Alps

Note: Some Alps holes on our list also have punchbowl greens and may appear in both rankings.

  1. Fishers Island (#4)
  2. National Golf Links of America (#3)
  3. Lookout Mountain Club (#11)
  4. The Greenbrier (Old White, #13)
  5. Yale (#12)

HM: Southampton GC (#16), Dedham Polo (#9)

Biarritz

  1. Fishers Island (#5)
  2. Yale (#9)
  3. Camargo (#8)
  4. Mid Ocean Club (#13)
  5. Sleepy Hollow (Lower Nine, #7)

HM: Piping Rock Club (#9), Westhampton CC (#17)

Bottle

  1. National Golf Links of America (#8)
  2. Watchung Valley GC (#12)
  3. Yeamans Hall Club (#4)
  4. CC of Fairfield (#3)
  5. Francis Byrne (#10)

HM: Rock Spring Club (#12)

Cape

  1. Mid Ocean Club (#5)
  2. Shoreacres (#4)
  3. St. Louis CC (#8)
  4. CC of Fairfield (#3)
  5. Lookout Mountain Club (#7)

HM: Yeamans Hall Club (#10), The Creek Club (#13)


Double Plateau/Maiden

Note: Maiden and Double Plateau greens are variations on a common theme, so are reviewed together .

  1. Yeamans Hall Club (Double Plateau, #1)
  2. Chicago GC (Double Plateau, #6)
  3. Fishers Island (Double Plateau, #9)
  4. St. Louis CC (modified Maiden, #15)
  5. Camargo Club (Maiden, #16)
  6. Yeamans Hall Club (Maiden, #11)
  7. Southampton GC (Maiden, #3)
  8. Essex County CC (Maiden, #12)
  9. Morris County GC (Double Plateau, #4)
  10. Yale (Double Plateau, #17)

Eden

  1. Fishers Island Club (#11)
  2. Essex County CC (#11)
  3. Camargo Club (#5)
  4. St. Louis CC (#3)
  5. Mid Ocean Club (#3)


Knoll

  1. Yale (#14)
  2. Fishers Island (#10)
  3. Gibson Island Club (#7)
  4. Piping Rock Club (#13)
  5. Yeamans Hall Club (#14)

HM: Dedham Polo (#7)

Leven

  1. National Golf Links of America (#17)
  2. Fox Chapel Club (#12)
  3. Westhampton GC (#12)
  4. The Creek Club (#10)
  5. Shoreacres (#3)

Long

  1. Piping Rock Club (#6)
  2. St. Louis CC (#13)
  3. Yeamans Hall (#9)
  4. Mountain Lake CC (#4)


Prize Dogleg

  1. Yeamans Hall Club (#15)
  2. Watchung Valley GC (#16)
  3. Francis Byrne GC (#15)
  4. Southampton GC (#6)
  5. Chicago GC (#16)

 HM: Dedham Polo (#6)

Punchbowl

  1. The Creek Club (#5)
  2. Fishers Island Club (#4)
  3. National Golf Links of America (#16)
  4. CC of Charleston (#16)*
  5. Blue Mound CC (#8)

HM: Fox Chapel Club (#2), Mountain Lake (#15)


*Yes - a lionsmouth green is properly understood merely as a variety of punchbowl.


Yale - if you're reading this, we miss your double punchbowl on #3...Come back! 

Redan

Note: Par 3 versions only (par 4 versions considered in the "Hybrid Holes" category)

  1. Camargo Club (#15)
  2. Chicago Golf Club (#7)
  3. National Golf Links of America (#4)
  4. Yeamans Hall Club (#6)
  5. CC of Charleston (#11)
  6. Mountain Lake CC (#11)
  7. Sleepy Hollow CC (#7)
  8. Piping Rock Club (#3)
  9. Rock Spring Club (#3)
  10. Elkridge Club (#17)

HM: Shoreacres (#14), Mid Ocean Club (#17)

Road

  1. National Golf Links (#7)
  2. Yale (#4)
  3. Piping Rock Club (#8)
  4. Fishers Island Club (#8)
  5. North Shore (#3)

HM: Mid Ocean Club (#10), Shoreacres (#10)

Short

  1. Sleepy Hollow CC (#16)
  2. Chicago Golf Club (#10)
  3. National Golf Links (#6)
  4. Camargo Club (#11)
  5. Fishers Island Club (#16)
  6. Shoreacres  (#12)
  7. Yeamans Hall Club (#3)
  8. Lookout Mountain (#6)
  9. Fox Chapel Club (#11)
  10. Blue Mound CC (#7)

HM: Greenbrier (Old White, #18)

**Hybrid Holes**

The best combination, offbeat, or quirky implementation of template holes

  1. CC of Charleston (Lionsmouth Punchbowl, #16)
  2. Yale (Strategy-esque, #18)
  3. Essex County CC (Lionsmouth, Double Punchbowl, Alps, #14)
  4. Fishers Island (Redan par 4, #12)
  5. Yale (Cape/Redan, #8)
  6. Westhampton CC (Punchbowl par 3, #3)
  7. Watchung Valley GC (Punchbowl par 3, #13)
  8. Essex County CC (angled, single-tier Biarritz, #15)
  9. Gibson Island (Eden/Punchbowl par 3, #3)
  10. Everglades Club (Punchbowl par 3, #8)

**Original Holes**

The best original, non-template MacRaynor holes

  1. National Golf Links (#18)
  2. Fishers Island Club (#7)
  3. Shoreacres (#11)
  4. Mid Ocean Club (#1)
  5. Shoreacres (#15)
  6. Fishers Island (#3)
  7. Yale (#10 - though based on a similar hole at Shinnecock)
  8. Shoreacres (#2)
  9. Greenbrier (Old White, #5) 
  10. Westhampton GC (#15)

HM: Mid Ocean Club (#12), Mid Ocean Club (#16)

**Seldom-Used Template Holes**

Channel, Strategy, Hogs Back, Valley, Sahara, Narrows, - too few of each to merit a separate category

  1. TBD - Give us your opinion!
  2. National Golf Links of America (Sahara, #2)
  3. National Golf Links  of America (Valley, #1)
  4. St. Louis CC (Narrows, #15)
  5. Camargo Club (Channel, #12 - alternate, "safe" fairway never built)

 HM: North Shore CC (Sahara, #2), The Greenbrier (Old White, Hogs Back, #2), Mid Ocean Club (Valley, #8)

Comments Encouraged

Even our panel of MacRaynor experts can get it wrong sometimes. We'd love to hear from you with your opinion on holes we've excluded or the merits of various template holes - we love a healthy debate and will update the rankings if we feel you've made a cogent argument, particularly where a hole has been recently modified. 


The comment form appears on the home page.