It is a very special year for elite women golfers, as they will have the opportunity to play on two of the best courses in the United States for major championships: Baltusrol’s lower course at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship; and Pebble beach Golf Links at the U.S. Women’s Open.
The Women’s Open is scheduled for this week. That’s two back-to-back Majors in three weeks, on two layouts worthy of a major.
It wasn’t always like this. The history of women’s major championships has been a tumultuous one.
In the past, the U.S. Women’s Open was played on courses that were not up to par with the men’s majors. Most years, there were only a few exceptions. The best women golfers played on less than stellar courses.
The mid-1980s saw a shift in course selection, with the Women’s Open moving more frequently to those courses that were ranked in Golfweek’s Top 200 rankings for either classic layouts (built before 1960), or modern layouts (built after 1960). The Women’s Open was at its peak in 1992, when Oakmont Country Club hosted the event.
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Golfweek’s Best public-access golf courses in each state
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Golfweek’s Best private golf courses in each state
The average rating of courses has improved over the last 20 years. Golfweek’s best uses more than 800 raters to evaluate courses based on 10 criteria, and then give an overall rating from 1 to 10. The votes of the raters are then averaged to create various rankings, such as modern and classic lists. Most players would consider any course above 6 to be a good local or regional course. A course above 7 is usually worth the trip. Only seven courses are rated above 9 in the entire world. Oakmont is one of those seven.
In the last three decades, the average rating for the U.S. Women’s Open host courses has increased. The average rating for the period 1993-2002 (using 2022 Golfweek Best ratings as data) was 6,924. The average score improved from 6.924 to 7.100 between 2003 and 2012, then climbed a little more to reach 7.195 for all 10 Women’s open events of 2013-2022. Compare this to the average score of 6.277 between 1973-1982.
The course selection continues to improve. The U.S. Women’s Open announced sites have an average rating of 8.36, starting this year with Pebble Beach. This is in line with the men’s championships, and far removed from the old days when the Women’s Open was played on a golf course that few people in the state next door had heard of.
The ranking of classic courses for 2023 places Oakmont at No. 6, Merion’s East Course (No. The 2023 ranking for classic courses includes Merion’s East Course at No. 6, Oakmont (No. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Merion’s East Course (No. The top 10 classic golf courses in the United States are ranked by Golf Digest. Four more – Los Angeles Country Club North Course (No. The next four – Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course (No. 14 in 2023 rankings), Pinehurst No. 2 (No. 17), Riviera (No. The top 25 golf courses include the South Course of Oakland Hills (No.
