Golf Digest is a monthly golfmagazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized Golf for Women, Golf World and Golf World Business.
Since 1985 Golf Digest has produced biennial rankings of "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses". The courses are voted on by a panel of several hundred golf experts. Pine Valley Golf Club has topped the list every time except in 2001, when Pebble Beach Golf Links came first. The magazine also produces lists of the best new courses, the best golf resorts and the best courses in each U.S. state. Before the "Greatest" rankings were introduced in 1985 Golf Digest produced lists called at different times America's 100 Most Testing Courses and America's 100 Greatest Tests of Golf.
The top ten on the 2007-08 list, published in May 2007, was as follows:
Alongside the "100 Greatest Courses" ranking, and using the same methodology, Golf Digest publishes a list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses". In this context, "public" means a golf course that is open to play by the public, as opposed to a private club—not necessarily a course operated by a governmental entity.
The top ten on the 2007-08 list, also published in May 2007, was as follows:
Of these courses, the only one that is operated by a governmental entity is Bethpage Black.
"100 Best Golf Courses Outside the United States"
The magazine also compiles a list of the leading courses outside the United States. This is created using information from national golf associations, plus votes by the same panelists supplemented by some additional ones with international knowledge.
In 2007 the most represented countries were Scotland with fourteen courses in the top 100, Canada with ten, England with ten, Ireland with ten (eight in the Republic of Ireland and two in Northern Ireland), Canada with nine, and Australia with eight. The top 10 were: