Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia is a stunning, beautiful piece of creation by famed golf course architect Alister MacKenzie. The annual host site of the Masters, it receives plenty of television exposure, with many fans having learned every hump and hollow by following shots on their high-definition screens.
Golfweek ranks courses every year based on the input of about 750 raters nationwide, and Augusta National in 2020 is ranked No. 3 among all Classic Courses in the United States built before 1960. The Golfweek’s Best raters judge every course on a scale of 1 to 10, with only the top handful of courses in the world surpassing an average rating of 9.
Augusta National comes in at 9.54, so clearly MacKenzie did great work on the old tree farm. Funny thing, though, it’s not even the best course in the U.S. designed by the Scottish surgeon.
That honor belongs to a club out west. Click through to see MacKenzie’s top courses in the world, as rated by Golfweek’s Best.
It’s worth noting, MacKenzie laid his hands and intellect on many courses. The ones below include tracks that were MacKenzie originals or received substantial MacKenzie input, often with help from other designers. Several clubs he worked on, such as California Golf Club, are not included because much of his work has been redone in subsequent renovations or he didn’t have the majority of the design input.
So here goes, MacKenzie’s top 10:
