HOW THE RANKING WAS COMPILED

Our panel of 35 judges started looking at courses for this ranking in December 2017, when our 2018 list was published. They had until November 1, 2019, to submit their votes for as many courses as possible.

At the start of the 23-month voting period, each judge receives a basic set of guidelines to help them determine the order of their list. Judges are instructed to place primary importance on design, followed by conditioning and visual appeal. Climate and seasonal effects – including drought and timing of visit – which are out of the hands of course maintenance staff are taken into account when assessing a course’s presentation.

Once the judges have presented their personal ranking, every list is added to a master spreadsheet with points/votes allocated to each course. Each No.1 course is allocated 100 points, 99 points to the second course and so on.

The final ranking point published alongside the courses listed here is an average based on the total points received divided by the number of judges that voted for that course. It is this final score that ultimately determines where the course appears in the final ranking. Here are the judges that submitted votes for our 2020 Top-100 Courses ranking: Brendan James, Adrian Logue, Alex Murray, Andrew Anderson, Andrew Presnell, Brian Walshe, Cameron Howell, Carl Murphy, Craig Read, DJ Loypur, Felicity Chapman, Ian Evans, Jacqui Lee, Joe Thomas, Kylie Stevenson, Lachlan Farmer, Liz Allen, Lucas Andrews, Mark Gilbert, Matt Laverty, Matt Mollica, Michael Green, Neil Wilson, Paul Simpson, Peter Martin, Peter Quattro, Peter Robertson Richard Macafee, Robyn Mitchell, Ross Flannigan, Sally Madden, Scott Warren, Shane Gurnett, Sue Johnson, Troy Scott.