My Favorite Golf Courses 20-16

The ongoing list of my favorite golf courses I have ever played

20. El Camaleon Golf Course (Playa Del Carmen, Mexico)

    

    While this course is coming out of rotation on the PGA tour, it was cool to play at a place where I can watch the event on TV and remember the hole. The famous cenote hole was a blast. Overall the course was a fun time, had rental clubs and played with complete strangers, which probably downgraded the experience a little.
    

19. Wine Valley Golf Club

    

    I’ve been trying to play Wine Valley for two years, but I could never get my friends and me on the same page. Finally, I saw that NWGG was having an event, and I signed up for it. While I played poorly in the event, I did a replay that afternoon and scored about ten strokes better. It’s vast, it’s windy, and it’s a good time. The latest Dan Hixson-designed course I played, which leads me to his first one…

18. Band Crossing
    
    The first time I went and played Bandon Dunes, I had a caddie give me a card with this course information and was told that is where the caddies played a lot. I didn’t get to Bandon Crossing until a few years later when I was there for a friend’s bachelor party. We played a two-man scramble at the end of the day after playing at Bandon Dunes, the scramble format was needed in order to get the round in on time. The course was a good break from the resort and it was a flat-out enjoyable time, I am not sure if it was the course design, the format, the people I was with, or the beer, but it was one of the more enjoyable rounds I have played.

17. Pronghorn Nicklaus
    
    I’ve had the pleasure of playing this course two times and it’s an enjoyable round. The signature waterfall hole is one of my favorites in Oregon, and there are plenty of risk-reward shots on the course where you can aggressively attempt to go low.

16. Tethrow

    
    On an episode of No Laying Up Tourist Sauce, course designer David McLay Kidd said that he was going through a divorce when designing this course and wanted to make everyone feel as miserable as he did. Mission Accomplished. I hate playing this course, but I love looking at it. It’s punitive, it’s hard, and each time I have played it, I’ve felt like I was just mentally abusing myself. Can’t wait to go back for my third attempt at it.