How much better are the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open host courses? Golfweek’s Best course rankings shed some light
The U.S. Golf Association announced five upcoming sites (and a greatly enhanced prize fund) for the U.S. Women’s Open on Friday, adding to a lineup that already was vastly improved over many of the courses that have hosted the major championship in some past years.
But how much have things really improved? Judging by Golfweek’s Best rankings of courses and their average ratings, the outlook for women’s championship golf has never been better.
There has been criticism in the past that the Women’s Open, while visiting relatively nice courses if not always great layouts, hasn’t been contested on the same level of courses as the men’s U.S. Open. The Golfweek’s Best course ratings show that much of that criticism was fair.
Taking the 10-year roster of layouts from 2000-09 for the Women’s Open, for example, the average rating of host course was 6.99 on Golfweek’s Best 10-point scale. The average rating of host course over the past 10 Women’s Opens in 2012-21 improved to 7.23, a marked increase.
Oakland Hills’ South Course was recently renovated by architect Gil Hanse. (Courtesy of Oakland Hills/Laurence Lambrecht)
With the five courses added to the women’s lineup in Friday’s USGA announcement – Riviera, Inverness, Pinehurst No. 2, Interlachen, and Oakland Hills’ South Course– the average rating of the next 10 host courses is 7.92, nearly a full point higher than the average of the 10 sites starting in 2000.
How big is that difference? For comparison’s sake, imagine a hypothetical course with the equivalent rating of the host sites from each 10-year period mentioned above. Such a hypothetical course with the average rating of the 2000-09 courses (6.99) would rank No. 107 on Golfweek’s Best 2021 list of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. The average rating of the 10 courses from 2012-21 (7.23) would rank No. 75 on that list of classic courses. The average rating of the upcoming courses (7.92) would be good for a No. 25 ranking on that classic list. That’s a huge improvement.
But does the average rating of the upcoming sites equal the upcoming men’s Open sites? No.
There is overlap among the men’s and women’s host sites – Pinehurst No. 2, Oakmont, Pebble Beach, and Merion – but the average rating of all the announced upcoming men’s Open sites is 8.67, more than a half a point ahead of the women. That’s because men’s Open sites where the women aren’t playing – The Country Club Composite Course in Massachusetts, Los Angeles Country Club, and Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York – rank so high, especially Shinnecock with its 9.24 rating.
So the Women’s Open has closed much of the gap in course ratings, but not all of it.
Some background on where all these numbers originate: Golfweek’s Best utilizes hundreds of members of its course-ratings panel to continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final, cumulative rating. Then each course is ranked against other courses in the region.
Following are the specifics on how the courses and 10-year periods mentioned above stack up, utilizing the data from the 2021 Golfweek’s Best rankings:
Women’s Open 2000-09: Average rating 6.99
Prairie Dunes in Kansas (Courtesy of Prairie Dunes)
Past host sites of the U.S. Women’s Open with their 2021 Golfweek’s Best rating in bold:
6.29: Merit Club in 2000
6.72: Pine Needles in 2001
8.56: Prairie Dunes 2002
6.71: Pumpkin Ridge (Witch Hollow) in 2003
6.05: The Orchards in 2004
7.20: Cherry Hills in 2005
7.49: Newport Country Club in 2006
6.72: Pine Needles in 2007
7.35: Interlachen in 2008
6.76: Saucon Valley (Old Course) in 2009
Women’s Open 2012-2021: Average rating 7.23
The Olympic Club’s Lake Course in California (Courtesy of Evan Schiller)
Past host sites of the U.S. Women’s Open with their 2021 Golfweek’s Best rating in bold:
6.96: Blackwolf Run* in 2012
8.31: Sebonack in 2013
8.39: Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014
7.17: Lancaster CC in 2015
6.67: CordeValle in 2016
6.79: Trump National Bedminster (Old Course) in 2017
7.15: Shoal Creek in 2018
6.71: Country Club of Charleston in 2019
6.40: Champions (Cypress Creek) in 2020
7.74: Olympic Club (Lake) in 2021
*Blackwolf Run was played over a composite course of the Meadow Valleys and River layouts that normally is not in play at the Wisconsin resort. The 6.96 rating used in this chart is the River’s 2021 rating.
Upcoming Women’s Open sites: Average rating 7.92
Pebble Beach Golf Links in California will host the U.S. Women’s Open for the first time in 2023 (Courtesy of Evan Schiller)
Future host sites of the U.S. Women’s Open with their 2021 Golfweek’s Best rating in bold:
6.72: Pine Needles in 2022
8.77: Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2023
7.17: Lancaster CC in 2024
7.13: Erin Hills in 2025
8.17: Riviera in 2026
7.57: Inverness in 2027
9.05: Oakmont in 2028
8.39: Pinehurst No. 2 in 2029
7.35: Interlachen in 2030
7.96: Oakland Hills (South) in 2031
8.88: Merion (East) in 2034
Upcoming men’s U.S. Open sites: Average rating 8.67
Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. (Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports)
Future host sites of the men’s U.S. Open with their 2021 Golfweek’s Best rating in bold:
7.92: The Country Club (Composite) in 2022
8.43: Los Angeles CC in 2023
8.39: Pinehurst No. 2 in 2024
9.05: Oakmont in 2025
9.24: Shinnecock Hills in 2026
8.77: Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2027
8.88: Merion in 2030
