The Signature 36

Though this is the fourth edition of FG’s year-ending Signature Series, we didn’t start ranking golf courses in true numerical order until last year. It was a tougher job than we thought it would be, and after another season of seeing some courses for the first time and revisiting others, we realize the list-making remains an inexact science, born of memory and emotion as much as it is of empirical data — ratings, slopes, green speeds and the like. In fact, when we got right down to reconsidering, re-shuffling and revamping last year’s lineup, the same elements came into play: Gut feelings mixed with scorecards; public standing mixed with personal preference; history intertwined with architectural leaps forward.

As always, these rankings are based on decades of combined golf travel experience and the knowledge that we are privileged to live in a part of America unmatched for its geographic and climatic diversity — and definitely unsurpassed for sheer wealth and richness of golf experiences. And as with last year, you’ll find our winners broken into two camps, resort and non-resort.

The criteria for each list are straightforward.

An FG staffer or writer must have played the course.

• All courses must be available for public play, either on a resort stay or daily-fee basis.

• Courses on the resort list must be affiliated with a hotel or lodging of some sort, whether or not it is contiguous to that property. The quality or rating of the lodging doesn’t figure into our ranking here; it’s all about golf — hole-to-hole and overall design, memorability, playability, setting, conditioning, service, emotional engagement and that gestalt-like conclusion we call the Total Experience. Though being next to or affiliated with a world-class hotel certainly doesn’t hurt.

• Courses in the non-resort list are stand-alone entities, though many of them take part in stay-and-play packages offered by nearby hotel properties.

• We didn’t take green fees into account. Rates here range from less than $30 to $500 for weekend high season, so we figure it’s up to you, dear reader, to find your dollars-and-cents (or sense) threshold and play twilight or off-season if you have to.

Enjoy. And let us know your reactions a www.fgmagazine.com by becoming a member of our new online community, logging in and letting fly. We want to know if we’re on point, and when we’re off track.

RESORT COURSES

1. Pebble Beach | Pebble Beach, Calif.
www.pebblebeach.com | 831.622.8723
The setting, the history, the mystique ... plus holes 4 through 10 and the world’s most famous finisher: Pebble will be a top-fiver forever. Last year Spyglass finished above it on this list, but in 2007, its excellent conditioning and service, experienced anew during our latest father-son adventure, have pushed it back to the top where it belongs.

2. Pacific Dunes | Bandon, Ore.
www.bandondunesgolf.com | 800.742.0172
Which of the three outstanding Bandon Dunes Resort courses deserves top billing? A couple years ago we kicked around this idea through three impassioned treatises, but reached no consensus. Yet Pacific edges the others again. Yeah, it’s short by modern design standards, and sure, the back nine has four 3-pars. But when the Southern Oregon Coast wind gets frisky — which is the case more days than not — Tom Doak’s Irish links-like masterpiece is as tough as they come. Figure in its visceral and visual power, with enough stunning sea-meets-sand-meets-heather wonder to impress even the most jaded traveler, and it’s no contest.

3. Bandon Trails | Bandon, Ore.
www.bandondunesgolf.com | 800.742.0172
Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore went into the forest at Bandon Resort’s southern tip and routed an incredible mountain-like course. Simple, stunning and strategic, it makes an argument for being the best of them all.

4. Spyglass Hill | Pebble Beach, Calif.
www.pebblebeach.com | 831.625.8563
Hole for hole, it’s the best of the Company’s estimable quartet, and certainly the toughest. The first five holes remain Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s crowning achievement.

5. Bandon Dunes | Bandon, Ore.
www.bandondunesgolf.com | 800.742.0172
Links purists prefer David McLay Kidd’s original, for good reason. Overall, some believe it is the sternest test in the Bandon trio.

6. Cascata | Boulder City, Nev.
www.cascatagolf.com | 702.294.2000
Magic on a desert mountainside, now owned and operated by Harrah’s, and affiliated with all of its Vegas hotels. Rees Jones knows how to wow the senses. After a decade in the shadow of the “Creek,” this colorful and fascinating layout is finally getting the kudos it deserves. And the river-runs-through-it clubhouse is outstanding.

7. Cordevalle | San Martin, Calif.
www.cordevalle.com | 408.695.4500
You’ve got to stay at the exquisite boutique Rosewood resort to play this Trent Jones Jr. gem south of San Jose, but take the wallet-choking plunge. It’s unforgettable.

8. Shadow Creek | Las Vegas
www.shadowcreek.com | 866.260.0069
It’s a $500-a-pop Disneyland for golfers thanks to the genius of Tom Fazio and the deep pockets of Steve Wynn, and a pretty darned delicious test, too.

9. Circling Raven | Worley, Idaho
www.circlingraven.com | 800.523.2464
The Coeur d’Alene tribe’s pride and joy, this youngster south of Coeur d’Alene just gets better with repeated plays. Spread over 600 acres with nothin’ but nature surrounding it, the Raven rousts ancient, deep-seated feelings that border on the religious — and seem to attract a lot of big-name play though it’s out of the way.

10. Spanish Bay | Pebble Beach
www.pebblebeach.com | 831.647.7495
Designed by committee (including Tom Watson, Trent Jones Jr. and Sandy Tatum), its conditioning is always spot-on, and its mix of seaside and forested holes comprise a stirring, singular and challenging experience.

11. Osprey Meadows | Tamarack, Idaho
www.tamarackidaho.com | 877.TAM.RESORT
In the heart of Idaho, Robert Trent Jones II makes another play for design greatness — with Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf behind the resort next door. Sounds like a prescription for success, and at first blush, the golf side is glorious, at the foot of ski slopes and overlooking beautiful Lake Cascade.

12. Princeville Prince | Kauai
www.princeville.com | 800.325.3589
A 145 slope rating, lots of jungle, perhaps the toughest opener in creation, and pure Hawaiian magic on a bluff above the roiling Pacific.

13. We-Ko-Pa (Saguaro) | Fort McDowell, Ariz.

www.wekopa.com | 480.836.9000
The more established Cholla remains the locals’ choice at this Native American resort east of Phoenix, but in the year-old Saguaro, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore finally pull off what so many other architects have attempted: They bring true links-style golf to a desert setting. Wide fairways, fascinating green complexes, supreme sightlines and conditioning, with the resort’s beautiful clubhouse and a casino-resort right next door? We could get used to this.

14. Barona Creek | Lakeside, Calif.
www.barona.com | 619.387.7018
This Native American-owned course northeast of San Diego is instantly addictive, with no weak holes. Just ask the Nationwide Tour’s best, who competed there this year for their tour’s championship.

15. Coeur d’Alene | Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
www.cdaresort.com | 800.688.5253
A slew of ’05 upgrades made this “Augusta of the West” even more sublime. FG’s return visit in May 2007 brought those changes into clearer focus and convinced us of its carefully calculated greatness — and the surrounding resort’s proven sense of giving golfers everything they want in an upscale vacation.

16. Saddle Creek | Copperopolis, Calif.
www.saddlecreek.com | 800.611.7722
Carter Morrish’s Sierra foothills marvel keeps getting better, and the comfy bungalows make for the perfect golf-centered guy getaway or biz retreat. And there’s a brand new wine room, too. Check out our updated review at www.fgmagazine.com.

17. Crosswater | Sunriver, Ore.
www.crosswater.com | 541.593.6196
Bob Cupp’s stellar semi-private course, which winds along the Deschutes River south of Bend, is Sunriver Resort’s flagship track, good enough to host a U.S. Open; for now it’s the new home of a Champions Tour major, the Jeld-Wen Tradition.

18. Reflection Bay | Lake Las Vegas
www.lakelasvegas.com | 877.698.4653
Jack Nicklaus at his desert-hugging best, with superb use of the lake and killer views. Someday Coyote Springs north of town may give it a run, but for now it’s still the king of the Bear’s Sin City efforts.

19. Whitehawk Ranch | Clio, Calif.
www.golfwhitehawk.com | 800.332.4295
Dick Bailey’s first-ever design is staggering in the way it naturally embraces the multi-hued alpine landscape — forest, wetlands and streambeds — of the Sierra’s Mohawk Valley.

20. Aviara | Carlsbad, Calif.
www.fourseasons.com/aviara | 760.603/6800
Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay got all the details right at this immaculate classic.

21. Primm Valley | Primm, Nev.
www.primmvalleyresorts.com | 800.386.7867
We consider the Lakes the better of two outstanding Tom Fazio tracks straddling the Nevada-California border, with a Shadow Creek-like sheen.

22. Wynn | Las Vegas
www.wynnlasvegas.com | 877.321.WYNN
Its time on Earth is reportedly short, so play while it lasts if you can swing the five bills and a room rate. You’ll be surprised by the calm, quiet in the middle of the Strip.

23. Torrey Pines (South) | La Jolla
www.torreypines.com | 800.867.7397
Watch for this seaside SoCal muni institution to toughen up as the 2008 U.S. Open nears.

24. Banff Springs | Alberta, Canada
www.fairmont.com/banffsprings | 403.762.2211
The granddaddy of Canadian Rocky courses, by north-of-the-border master Stanley Thompson.

25. Kapalua Plantation | Maui
www.kapalua.com | 877.527.2582
Standard bearer for Valley Isle resort golf, and scene of those epic Tiger-Ernie battles.

26. Running Y | Klamath Falls, Ore.
www.runningy.com | 888.850.0275
Arnie and Ed have never been better; the first five holes along Klamath Lake are unforgettable.

27. Stevinson Ranch | Stevinson, Calif.
www.stevinsonranch.com | 877.752.9276
Bay Area golfers have been raving about this middle-of-nowhere, Central Valley John Harbottle product for a decade. And so have we — it’s a classic hidden gem.

28. Loews Ventana Canyon | Tucson
www.loewshotels.com | 520.299.2020
Sonoran swinging just doesn’t get any more sublime.

29. Entrada | St. George, Utah
www.golfentrada.com | 435.986.2200
This lava-laced jewel is Miller’s best desert effort.

30. Bear Mountain | Victoria, B.C.
www.bearmountain.com | 888.533.2327
Nicklaus’ first Vancouver Island product, with an incredible par-3 “19th” — in the middle of the back nine.

31. Red Hawk Lakes | Sparks, Nev.
www.resortatredhawk.com | 775.626.6000
This fun and sneaky-tough effort snaking through wetlands northeast of Reno marked Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s first solo Northern Nevada effort in 1997. It will reportedly get even better when the front nine is re-routed to include three new holes in 2008.

32. Poipu Bay | Kauai
www.poipubaygolf.com | 800.858.6300
Princeville is still the Garden Isle’s top choice, but Trent Jones does some great work here, especially on the final quartet of holes along the ocean. Open, breezy and sometimes quirky, it can give up a low score.

33. Mauna Lani South | Kohala, Hawaii
www.maunalani.com | 808.885.6655
A couple of epic Pacific par 3s make this one a must.

34. Jasper Park | Alberta, Canada
www.jasperparklodge.com | 800.257.7544
Right up there with Banff Springs in Canada’s golf Hall of Fame, again from Thompson’s fervent design mind.

35. Half Moon Bay (Old Course)
www.halfmoonbaygolf.com  | 650.726.1800
A new and even prettier 18th gives this track the nod over its Ocean sibling.

36. Bailey Creek | Lake Almanor, Calif.
www.baileycreek.com | 866.959.7829
One of the most fun and engaging mountain courses you’ll ever play, rolling through big Douglas firs and Jeffrey pines in the northern Sierra.

NON-RESORT COURSES

1. Trump National Los Angeles | Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
www.trumpnational.com | 877.799.4653 | 310.265.5000
It’s no secret we’ve been partial to Donald Trump’s first and only West Coast course (and his only public one to date). Some FG contributors can’t stand the waterfalls — there’s now three of them — but we think they’re just fine, and fit perfectly into the Trump mindset: Go big, go over the top, or go home. Since touring the site with the boss in 2004, we’ve watched him take a half-baked Pete Dye design and make it undeniably world-class. Trump took over full-time design duties himself at Palos Verdes, clearing out landing areas, redesigning almost every green and spending tens of millions to rebuild the 18th, which is now one of the toughest 4-pars anywhere, playing 500 yards from the volcano-like back tee. After repeated plays, we’ve concluded that the ‘National’ earns its No. 1 status again with Pacific views from every hole, a never-boring routing and a challenge that keeps you dreaming of your next chance to tackle Trump.

2. Edgewood Tahoe | Stateline, Nev.
www.edgewood-tahoe.com | 775.588.3566
The celebrities love it every July and the rest of us marvel at its unsurpassed setting on Lake Tahoe’s south shore, with a stunning final stretch along the beach.

3. Wolf Creek | Mesquite, Nev.
www.golfwolfcreek.com | 866.252.4653
This isn’t just desert golf. It’s nearly golf on the moon. Unique, sometimes goofy, eminently fun.

4. Chambers Bay | Tacoma, Wash.
www.chambersbaygolf.com | 253.460.GOLF
It opened this summer and already this tumbling, rough-hewn links course on the south end of Puget Sound is being compared to the Bandon courses and is on short list to host a U.S. Open. Not bad for a previously forlorn piece of dirt transformed by Robert Trent Jones II and his crack staff into something that looks hundreds of years old. How can we not Top 5 it from the get-go?

5. Big Sky | Pemberton, British Columbia
www.bigskygolf.com | 800.668.7000
Bob Cupp heads north of the border to work more nature-nurturing magic on a deceptively tough track in a gorgeous valley ringed by 3,000-foot peaks.

6. Royal Links | Las Vegas
www.waltersgolf.com | 888.427.6678
This choice always raises eyebrows, but we love its in-your-face, perfectly fabricated brilliance — and we’ll be sorry to see it go, if it ever does.

7. Coyote Moon | Truckee, Calif.
www.coyotemoongolf.com | 530.587.0886
Sierra golf in its purest form, with no structures or out-of-place quirks to obscure a rapturous round.

8. Rancho San Marcos | Santa Barbara
www.rsm1804.com | 877.776.1804
Leaping and looping through a lush river valley just inland from the Pacific, this Robert Trent Jones Jr. design has that settled-in feeling of an early 20th century classic and a well-honed connection to its settings ranch-and-mission roots. The course’s conditioning and service model is very much rooted in the 21st century and the recent renovation takes it to a new level — making a trip to Rancho San Marcos a singular SoCal soiree.

9. Sandpines | Florence, Ore.
www.sandpines.com | 800.917.GOLF
Reese Jones draws on heathland and linksland influences to bring the Oregon coast into a different kind of golf focus at a course that seldom gets its due.

10. Paiute (Wolf) | Las Vegas
www.lvpaiutegolf.com | 800.711.2833
Hauntingly isolated, it’s the best of Paiute’s three stellar tracks, and Pete Dye’s top desert design overall.

11. Desert Willow (Firecliff)
Palm Desert | www.desertwillow.com | 800.320.3323
A note-perfect desert muni that looks and plays like a high-end daily-fee course, right down to its scissor-cut fairways and lovely landscaping.

12. Sandpiper | Santa Barbara
www.sandpipergolf.com | 805.968.1541
One tee box is as close as you can get to the Pacific, but it’s the routing and ownership’s continued quest for oceanfront perfection, from shotmaking challenge to careful conditioning, that makes Sandpiper a must-play in one of California’s loveliest getaway cities.

13. PGA West (Stadium)
www.pgawest.com | 800.742.9378
We call it Sawgrass West, complete with No. 17 island green — and it’s even tougher than its Florida cousin.

14. Oak Quarry | Riverside, Calif.
www.oakquarry.com | 951.685.1440
A miracle of a design in an abandoned quarry minutes from downtown Riverside. No. 14, a par 3 sliced out of the side of a mountain, is alone worth the price of admission.

15. Bayonet | Seaside, Calif.
www.bayonetblackhorse.com | 831.899.7271
This placement — for the first time in our Top 36 — is based solely on the U.S. Open-quality new nine. God knows where this former military layout near Pebble is headed once the second nine is done next spring. And one day it’ll move to the resort category.

16. Course at Wente Vineyards Livermore, Calif.
www.wentegolf.com | 925.456.2475
Greg Norman goes to exquisite heights — then back down to a fairway-meets-vineyard closing stretch — to create the golf equivalent of a great cabernet, deep of character and thrilling to the palate.

17. Pasatiempo | Santa Cruz, Calif.
www.pasatiempo.com | 831.459.9155
We’ve yet to experience the full force of Tom Doak’s years-in-the-making restoration of this classic, but we do know that Alister MacKenzie designed some of his best 3-pars here and lived on the front nine in later life. But it’s the quirky back nine, and diabolical greens throughout, that key this course’s charm.

18. Harding Park | San Francisco
www.harding-park.com | 415.664.4690
The PGA Tour’s multimillion-dollar facelift puts this old school landmark back on a par with that private joint across the street.

19. Monarch Dunes | Nipomo, Calif.
www.monarchdunes.com | 805.343.9459
Last year’s best new entry, Damian Pascuzzo gives the Central Coast the final link in its golf destination chain. And it only gets better with every season of maturation. We can’t wait for his short course in ‘08.

20. Las Sendas | Mesa, Ariz.
www.lassendas.com | 480.396.4000
Another Trent Jones product that doesn’t get the ink it deserves in the golf-rich Southwest. Wrapping around a desert knoll with flair and some precipitous green placements, it’s worth a stop on your way to, say, We-Ko-Pa.

21. Poppy Hills | Pebble Beach, Calif.
www.poppyhillsgolf.com | 831.622.8239
Here, Trent Jones Jr. doesn’t quite match the old man’s Spyglass, but he gives it a great shot.

22. Genoa Lakes (Lakes) | Genoa, Nev.
www.genoalakes.com | 866.795.2709
Peter Jacobsen and John Harbottle hit immediate critical paydirt when this course — part links, part parkland, part desert, all-out golf ecstasy — opened at the foot of the Carson Range in the early 1990s.

23. Moorpark Country Club
www.moorparkcountryclub.com | 805.532.2834
Another playful and sometimes perilous Jacobsen gem, this time with Jim Hardy in the hills near Ventura.

24. San Juan Oaks | Hollister, Calif.
www.sanjuanoaks.com | 831.636.6115
Fred Couples does a masterful job combining flat, valley golf with some hilly frills at a site that’s so close to Pebble’s golf mecca, you can almost smell it.

25. Diablo Grande (Legends) | Patterson, Calif.
www.diablogrande.com | 209.892/4663
The Bear and the Squire’s only collaboration stirs the soul in the golden and green hills just off a lonely stretch of Interstate 5. Better routing than the original Ranch makes this course, well, a legend-in-waiting.

26. Bodega Harbour | Bodega Bay, Calif.
www.bodegaharbourgolf.com | 866.90.LINKS
One of Trent Jones Jr.’s true unsung winners, especially a back nine that cascades to the bay and hits its peak at No. 16 a short par 4 in earshot of the surf.

27. Sierra Star | Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
www.mammothmountain.com | 800.MAMMOTH
At nearly 8,000 feet in elevation, it’s the Golden State’s highest course, and one of its prettiest.
Plus, it’s got a few “bear” essentials from time to time
— and greens that will make you growl.

28. Black Gold | Yorba Linda, Calif.
www.blackgoldgolf.com | 714.961.0060
Arthur Hills’ canyon-climbing wonder winds its way through oil country, serving up rich views of Orange County and, on clear day, Catalina.

29. Maderas | San Diego
www.maderasgolf.com | 858.451.8100
Rivals Torrey for toughness, with incomparable conditioning and those brutal beautiful Miller greens.

30. Bali Hai | Las Vegas
www.waltersgolf.com | 888.427.6678
Give Bill Walters credit for shoehorning a bit of Bali among the billboards, boulevards and big jets of Vegas. It’s a Dalyesque dream for those who like long 4-pars.

31. Roddy Ranch | Antioch, Calif.
www.roddyranch.com | 925.978.4653
Cowboy-turned-rancher-turned-golf entrepreneur Jack Roddy has never given up on his careening, crafty course at the foot of Mt. Diablo, and thank God for that.

32. Aspen Lakes | Sisters, Ore.
www.aspenlakes.com | 541.549.4653
The red sand bunkers would be gimmicky anywhere else, but here in the volcanic shadow of the Cascades’ Three Sisters west of Bend, they work perfectly.

33. Bear’s Best | Las Vegas, Nev.
www.bearsbest.com | 866.385.8500
Jack Nicklaus revisits some of his favorite holes from Colorado to Mexico and works them into a fun Sin City thrill ride, in the shadow of Red Rock Canyon.

34. Cypress Ridge | Arroyo Grande, Calif.
www.cypressridge.com | 805.474.7979
Jacobsen and Hardy give the Central Coast a different breed of course, with standout risk-reward holes.

35. Coronado Municipal | San Diego
www.golfcoronado.com | 619.435.3121
The locals gobble up a lot of tee times, so plan ahead and pay the extra scratch to secure a spot on this glimmering sliver of sunlit fun and engineering history.

36. Haggin Oaks (MacKenzie) Sacramento, Calif.
www.hagginoaks.com | 916.481.4653
Its history is positively Pebble-like. Its design pedigree is pure MacKenzie. It’s just off the main drag and any Joe can tee it up for less than 40 bucks. Sweet!