# The Resort Course Is Dying and Golfers Killed It

Source: https://thecourserankings.com/blog/the-resort-course-is-dying-and-golfers-killed-it/

National Rankings


This ranking uses our published scoring rubric and reflects the course as a good golfer would find it on an ordinary day, not a tournament week or a hosted visit.

**Our take:** $400 resort golf with a waterfall lost to $120 great public golf and a good short course.

## The take, plainly

$400 resort golf with a waterfall lost to $120 great public golf and a good short course. That is not a troll. It is what falls out when you score architecture at 40, the day at 25, setting at 15, and value and access at 20, and then refuse to add a bonus for a logo.

## Why the magazines rank it the other way

Access creates gratitude, and gratitude creates votes. A panelist who gets a rare invite to a famous club remembers the locker room, the lunch, and the member who hosted him. The golf has to compete with all of that in his memory. Our rubric scores the golf first and makes the day and the price argue for their points in the open.

## The hole by hole problem

Famous courses get credit for their best three holes across all 18. Play the middle stretch of most famous courses with fresh eyes and you find good, solid, forgettable golf holding a top 20 ranking together. A top course should have no stretch where you check your phone between shots because the questions stopped changing.

## Who moves up instead

The replacement is always named in our lists. A demotion without a replacement is just noise. When a famous name falls, a course with better shot values and a better day takes the spot, and we will defend that swap hole by hole against anyone in the comments.

## What would change our mind

A real renovation, honest conditioning without tricked up greens, or a price and pace fix. Rankings should move when facts move. Ours update every January with a what changed post, and we will link the comments that forced the change.

## Reader responses

Which course would you rank differently? Please name the specific hole that best supports your view.

Please cite a specific hole, a price, or a round you have played. Selected reader responses are featured in follow up coverage.

## FAQ

**How was this ranking compiled?**

By the published rubric, with architecture weighted first and value and access included. Every omission names the course that took the place.

**How often does this list update?**

Every January, with a public what changed post. Comment threads that make a real case get cited.

**Reader responses are open.** Please cite a specific hole, a price, or a round you have played.