Best in America (and don't forget football)

We ranked all of America's cities for golf. Alabama's Auburn-Opelika is No. 1

Fans in the twin university towns of Auburn and Opelika in Alabama love their Tigers. Golfers have three 4½-star courses at Grand National to be proud of, too.

Related Links: Ranking: America's Best Golf Cities; America's 100 Greatest all-time roster; America's 100 Greatest Courses; Best Places to Play Directory; State-By-State Rankings; Best Public Courses

By Mike Stachura August 2005

Who'd have thought we'd find the best golf city in America right in the middle of a big football town in a big football state? But that's why you look.

For the third time since 1998, Golf Digest has ranked America's largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas. In cooperation with The Longitudes Group, utilizing the Golf Digest Companies' Database of Golf in America, the survey found that the best places to live and golf are increasingly shifting to small towns and suburbs in the South (11 of our top 20), while the Northeast remains a golfer's wasteland. Fifteen of the bottom 20 cities lie above the Mason-Dixon line, including regular bottom-feeders Bridgeport, Conn., New York City and golf-dry Jersey City, N.J.

But in the eastern Alabama twin cities of Auburn and Opelika, a place known for the city-block-size Auburn Tiger paw print in the main square and a college football stadium that seats more than 86,000 people, golf is becoming its second passion. You see it everywhere you look.

It's there first in the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's stunning 54 holes of 4�-star golf out at Grand National, a site that lives up to Jones' description as the best for golf he'd ever seen.

It's there in the two mayors, whose zeal for the game is no mere political affectation. Gary Fuller of Opelika and Bill Ham Jr. of Auburn not only use golf as a successful recruiting tool for economic development, they're both 12-handicappers with more than occasional flashes of their single-digit pasts.

It's there in the sturdy 3½-star daily-fee layout at Auburn Links, whose twists and turns make it a favorite of Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has his own reserved parking space up front.

It's there in Will Blackmon's 200-strong junior programs at Opelika's Saugahatchee Country Club, which no doubt has fueled the last two consecutive state golf championships for Auburn High School.

It's there in the sporty 3-star Indian Pines, the municipal course the two towns share that's more popular than the Brunswick Stew at Byron's Smokehouse in Auburn or the pork-barbecue sandwich at Chuck's Bar-B-Que in Opelika.

HOW WE DID IT
There are 330 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. with a population of greater than 50,000. We ranked all of them on four different criteria: Access to golf (a blend of four factors: the number of golf holes in an MSA compared to its population; number of golf holes compared to the number of avid golfers; percentage of public versus private courses; and a measure of the number of rounds played compared to capacity). Weather (based on the number of golfable days per year). Value of golf (based on average green fee in each MSA). Quality of golf (based on average star ratings in Golf Digest's Places to Play guidebook). We weighted these four factors as follows: Access, 45%; Weather, 25%; Value, 15%; Quality, 15%. Using these weightings, we determined the average overall ranking for all 330 cities. The research was conducted by The Longitudes Group (longitudesgroup.com), utlizing the Golf Digest Companies' Database of Golf in America.