Torrey Pines Golf Course: North

Redesigned by Tom Weiskopf in 2018, Torrey Pines' North course became friendlier for the average golfer. The number of bunkers was reduced from 60 to 42, making it easier to play out of. And the average green size was increased from 4,500 square feet to 6,000. Lastly, Weiskopf added one of his signatures: a short, drivable par 4 (the seventh)—making the companion course to the championship South course a little more fun.

This may sound like a dumbing down of the architecture, but it isn't. Within the simplification is a wide variety of green configurations and contours, with slopes rising and falling, some set high and others low, and many with more internal contour than is found on most greens on the South course, including the surfaces of the cross-ravine par-3 12th and par-3 15th. The North course also boasts ocean and canyon views on par with the South, particularly the par-4 16th rising along the Pacific Ocean cliffs and bringing the player in the most direct contact with the stunning panorama. Perhaps because we feel there's a better course hidden somewhere beneath the current South course, playing the North doesn't feel like a step down, just a step across to the other side of one of the best public golf sites in the U.S.