A month has flown by since our last BiteSize and we’ve been busily refreshing our rankings across a number of countries. Undoubtedly the most significant update is the release of our 2018 Top 100 Golf Courses of the USA. Choosing just one hundred golf courses from a nation that boasts more golf courses than the rest of the world put together is no easy task, but incredibly the list is fairly static, especially at the top half of the table.

We've taken a brave (perhaps foolish) leap into the unknown and doubled up our German rankings, publishing the first ever Top 100 for Germany. Also this month we’ve released the sixth biennial edition of our Spanish Top 100, which we still can’t reasonably claim to be perfect.

Numerous other important European countries have also been revised: Belgium (Top 20), Czech Republic (Top 20), Denmark (Top 40), Finland (Top 30) Iceland (Top 10), Netherlands (Top 25), Norway (Top 30), Portugal (Top 50), Poland (Top 10), Sweden (Top 60) and Turkey (Top 15).

Finally, ahead of starting our US Best In State re-rankings this coming spring, we take a peek at Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail 25th birthday celebrations.

The latest 2018 edition of our Top 100 for the USA, sees 39 courses move up, 35 drop down, 13 stay in the same place and 13 drop out to make way for new entries. Three states loom large in the standings – New York (with 15 courses), California (11) and Massachusetts (8) – and this powerful trio accounts for a third of the positions in our new hundred.

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Even though our German Top 50 chart is showing no signs of losing steam, we've decided to take a brave leap into the unknown and created a second fifty. Data is hard to come by, but we've got to start somewhere and so here it is, our very first German Top 100, where there is change aplenty, except at the top of the table where Hamburger Falkenstein and Budersand Sylt remain firmly anchored.

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The big news for Poland is that Sand Valley becomes our new number 1 course, climbing one place from the runner-up position to the top spot. Like Poland, the Czech Republic also has a new number 1, with Albatross moving up one place to the head of the table.

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If you read last month’s news articles relating to our newly updated World Top 100 and Continental Europe Top 100 then you will not be shocked to learn that Koninklijke Haagsche Golf & Country Club retains the No.1 spot in The Netherlands. This layout from the design company of Colt, Alison and Morrison is not only ranked as the second best in Continental Europe, it has also climbed nine places in our global rankings.

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The latest edition of our rankings for Belgium is the fifth update to the listings since they were first published in 2008. Only one course has remained in the same position over the last decade and it’s the national number one, the Championship course at Royal Zoute Golf Club, which is located close to the North Sea coast, next to the busy port of Zeebrugge. It’s true to say not everyone agrees with our No.1 choice.

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We’re again issuing a joint news release for the five Northern European countries that we cover in this region – namely Iceland, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. More observant browsers might also notice we’ve increased the Swedish chart to a Top 60 so we now feature a total of 170 Nordic courses, eighteen of which also appear in our Continental Europe Top 100.

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It’s time to reveal the latest edition of our Top 100 chart for Spain but it’s worth a reminder that, because we subdivide the country into five geographical areas, we actually feature more than 140 courses in mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canaries. A recent KPMG report stated there were 349 courses in operation within the country in 2016 so we think we’re doing well enough to cover 40% of that number.

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With only eighteen golf clubs operating across the nation, you might think a Top 15 chart for Turkey veers towards overprovision of the product on our part but there’s a genuine depth of quality to be found in the golf courses around the country, particularly in the Belek region, so we make no apology for showcasing so many of these top tracks.

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This is the fifth time we’ve updated our Portuguese rankings. Even though there are only 87 clubs in total spread throughout the country, we’ve decided to add another ten tracks to our listings so we now feature a Top 50 for one of the most popular golfing destinations in Europe, with courses divided into the five distinct geographical regions of Algarve, Azores, Lisbon & Centre, Madeira & Porto Santo and Porto & North.

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A golfer’s dream may be to have eighteen of their favorite holes, featured on a single course. Dr. David Bronner, the CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama, had a dream to invest his organization’s pension funds and build 26 world-class golf courses that would challenge people enough that “they will want to come back and try again”.

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With the Glashedy course chosen for the 2018 Irish Open, I think there is a risk that more people will favour that course at the expense of the Old links. They could not be more mistaken. For me, it is the combination of the Old links and the Glashedy, and the fact that they are very different design-wise, yet equally matched, which makes the Ballyliffin experience.

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