THE TOP 100

Why Golf World’s Top 100 rankings are much bigger than ever. And why they can help you plan the perfect golf break

Golf World’s revered Top 100 rankings series is much bigger and better than ever.

Now housed within Today’s Golfer magazine and with a hugely improved and growing online presence, the Top 100s – ranking the best golf courses and resorts across Britain, Europe and beyond – are going to the next level.

Why? Well, there is a new ranking every four weeks and, working on a two-year cycle, that means there will be 26 different ranking lists between now and Spring 2023.

Some are existing rankings – Golf World

Top 100 Great Britain & Ireland Courses, Continental Europe Resorts and so on – but they’re going to be joined by a host of intriguing, insightful and frankly exciting lists, month in, month out. These include the Top 100 Courses in the World (You Can Play), Spain, Portugal, Italy, GB&I Under £60, GB&I Fun and World Resorts.

If you’re thinking ‘You must scraping the barrel to come up with 26 different lists’, be assured that nothing could be further from the truth. We were fighting among ourselves about which ones to host in the magazine – because even more, totally different Top 100 Golf Courses rankings, will be hosted online.

What are we trying to achieve by doing this? Well, we want to build on the stellar reputation Golf World’s rankings have, of course, but more than anything we want to provide an even better service for our readers.

We want to become the essential reference for golfers all over Europe who are looking for the best places to play (and stay) on our continent and beyond. With the help of the best panels bar none, we are quietly confident we can do that.

So no matter if you’re planning a golf break in the Algarve or the Highlands, in West Wales or the South of France, our knowledge and research will enable you to make the best possible choices about where to play.

There is an element of escapism to the

Golf World Top 100s, because who doesn’t enjoy looking at amazing courses and who doesn’t relish debating a ranking, but our motivation is founded in a desire to help you make smart selections for your golf trips.

These trips are just too valuable – in terms of time, money and expectation – to waste on courses and resorts that disappoint or come up short.

It’s why the answer to the question ‘Do we take golf course rankings too seriously?’ is both ‘yes and no’. Yes because we’re essentially rating fields of grass, and there are many more important things in life. But no because where a course is ranked really matters to those inside and outside every list, and it helps golfers get the very most from their time and money.

The schedule itself of Top 100s encapsulates that mix of escapism and information; we have a few rankings planned from which you might end up playing two or three out of the 100 in your life, but in others they’re the ultimate, nononsense guides to the most popular areas – which despite their popularity, have never been ranked properly before.

We know everyone won’t all agree about inclusions, exclusions, and positions, but it should be fun along the way – and one thing is certain, we are trying really hard to make these the most authoritative, best researched and most credible rankings in Europe.