas Atlas co-founder Ran Morrissett. Here is some background on how this list was compiled according to the words of Mr. Morrissett:

“Below is a list of 153 courses where the game, as I enjoy it, is celebrated. Why 153? That is because there have been 153 Opens—and with very few exceptions, that event has served as a celebration of the game. Same with this compilation, which started off with 147. Since the expression ‘147’ gained notoriety, I have retained that moniker but add a + figure for each Open thereafter.

The purpose remains to highlight courses whereby when you walk off the 18th (or 9th) green, you feel invigorated rather than exhausted, and the allure of returning to the first tee is strong. Harry Vardon’s words, ‘Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty,’ spring to mind.

These are courses where you aren’t meant to hunt for balls in tall grass with your head down. They must be walkable. The focus is on the kind of features that are fun and engaging to play on a regular basis. As a consequence, width, playing angles and strategy are paramount. If the architecture of an 18-hole course isn’t interesting at 6,300 yards, there is no chance it will be more interesting at 7,300 yards. Distance and toughness are less meaningful measures of a design’s worth than the simple test of how badly one wishes to play the course on a consistent basis.

This list is ‘updated’ every couple of Opens and roughly 15% of courses come on and off per update.”

In regards to Sand Valley Mr. Morrissett had this to say:

“The more you travel, the more you realize how much you have to learn. This course in Poland features some of the most thought-provoking greens (courtesy of Tony Ristola) and they function beautifully because the greens are keep around 8.5 on the stimp. Any green chairman should come here before allowing Golden Age greens to be altered. There is a lot of golf wisdom to be gleaned by going to Poland—who knew?!”

For More information, please visit:
About Golf Club Atlas: https://golfclubatlas.com/about/
About this compilation: https://golfclubatlas.com/147-custodians/