New research has revealed the toughest golf courses in America, with Stone Ridge Golf Course, in Prescott Valley, Arizona ranking fourth.
Premium golf apparel brand, Galvin Green, analyzed the number of keywords related to a difficult golf course, such as ‘advanced’ and ‘elevation change,’ in the TripAdvisor reviews written by average golfers for over 800 courses in the US. For those with at least 50 reviews, they looked at the average number of keywords indicating difficulty per review to determine which course Americans find the hardest.
The top ten toughest golf courses in America based on TripAdvisor reviews
|
Rank |
Golf course |
Average number of keywords per review |
|
1 |
TPC Tampa Bay |
1.200 |
|
2 |
Bethpage Black |
1.112 |
|
3 |
Wine Valley Golf Course |
1.088 |
|
4 |
Stone Ridge Golf Course |
1.000 |
|
5 |
Cinnabar Hills Golf Club |
0.984 |
|
6 |
Wentworth Golf Club |
0.982 |
|
7 |
Shell Landing Golf Course |
0.963 |
|
8 |
Tot Hill Farm Golf Club |
0.956 |
|
9 |
PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Golf Course |
0.944 |
|
10 |
The Champions Club at Summerfield |
0.943 |
At the top of the list is TPC Tampa Bay, located in Florida, with an average of 1.2 difficulty-related keywords in each review. Overall, it has a 4.5-star rating, with 105 reviews containing 126 keywords. The term ‘fast green’ appears the most, used in 22 reviews.
In second place is Bethpage Black, which has an average of 1.112 keywords per review. The New York course has 107 reviews in total, with 119 keywords included in them. The course is famous for its difficulty and has hosted several major tournaments, including the U.S. Open. The most common keyword used in its reviews is ‘tough.’
Next on the list is Wine Valley Golf Course in Washington, with 1.088 keywords used per review on average. It has 80 reviews on TripAdvisor, including 87 keywords, with the most used term being ‘challenging.’
Arizona’s Stone Ridge Golf Course ranks fourth, with an average of 1 keyword used in each review. The keyword ‘fast green’ appears six times, while ‘elevation change’ appears 11 times. Overall, it is rated 4 stars, with 74 reviews in total.
In fifth place is Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, California, which has an average of 0.984 difficulty-related keywords in each of its 61 reviews. The most common keyword among its reviews is ‘challenging,’ which appears 11 times.
With an average of 0.982 keywords per TripAdvisor review, Wentworth Golf Club in Florida ranks sixth. The course has 55 reviews, which contain 54 keywords, with an overall rating of 4 stars.
Next up is Shell Landing Golf Course in Mississippi, with an average of 0.963 keywords used in each review. The term ‘challenging’ appeared the most, included in 19 reviews. Overall, it has 52 keywords spread across 54 reviews, and a rating of 4.5 stars.
Tot Hill Farm Golf Club in North Carolina takes eighth place, with 0.956 keywords per review on average. The course has 68 TripAdvisor reviews, which include 65 difficulty-related keywords. The word ‘challenging’ appears 20 times among the reviews, with an overall rating of 4 stars.
In ninth place is PGA West Pete Dye Stadium Golf Course in California. It has an average of 0.944 keywords included in each of its 178 TripAdvisor reviews. The course is rated 4.5 stars overall, with the term ‘tough’ appearing 33 times, while the term ‘fast greens’ appears 17 times.
Tenth is The Champions Club at Summerfield, Florida, which has an average of 0.943 keywords per review. It has a total of 53 reviews, which include 50 keywords. Overall, it is rated 4 stars.
On the other hand, the golf course with the lowest number of difficulty-related keywords is Four Seasons Resort and Club at Colinas, Texas, which has an average of just 0.022 per review. Closely following are Glenview Golf Course and Orange Blossoms Hills Golf Country Club, both located in Florida, with averages of 0.025 and 0.026 keywords per review, respectively.
