The Loop
Best New: How it's Done
Reader Virgil Burmaster of Fort Wayne wants to know how we compile the list of Best New courses featured in the January issue.
I read with great interest the > article in January about all the new and rebuilt courses. My question is where do you get all this information? I am always looking for a new course to play and am especially interested in new courses in the state I am planning on retiring to in a few years. I have searched the internet many times but unable to come up with a web site that tells me any of this information!
It's not easy, Virgil. And there is no such web site (although [golfclubatlas](http://www.golfclubatlas.com) is a great place to talk about courses). The fact is, Ron Whitten, our architecture editor, collects the candidates directly from the architects who designed them. The architects, in effect, nominate their work. Rankings Editor Topsy Siderowf then sends the list, which has hovered around the 200 mark for the past several years, to our 700-plus "panelists", who evaluate the courses on a set criteria. In short, golfdigest.com is the web site...and you've found us.
--Bob Carney
(Photo of Best New Public Spring Creek Golf Club by Stephen Szurlej)